Tommy Cassidy achieved footballing immortality when he was part of the Northern Ireland team that defeated World Cup hosts Spain in the famous victory in 1982.
The Belfast man, nearing the end of his international career, came on as a substitute in the 49th minute and would help the 10 men hold on to a 1-0 lead to record one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Two years earlier he had been a key figure in the side that won Home Championship, contested annually with England, Scotland and Wales, for the first time outright since partition.
And he became a cult hero at Newcastle United that same year when he scored a 30-yard screamer to help beat bitter rivals Sunderland in a game at St James’ Park on New Year’s Day.
“I have lived on it ever since,” he recalled. “In truth, everywhere I have gone people ask me about it. It’s probably got me 40,000 pints of beer.”
Born in Belfast in 1950, Cassidy began his playing career with Glentoran and made an immediate impact, with Newcastle making a £15,000 offer after seeing him score eight goals in just 14 senior appearances – and bringing his family over to England too.
He would play 239 times in all between 1970 and 1980, helping them reach the finals of the FA Cup and League Cup and scoring 28 goals, before spending three years with Burnley and finishing his playing career in Cyprus with Apoel Nicosia.
He earned 24 international caps in this time under Danny Blanchflower and Billy Bingham and scored his only goal for Northern Ireland in a game with Scotland in 1974.
He also had the dubious privilege of rooming with George Best: “He bought me my first alcoholic drink, at the Abercorn in Belfast,” he said. “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 rang home and my mum said, ‘Get yourself back to the hotel now’.”
At the end of his playing career he managed Apoel from 1985-89, winning a league title, and also had spells in charge of Glentoran – saving them from relegation before winning the Irish Cup in 1996 – as well as Ards, Sligo Rovers and a series of clubs in the north-east of England, where continued to live in retirement.
Remembered as a gentleman, he suffered from Alzheimer’s in recent years and died aged 73 on August 2.
Survived by his children Jennifer, Anders, Victoria and Hannah, his daughter Hannah posted on X: “Everybody dies but not everybody lives and my God did he live a life. Father, grandad, son, brother, uncle and footballer – the very best kind of man. Rest in peace dad, we love you endlessly.”
