Some of Keith Gillespie's stories could be turned into a screenplay, never mind an autobiography.

Fortunately his hair-raising escapades have been imprinted on the pages of his new book with the help of Off The Ball Football Show's Dan McDonnell.

Last night Keith was in studio to pour over some of those stories, including Alan Shearer knocking him out cold (maybe it was the conveniently placed flower pot) outside a Dublin nightspot, ex-England left-back Stuart Pearce causing a bit of a ruckus and being caught at a woman's house by her irate boyfriend after one of many nights out.

Alan Shearer causes a scene outside Cafe en Seine

Gillespie and Shearer in their Newcastle playing days

Newcastle's squad traveled to Dublin for a mid-season night out in 1997. Chaos ensued and Keith was at the centre of it. After provoking Shearer by pegging bottle caps at him, Keith and the former Magpies captain ended up taking the confrontation outside. Keith took a swing at Shearer and missed. Shearer didn't and neither did the plant pot that was lying behind Keith. But there was no bad blood between Gillespie and Shearer after the incident...

"I think that was a few too many drinks to be honest even though I tend to shy away from confrontation. I should have swung a bit closer to his head and made sure he didn't connect with me. I think if the plant pot wasn't there, I would've got up. I spent the night in hospital and when I came back to the hotel, the first person to knock on the door was Alan Shearer along with Rob Lee. It was just to see how I was. We just basically laughed about it straight away. There was no problem whatsoever."  

"Psycho" puts a traffic cone through a car window in Dublin

Stuart Pearce got involved in an incident on that infamous trip to Ireland but avoided the publicity that Shearer and Gillespie generated...

"I wasn't there because I'd flown home. But he'd thrown a traffic cone through a car window. The Gardai made him pay money on the spot. That sort of thing never made the press at all. Whereas I know if that had been me that would have definitely been in the press because that's the way my life went."

"Have you been shagging wor lass?"

"It was a night out in Newcastle where I unfortunately ended up in some girl's house. There was a knock on her front door and it was her boyfriend at half two in the morning with the kids. I ran into the nearest bedroom, jumped into the top bunk and pretended I was sleeping. I heard the footsteps up the stairs. All of a sudden the lights went on and I pretended to have just woken up. He obviously didn't believe me. I was met with the line 'It's Keith Gillespie! HAVE YOU BEEN SHAGGING WOR LASS!!!' That was a scary moment when the guy started attacking me. It all ended in a few fisticuffs. Fortunately the front door was open so I legged it and sprinted home." 

Puking in the back of Peter Beardsley's car

"The thing about Newcastle was we were quite a good squad together and we would have arranged nights where everybody would go. Even [ex-England striker] Peter Beardsley who was tee-total. He would have been first to the bar. We had a good squad of people who got on really well.  

"[Former Czech Republic goalkeeper] Pavel Srnicek wasn't a big drinker but he dared me to down red wine. I did it in about three gulps. I was fine until I went outside and the air hit me. All of a sudden I threw up. Peter Beardsley pulled me into his car and drove me home. But on the way back I managed to throw up all over the back of his car. The next morning I apologised to him and I told him I'd pay for the cleaning of the car. He just said 'No problem and that's the kind of guy he was."   

Keith also shed light on his gambling woes, spending habits at the height of his career and the resulting bankruptcy.

You can listen to the full interview on the Off The Ball Football Show podcast. It includes Ireland goalkeeping legend Shay Given joining Keith, Ger and Dan on the line to remember the Newcastle team of the late 90s, particularly focusing on the famous win over Barcelona in 1997. The podcast also includes Graham Hunter on Barcelona and Real Madrid.

©INPHO/James Crombie