the head and drew blood. Basically this had been a domestic situation that had got a little out of hand and it should have been left at that. But a neighbour who had come on the scene asked if she should get the police and, without thinking, I said yes. If I'd only given myself a minute to think I wouldn't have said it. Yes, I was upset, but I obviously wasn't prepared for the consequences." For weeks after the alleged assault, Gallacher began wandering the streets. Many people spoke to him including Newcastle players and staff offering support and assuring him that no one would believe the press and their scandalous statements. Many offered to speak on his behalf. Denied access to his son and with the court appearance looming, Gallacher began to get increasingly irrational. A local reporter friend said he looked like 'a traumatised man walking in a glassy-eyed dream'. Gallacher said to a friend, "It's no good fighting this thing now. They have got me on this one. My life is finished. It's no use fighting when you know you can't win." He was summoned to Gateshead Magistrates Court for Wednesday 12 June 1957. On 11 June, he posted a short message to the Gateshead Coroner expressing his regrets at what he had caused, adding that 'if he had lived to be 100 he would never be able to forgive himself for having hurt Mattie'. He then wandered aimlessly through the streets ignoring the greetings of several people. On the day of his death, two young trainspotters watched him for half an hour pacing backwards and forwards on a footbridge over the London-Edinburgh railway line at Low Fell, Gateshead. He was openly weeping, talking to himself and occasionally pounding the bridge rail with his fists. He stepped down from the bridge and killed himself by walking in front of an oncoming express train. When the effects of his father's suicide had subsided Mattie returned home to stay with his elder brother Hughie, before moving to South Africa in 1965. Legacy On 13 December 2021, a brick memorial tribute was unveiled to Hughie Gallacher at Pride Park Stadium, Derby County F.C. It is hoped that in time a similar statue campaign will also be kicked off to erect a permanent memorial at St James' Park, Newcastle United. "A memorial brick in memory of former Derby County centre