Gavin Gunning: 'The surgeon said I could have permanently lost sight in my left eye'

Gavin Gunning. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

A return to Stamford Bridge for Chesterfield captain Gavin Gunning this evening will remind him of how his career could have gone.

Chelsea tried to woo himself and Crumlin United team-mate Conor Clifford but the then reigning Premier League champions weren’t for him. Nor were fellow suitors Arsenal or Manchester United.

The centre-back preferred the warmth of Blackburn Rovers and he was blazing towards their first team in 2009 until an illness opened the door for his defensive partner in a League Cup tie at Nottingham Forest.

Phil Jones took that opportunity and thrived, earning a €20m move to Manchester United two years later.

Dubliner Gunning made his own journey, slipping into the English lower leagues before thriving at Dundee United.

He was part of a special Tangerine team including Stuart Armstrong and Andy Robertson that beat Rangers at Ibrox on their way to the 2014 Scottish Cup final.

Major expectation accompanied the moves of Gunning and Robertson to England that summer but while the Scot got a clear run at Hull City, the Irishman’s season was over after 38 minutes.

An accidental clash with his own Birmingham City goalkeeper, Colin Doyle, ruptured his posterior cruciate ligament. “I dismantled my knee, spent 13 months out and that was the end of my Championship career,” is how the now 30-year-old sums up his misfortune.

Reflecting on his career path, Gunning admits he was too late in developing what Jones and Robertson had in abundance.

“My attitude was terrible,” he confessed. “When you’re that highly rated as a teen, being paid huge wages, you allow standards to slip.

“By the time I finally copped on, probably in my last year at Dundee United, the bad injuries started.”

Unwanted by Birmingham and doubted by others following his serious injury, Gunning found himself back at Tannadice but even that historical alliance turned sour in 2016.

He’ll be forever known as the player who picked up the ball and walked off the pitch, a wacky situation he contends stemmed from a refusal to take him off when injured. An X-ray confirmed a chipped bone in his foot.

At that stage, he was ready to quit football at 25.

“It takes a lot to shatter Gavin but that incident did,” recalls his Dad, Joey.

“It wasn’t that he wanted to come home to play League of Ireland; he was finished with football and was planning to work in my photocopier business.”

Sense finally prevailed and Gunning was handed a route back at Scottish Championship side Morton. It wasn’t an ideal level but reputational damage was on his CV.

Stints in League Two with Grimsby Town, Port Vale, and Forest Green preceded a dip into the National League, which has actually proven a godsend.

Chesterfield are top of the table and on course for a Football League return, where they’d operated at League One until 2017. On a personal level, things couldn’t be better either. He recently signed a two-and-half-year contract extension that’ll take him up to 33.

“I’m captaining a club with big aspirations to reach higher levels,” he said. “We’ve a beautiful stadium and we get crowds of up to 8,000. People might look down at the Conference but it’s a full-time professional set-up with big names like Wrexham and Notts County in there.”

Today will provide a semblance of respite from the promotion push. Gunning knows all about the resources of Chelsea from his time there on trial and will be ready and waiting to mark one particular striker on a mission.

Romelu Lukaku is back in the fold after his recent fall-out with Thomas Tuchel, determined to go one better than firing a black on Wednesday’s return against Tottenham.

“He’s a beast to play against at the best of times,” Gunning notes. “But Chelsea have probably annoyed him at the worst possible stage for us.

“Look, I won’t be afraid of him. I’ve played against world-class strikers in the past and everybody can see what he does to defenders in the Premier League, Champions League and the Euros. He’ll pin you in and roll you, so we’ve to be ready for that threat.

“Chelsea are likely to play some young lads but we can be sure that their spine will be experienced. It’s a bonus game for us.

“Once it’s over, no matter what the result, our focus reverts to finishing the job of promotion.”

Gunning wasn’t meant to be even at Stamford Bridge. In late October, a boot in the face against Halifax broke his nose but that was the least of his worries.

“The surgeon said I could have permanently lost sight in my left eye. They thought I’d be out for the season but got back playing just after Christmas.”

His timing for this big stage was perfect, despite it coming several years later than many forecast.