Tommy Cassidy, who has died aged 73, was a footballer lauded as a hero for Newcastle United in the 1970s, twice helping them reach Wembley finals; a strong and skilful midfielder, he also enjoyed a successful international career with Northern Ireland – despite the distractions of rooming with football’s ultimate party animal, George Best.
By 1980 he was already a favourite of the Newcastle fans, but he gained Toon Army immortality on New Year’s Day when his long-range screamer at St James’ Park sealed victory over Sunderland, deadly local rivals. “I have lived on it ever since,” he said years later. “In truth, everywhere I have gone people ask me about it. It’s probably got me 40,000 pints of beer. Even when I sit on my own at times I look back and reflect on it.”
Thomas Cassidy was born in Belfast on November 18 1950 and joined local side Glentoran, making an immediate impact on the Irish League and scoring a hat-trick in the 7-1 demolition of Bangor in the City Cup final. After just 14 first-team games Newcastle swooped to sign him for £15,000 in October 1970.
They brought him on slowly, but by 1973 he was establishing himself in the first team as an attacking midfielder and played his part in the 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Anglo-Italian Cup final.
That year, after he had scored the winner in a game against Arsenal, one of the club officials observed that he looked unhappy. He explained that it was because a bomb had gone off in Belfast – it was the height of the Troubles – and he was sick with worry about his family.
Within half an hour, he recalled, the club’s chairman Lord Westwood had set the wheels in motion to bring his parents and brothers over to the mainland. “The club sorted them houses and my dad a job. Can you believe that? My three brothers all married Geordie girls.”
He rewarded the club by helping them reach the 1974 FA Cup final, where they were predictably outclassed by Liverpool in Bill Shankly’s final game in charge, and the 1976 League Cup final defeat to Manchester City, which is best remembered for Dennis Tueart’s match-winning overhead kick.
Cassidy had made his Northern Ireland debut against England in 1971 – and roomed with George Best, which unsurprisingly had its hazards. “He bought me my first alcoholic drink, at the Abercorn in Belfast,” he recalled. “We sat at the back for a cabaret show but when the lights went on everyone saw Bestie and that was it, the women flocked towards us. I was a kid, still a virgin, I didn’t have a clue. I rang home and my mum said, ‘Get yourself back to the hotel now’.”
On one occasion in the small hours the phone in their room at the Grand Hotel in Belfast rang. It was the American singer Johnny Mathis, who wanted to speak to Best.
“Tell him to piss off,” said Best. “‘I can’t do that,” said Cassidy, “he’s my dad’s favourite singer, he’d kill me.” But Best was not to be moved, and Cassidy had to let Mathis down gently, explaining that Best was sleeping.
His only international goal in his 24 games – there would have been more caps but for a two-year falling-out with the national manager Danny Blanchflower – came in the 1-0 victory against Scotland at Hampden Park in 1974.
“I’m not a name dropper, but I took the ball off Denis Law near our own penalty area, Kenny Dalglish dived in but didn’t get it, I played a one-two round Billy Bremner, somehow got past big Jim Holton, swayed round Sandy Jardine, the Rangers full-back, and nicked the ball beyond David Harvey. No name dropper, me!”
Becoming more of a defensive midfielder as a succession of injuries left him less able to maraud up the pitch, Cassidy was the linchpin of Northern Ireland’s triumphant Home Nations Championship campaign in 1980 and rounded off his international career at the 1982 World Cup in Spain by coming off the bench as a 49th-minute substitute in the famous victory over the hosts in Valencia, still the greatest performance by a Northern Irish side; he steadied the ship after Mal Donaghy was sent off with 27 minutes left.
Cassidy and Gerry Armstrong, who famously scored the winner, were selected for drugs tests after the game. “We couldn’t pee, we were so dehydrated, and Gerry had a few Guinnesses to help him along. He was singing Danny Boy and all sorts.”
In 1980 he had moved to Burnley, winning the Third Division title, finishing his playing career by helping APOEL win the Cypriot Cup and Super Cup. He then spent four years as the club’s manager, leading them to the league title, while his other posts included Workington, and Ards back in Northern Ireland; they sacked him in October 1999 because they were unhappy with their promotion prospects – they were second in the table at the time.
Cassidy spent his retirement in his adopted home town, Newcastle. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s and latterly attended Newcastle United’s Memory Cafe, assisted by his second wife Rosemary; he had met her while managing Workington and they married in 2009.
She died a few weeks before him and he is survived by three daughters and a son from his first marriage.
Tommy Cassidy, born November 18 1950, died August 2 2024
