During the summer, we've been serialising Farewell to Feethams, the best selling book.

Today, Nick Cusack, whom Quakers bought from Motherwell in 1992, remembers his spell at the club.

To splash out a club record fee for a striker, then sell him within five months of having been relegated, may not seem good business. But Nick, who arrived from Motherwell for £95,000 in January 1992, was a success, with both club and player benefiting.
“It was a case of returning to English football from Scotland," recalled Nick, who was one of the few Darlington players to have a press conference called on his arrival. "I didn't have a good relationship with Motherwell manager Tommy McLean. He told me Darlington had contacted him with an acceptable offer.
"What he didn't tell me was that Oxford had done the same, so it was not a decision I had to mull over. I jumped at it. I spent three years in Scotland and initially loved it.
"But there was no players' union there, and while the rule in England was that when your contract had expired they had a free transfer, in Scotland that was not the case.
"They had me over a barrel, so as English football offered a better financial environment, it was off to Darlington.”
But Nick hadn't lost his rapport with the Motherwell fans. Incredibly after his arrival at Darlington, there were a few orange shirts in the crowd at both Feethams and in away games.
"For one game, at Bury, there were a lot of them. I was a cult figure at Motherwell, and to have them travel down was a great feeling.
"I made good friends at Darlington, and many of the lads I played with I'm still in touch with. I found the north east friendly.”
Nick scored on his debut at Swansea in a 4-2 defeat, and at the time results were not going Quakers' way, as they struggled to establish themselves in the old Third Division.
Dick Corden was chairman, and he backed manager Frank Gray, hence the decision to sign Nick, who was 26.
But there is pressure with being the subject of the biggest ever fee for a club. As Nick recalled: "The chairman said if it didn't work out we were in trouble. He made a big financial commitment to the club and cared deeply.
"We were second bottom when I joined. One thing that struck me was the distance we had to travel. That first game at Swansea was an eye opener. In Scotland every game, except Aberdeen, was a short trip.
Nick had earlier played for Peterborough. He has fond memories of a return for he scored for Quakers in a 1-1 draw. "It's always nice to show an old club what they are missing." he said.
Nick netted twice in his final appearance, a 5-2 win over Exeter at Feethams when Gray had been replaced by Ray Hankin. “Frank was cool and reserved," said Nick. "Ray was boisterous and banged heads together. I liked them both, and being
at Darlington taught me to handle the pressure of a relegation battle, which later stood me in good stead.”
For Swansea Nick scored an equaliser at Feethams when Quakers missed out on promotion.
That 1-1 draw in March 2000 proved costly, and Nick's header did as much damage as any goal that season. "I was amazed Darlington didn't go up. They were the better side that day and we only just held on," he said. "But for me it was great, I was skipper and we won the title."
He had left Feethams for Oxford for the same fee Quakers paid. He didn't want to go, but Oxford were in a higher division, and Darlington wanted to rebuild.
So a brief but happy spell ended. "I'm pleased they got their money back. I liked
Darlington, and didn't want to have cost them," said Nick.
He went on to play for Fulham before being discarded when Kevin Keegan took over with millions to spend. In came the stars and out went an intelligent, committed and good player.
Of his days at Darlington he particularly remembers getting on the end of the
powerful kicks of keeper Mark Prudhoe.
"If I have any regrets it's that I didn't do better for Darlington. But I hadn't been
playing at Motherwell, so it took me a while to get match fit. But I did my best. You cannot say fairer than that."