This week sees the release of "Touching Distance", a book that charts the 1995-96 season that proved one of the most dramatic in Newcastle United's history. The book's author, Martin Hardy, explains why he wrote it and publishes an extract containing the thoughts of former Magpies defender Robbie Elliott

AT the start of February, 1992, Newcastle United were facing relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history. They were also facing bankruptcy. St James’ Park had been neglected, the club’s best players had been sold.

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In a daring move, Newcastle appointed Kevin Keegan as manager. Keegan, the two-time European Footballer of the Year, had played for the club between 1982 and 1984. He had been out of football since.

His appointment as manager was as big a shock as when he arrived as a player.

Exactly four years after Keegan’s return to the North-East, Newcastle were top of the Premiership, nine points clear of Manchester United, having played a game less.

It would turn out to be one of the most memorable seasons in the modern history of English football. Keegan’s side would play a unique brand of football and become known as the Entertainers. They would take part in a game at Anfield that became widely recognised as the best the Premier League has ever seen. Keegan would also famously square up to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Touching Distance tells the story of that remarkable season, through the highs and the lows of a truly dramatic campaign. It also traces the seeds of the revival back to Keegan’s first spell as a player, to his return and the dramatic impact he had on a football club, its supporters and an entire region.

Touching Distance talks to the people who made it happen, the players, the coaching staff and the board and relives a truly momentous period for the club. It is a story of hopes and dreams and when, for Newcastle United, anything seemed possible.

Extract from Touching Distance - Robbie Elliott

"MY first game back after being out for so long with injury was Oldham away in 1993. That was like my second debut. Aye, it wasn’t a bad game to come back for. I didn’t plan it like that!

"Coming back that night was what dreams are made of. When I was injured I used to travel to away games, just to see what it was like. It’s a different animal being a Newcastle away fan.

"Just to be playing again was special. I used to look around the dressing room and it was my friends and when I went back I was looking up and it was Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole.

"'This is getting a bit scary, what am I doing sat here?' That’s what I thought. You think you’re sat in the wrong place.

"It was just incredible to be part of that and to be made to feel part of that as well. Obviously Kevin saw something in me to give me the opportunity when I was recovering. My contract? It sounds weird, but that’s not why you’re doing it. Jesus, they didn’t have to break the bank to keep me involved!"

The start of the following season was at Leicester, when Philippe Albert made his bow in English football. Elliott came on and scored, and when he did, he ran in front of the celebrating visiting fans, in the same end they had been housed when David Kelly sat with them because of the fighting, and he danced like a chicken.

"I went on holiday to Turkey with Hunty (Andy Hunt) and obviously there had to be drink involved and we were sat on a bar stool and he was trying to take off and started flapping his arms," he says.

"I went, 'What are you doing?' We had a bet there and then. Whoever scores first in the season has to do the chicken dance, that was the bet.

"I knew I was ready to be involved, and to play, and it was great to get the opportunity at Leicester. I just didn’t expect to score, but when I did I danced like a chicken! It was memorable."

Newcastle were back in European football by then. Now he was being watched by the supporters with the big flags who had climbed alongside him in the Bigg Market.

Like Albert, he would not forget the first trip to Antwerp either.

"None of us had really experienced it before," he adds. "We went to Antwerp and the fans took over. I’m struggling to say how good it felt. You were coming through a foreign city on the bus and there were just Geordies everywhere. It was really something proud. To go to a place we’d never heard of and play was just unbelievable.

"Did it mean more being a Geordie? I can’t answer that because I know it meant a hell of a lot to the other players, but I can’t imagine it can have felt any better than it did for me.

"Antwerp felt like a home game. It was one of the great experiences. Just to travel abroad and fly with the team was something we’d never done. It brought us closer together. Obviously we reaped the rewards in the season after..."

* Touching Distance is published by deCoubertin Books, priced £18.99.

It can be purchased from www.touchingdistance.com

Martin Hardy (@mhardysport) and Keith Gillespie will be holding a talk-in at the Benedectine Social Club in Cramlington on August 13 and at 42nd Street in Whitley Bay on August 14. For tickets call 07742936570.

Martin Hardy has been writing about football in the North-East for three decades. He was senior sports reporter at the Sunday Sun, before moving to the Sunday People and then to the Daily Mail. More recently he has worked for the News of the World and the Independent. He currently writes for the Sunday Times.