The player in question was Tony Cunningham, a centre forward from the eighties who was more famous for being one of our first black players than he was for scoring goals.
At the time when Cunningham arrived from Manchester City the St James’ Park crowd contained a notorious racist element, so the signing of a black player was a big story.
But the big forward, who also had spells with Sheffield Wednesday and Blackpool amongst others, says that he didn’t experience any abuse from the fans during his time here.
"There was certainly none that I could hear," he says about racial abuse, "and it wasn't as if I was doing that well or the team were flying.
"If someone had wanted to single me out, they had the perfect excuse because I didn't score too many goals and the team, for the most part, struggled.
"But none of the fears that I'd had before joining Newcastle ever materialised.
"The fans were just incredibly supportive of me throughout my time there."
Its good to know that Cunningham enjoyed his time at Newcastle, because i’m not so sure any of the supporters enjoyed it too much! Tony certainly gave 100%, but could only manage six goals in fifty games.
For some reason I can’t help but associate him with other eighties not so great strikers as Billy Whitehurst and George ‘Rambo’ Riley.
Apparently Cunningham is now working in Gainsborough as a solicitor and we wish him luck with his new career.
Sign up for your daily Toon News e-mail