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Cushing - the man who lifted the Magpies up
The Chronicle
|November 20, 2025
IT was just after tea time, 6.30pm on August 19, 1982. The place: a private room in the Gosforth Park Hotel on the outskirts of Newcastle. Russell Cushing, renowned secretary of Newcastle United, rose to his feet to address a packed Press conference.
With all the razzmatazz of a Muhammad Ali circus announcement a rather self-conscious Cushing uttered the words “We're in heaven, we've got Kevin.”
Contrived, yes, without question and a tad embarrassing to a football man of dignity but you had to beat the drum.
United, deep in the depression of Second Division football, had pulled off the greatest signing in their illustrious history.
Kevin Keegan, captain of England, European Cup winner with Liverpool, twice Ballon d’Or winner at Hamburg, had signed for a giant not just having 40 winks but staggering on its last legs.
This story is from the November 20, 2025 edition of The Chronicle.
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