GERRY CREANEY 

Date and Place of Birth 13th April 1970 - Coatbridge   Transfers to and from Burnley from Machester City - 19th September 1997 (loan) returned - 12th December 1997   First and Last Burnley Games Preston North End (h) - 20th September 1997 sub: replaced Mark Ford   Blackpool (a) - 8th November 1997   Other Clubs Celtic, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic (loan), Ipswich Town (loan) ---------------------------------------- Chesterfield (loan), St Mirren, Notts County, Raith Rovers, Queen of the South, Clydebank

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Gerry Creaney's time at Burnley was short, but he certainly made an impact when he came on loan from Manchester City, scoring no less than eight goals in nine starts for the Clarets.

He was 27-year-old when Chris Waddle signed him after a start to the season that had been short of goals. We'd just scored our first goal of the season in the seventh game when he arrived to make a debut as a substitute against Preston North End.

Creaney, from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire, had started his career with Celtic and won a place in the first team as a teenager. His form won him Scotland Under-21 and B international caps but he was never able to fully establish himself in the Celtic side.

Veterans Frank McAvennie and Charlie Nicholas were often preferred and his only honour for them was a runner-up medal in the 1991 Scottish League Cup Final.

By the start of 1994 he'd played just 141 games for Celtic and scored 54 goals but that was enough to win him a move to England with south coast club Portsmouth. He spent just a season and a half at Fratton Park in what was a hugely successful spell.

He scored at a rate of a goal every two games with 36 scored in 69 outings. One of those goals came against Burnley at Fratton Park in the first game of 1995, a game that should never have been played on a pitch that was frozen. Injury ruled him out of the return game towards the end of the season on the day we were relegated.

That form for Portsmouth won him a move to the Premier League when new Manchester City boss Alan Ball splashed out £1.5 million for him. He scored on his debut but things didn't work and he was to win a place in the starting eleven just seven times whilst at Maine Road.

That led to a series of loan moves. In that first season, 1995/96, he was loaned out to Oldham for a month and the following season spent a month on loan with Ipswich.

Then, in September 1997, Waddle brought him to Turf Moor on a month's loan. That debut against Preston saw him come on as a sub for Mark Ford and a week later he started at Brentford without scoring. Then the goals started to flow with eight in his next seven games.

He started off with both goals in a 2-2 home draw with Wycombe and a week later got two in a 3-1 win against Carlisle, our first win of the season. Such was the success of the move that it was quickly extended.

Unfortunately his goals brought a quicker end to his Burnley career than was expected. City were having a difficult time in the league and struggling to score goals. His name on the Burnley scoresheet virtually every week was becoming an embarrassment for Joe Royle, now in charge at City.

Royle opted to recall him but then didn't play him and his next action was two months later when he moved to Chesterfield on loan. At the end of that season he was released by City and moved back to Scotland with St. Mirren.

He never established himself at any club after that and in a two and a half year spell also played for Notts County, Raith, Queen of the South and Clydebank. His last game came in December 2000, for Clydebank at Stirling. He came off injured early in the game and was replaced by Alan Gow, a player who almost joined the Clarets eight years later.

Since retiring from the game he's remained in Scotland and has worked as a taxi driver. However, in January 2010 he returned to the game as assistant manager to Danny Drew at Bellshill Athletic.

Creaney's was a career that blossomed for just a short time at Portsmouth and after leaving for City he was never able to establish himself anywhere. Hardly popular with the City fans he wasn't given much of a chance.

Waddle wanted to sign him permanently, and there is no doubt that once he left the goals dried up again. That was until the arrival of another former Celtic striker a couple of months later by the name of Andy Payton.