DON Goodman’s FA Cup hat-trick for City spared him a terrifying dressing-room grilling from Bobby Campbell.

The well-travelled striker scored 185 goals in a 19-year career that kicked off as a teenager at Valley Parade.

Goodman was just 18 when he came off the bench against non-league Tow Law Town in November 1984 and netted a quickfire treble.

He sealed a flattering 7-2 win over the north east part-timers in the first round – and saved himself from an inquest with the team’s “Godfather”.

“We’d raced into a 3-0 lead but then Tow Law pulled a couple back,” said Goodman. “That was when Trevor Cherry and Terry Yorath chucked me on.

“If you look at the timing of the goals, I’d scored a hat-trick within seven minutes and the game was out of sight.

“But the biggest thing I remember was being scared of Bobby Campbell.

“He had a shot that I think was going in, but I helped it on its way just to be sure.

“Unfortunately, once I’d done that, I was getting pretty worried about what was going to happen in the dressing room after the game!

“I think the fact that I got a hat-trick probably saved me from some serious admonishment, shall we say.”

As the young deputy behind Campbell and John Hawley, Goodman got to know the northern Irishman very well – and the high bar that he would set for the team that would win Division Three.

“Bobby was the Godfather. He looked after us all and took us under his wing.

“He scared us at times and berated us if we didn’t do the right thing on the pitch.

“I’d have hated to be a winger. I know what John Hendrie and Mark Ellis went through.

“They got slaughtered by Bobby if the ball didn’t come into the box.

“But when you look back, the world was a different place and certainly football. It was a very physical sport and you had to stand up to the battles.

“What Bobby was doing was placing the demands on all of us. He was setting standards that we knew we could attain.

“If we fell below those standards, he was the first person to jump on you. He was a wily old fox.”

Leeds lad Goodman had caught City’s eye with a hat-trick in a trial game for the juniors.

Roy McFarland immediately offered him an apprenticeship but he had already had a job as an electrician with Leeds City Council.

Goodman was also playing for Collingham in the Northern Counties East League, whose manager warned him that only 10 per cent of apprentices gone on to make a career in football.

So, he turned down City’s offer, instead accepting a non-contract deal where both sides could walk away if things didn’t work out.

Goodman quickly progressed into the reserves – and remembers facing a star-studded Liverpool side at Anfield.

“We lost 3-1 and I was being marked by Steve Nicol and Gary Gillespie,” he recalled. “Liverpool had nine internationals playing.

“But Terry Yorath thought we gave them too much respect and got us in the next morning. He ran the ‘nuts’ off us, it was still to this day the hardest running session I’ve ever done!”

Goodman was still an electrician when Cherry gave him his debut against Newport in April 1984 aged 17. The young striker got a tenner for every appearance.

The real dilemma came that summer when City wanted him to sign professional. Again, Goodman took his time and struck a deal that gave him a day off every week to continue studying electrics at college.

But he broke into the team early and would start half of City’s league games on the way to promotion.

He added: “It was the most remarkable season on the field that ended in such tragedy off it.

“But I learned so much from that dressing room and those characters in it. I still argue that it was the best I’ve been in and I’ve been in some amazing dressing rooms.

“Even the chairman Stafford Heginbotham would come down and have a bit of banter with the lads.

“Stafford took a bit of stick in the end but he was probably one of the best chairmen that I was ever involved with. And obviously, Trevor Cherry and Terry Yorath were so good.

“It was those players, Bobby Campbell, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Dave Evans, Chris Withe that actually moulded me; not just as a footballer but as a human being.

“I was so raw and it took me about six months to get used to training every day as a professional. It was such a culture shock and I was knackered most of the time.

“We had spirit, camaraderie and togetherness but the biggest attribute of all was ability.

“If you look at the careers of a lot of those lads that they were having or would go on to have, it really was a great team.

“I think the way we won the league that season just highlighted it.

“It wasn’t an easy division but I thought we were streets ahead of everybody at that time.”

Goodman still does a very passable impression of Campbell but admitted: “I can’t remember ever doing it in front of him.

“I don’t think I would have been brave enough to do that!”