Mick Quinn: We took revenge on Wimbledon hardman John Fashanu - but it earned me a fine and Portsmouth a police visit

Although the Fratton Park revenge act would have consequences following the ensuing post-match brawl with the Wimbledon striker.

Fashanu’s renowned physical style won few friends among Alan Ball’s Blues side, of which Quinn was a pivotal goal-scoring presence.

And, in a 2017 interview for Played Up Pompey Too, the former Coventry striker admitted how Pompey’s team were prepared to take on anyone to protect their own.

‘The unmistakable figure of John Fashanu left his mark during my Pompey home debut – four days later it was time for revenge,’ he told Played Up Pompey Too.

‘Fratton Park was once again the battleground, the lads chalking their elbows and filing their studs in anticipation, he was definitely going to get it. Sure enough, he did.

‘My Fratton bow in March 1986 was announced by grabbing the winner in a 2-1 victory over Millwall, arriving to the ball ahead of keeper Paul Sansome to register in first-half stoppage time.

‘Fashanu lined-up for the Lions and, towards the end of the match, got away with smashing Kevin O’Callaghan with his arm – and we wanted blood.

‘Helpfully, 36 hours later, he was a Wimbledon player, recruited on transfer deadline day. As fate would have it, the Dons were our Fratton Park opposition that Saturday.

‘Well, Fashanu may not have appeared until the hour mark having been named on the bench, but the lads soon ripped into him. There was a two-footed tackle around his neck from Kevin Dillon, which resulted in a punch up in the players’ tunnel at the end of an awful game which had finished 1-1.

‘It started after I saw Billy Gilbert fall to the ground, my response was to jump on Fashanu’s back, punching him on the outside of his head, and then it really did kick off.

‘Once order had been restored and we were back in the safety of our dressing room, our manager Alan Ball demanded “What was all that about?”.

‘I confessed. This was me sticking up for a team-mate, Fash had hit Billy and I wasn’t having an opponent do that. Similarly, I’d like to believe my playing colleagues had my back.

‘Then Billy interrupted: “He didn’t hit me, though, I slipped on the stairs as I came off the pitch”.

‘Bally was furious and fined me, while the police also became involved. They were always involved when it came to me at Pompey!

‘For me, that incident reflected an unbelievable team spirit within that dressing room, nonetheless a weird one.

‘We were nearly killing each other every day in training and there were plenty of arguments. ‘There was a drinking culture, with plenty of banter, but it did get naughty at times with some of the things said and could often kick off. It didn’t take a lot for it to kick off, put it that way.

‘Bally once claimed he had created this monster, like Dr Frankenstein. We could charm the birds off the trees with our football, but when it came to drinking and the horrible side of things, our many vices, we were ugly.

‘We regularly giggled about that, the environment was madness, pure madness, but we could play. For all the antics off the pitch, in the dressing room and day-to-day around the place, we could actually play good football.

‘That was us, tough as nails, able to keep clean sheets and score goals - a proper team and very consistent side.

‘Yet that dressing room was something else, definitely not for the faint-hearted.

‘My boot boys were Darren Anderton and Kit Symons and all the apprentices were scared to come into the changing room. Boots and socks would be thrown at them, you had to be a character just to survive among those players.

‘You either cried or laughed in a dressing room of 20 footballers – and the sense of humour was fantastic at Pompey. What’s more, we did a lot of crying and a lot of laughing.’

Mick Quinn made 137 Pompey appearances and scored 68 goals from March 1986 until July 1989.

Played Up Pompey Too, released in 2017, is still available from Amazon. While Played Up Pompey Three, which contains more of your favourite Blues players, is out in September.