After a very successful decade at the club, United goalkeeping coach Tony Caig saw his first spell at Brunton Park brought to an abrupt end in March 1999 when then owner Michael Knighton decided to sell him to Blackpool on transfer deadline day.
In the latest part of our exclusive interview with Caigy, he tells us about that move along with his time at Newcastle and his spells in Canada and the USA.
He said: "I never really wanted to leave to be honest. Round about that time, the bosman ruling had come into effect and at the age of 24 and coming to the end of my contract, that effectively made me a free agent.
"I was wanting to sign a new contract and from Christmas onwards tried to sort it out but Mr Knighton wasn't forthcoming in setting up any sort of negotiations. He then called me in a few days before transfer deadline day and told me Blackpool had made an offer and asked if I wanted to talk to them.
"I said I would rather stay but it was made clear that I wouldn't be getting a contract offer so I had no choice but to put myself first and see what they had to offer. I actually put off signing for them for a few days to see if anything could be done but he [Knighton] never rang me so I accepted the offer and made the move.
"The final game of that season Blackpool were at home to Colchester but I still managed to follow the Plymouth game. I actually still lived up in Stanwix at the time so I also got a feel for the build up to the game. Speaking to all the players, it was obvious how much pressure there was on them.
"As for the goal, you couldn't write a story like that, him coming up for a corner, smashing the ball in and the club staying up. It really was that close too - I spoke to David Brightwell after the game and he said the ref had told him that as soon as the corner was done then that was it, the game was over.
"After Blackpool I had a spell at Charlton and then a couple of years at Hibs. But not long after I moved to Scotland the game up there started to have a few money problems due to TV deals not being as lucrative. Clubs were trying to move players on if they could and I was one of them. I spent a few days training with Newcastle but then heard nothing of it and headed back to Edinburgh.
"I then got a call from Hibs telling me Newcastle had come in for me in the January transfer window and I made the move to St James' Park. I spent three years there, the first part of which was under Sir Bobby Robson who was the manager who signed me. Things were going really well at the time, with a real quality squad playing European football and sell-out crowds every week and it was a great thing to be part of.
"The move to Canada was a bit of an unusual one that came out of the blue. I was playing at Newcastle with David Edgar who is Canadian. His agent and Dad were over at Christmas and I was due to be out of contract the following summer. They asked if I'd ever thought about a move to North America and I was honest and said it had never crossed my mind.
"But I was open to any sort of new challenge and lower league football was something I'd already done so something different like that did interest me. An agent watched a few of my games and then took some DVDs over and Vancouver Whitecaps showed interest. I went over there and trained for a few days after which they offered me a two-year deal. The day after I finished my season at Newcastle I flew out to Canada and the following weekend was playing for the Whitecaps.
"It was a bit different from playing football over here but Vancouver was a great place to live. The club has actually got quite a good football history with plenty of famous players having played there such as Alan Ball, Peter Lorimer and Bruce Grobbelaar so it was a decent place to play. We won the league the first year I was there and set a clean sheet record for the club so it was a pretty enjoyable time in my career.
"After that I had a spell at Houston Dynamo in the MLS which was another great experience, playing against the likes of David Beckham, Claudio Lopez and Blanco, who played for Mexico at the World Cup this summer. The weather could be unbelievably hot at times and that often worked to our advantage as teams couldn't cope with it.
"People say that those top players only go to the USA in their early to mid thirties, but you still have to take it very seriously. Thierry Henry is going to find that now at New York Red Bulls - if he goes there and thinks he can cruise it then he is likely to get found out very quickly."
Part Two of the video interview with Tony will be available to United Player subscribers later today, with Part One already available to watch. A freeview clip can be viewed at the top of the page in which Tony talks about his time with Houston Dynamo in the MLS.
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