That was the first season St James' Park had betting booths on sight, so the temptation was there to slap a fiver on the midfielder for the first goal (usually at odds of 15/1).
I did it religiously, and he rattled the bar against Oldham, Blackburn and Bournemouth that 1989/90 season, and hit the post against Stoke.
But he NEVER scored - first goal or last goal (or any inbetween) - and I lost a friggin fortune.
The fact he was a Mackem didn't help, and every defeat we suffered he was reminded of the great Tyne/Wear divide.
So where is this story leading?
He was appointed manager of Aldershot yesterday.
While there is a gamble in the appointment in that this is Dillon's first role as a manager - bar a brief spell as caretaker at Reading, six years ago - Dillon has been in football for a long time.
He played as a teenager under Sir Alf Ramsey at Birmingham City, then went to Portsmouth, the Toon and Reading.
More than a decade of coaching followed at Reading, assisting Alan Pardew and Steve Coppell, before he left there in May.
Dillon: "It's good to get back in the game. I'm sick of gardening, hoovering and dusting.
"The courses I have been on [for my badges] have been great from a football educational side of things but it's the contacts that you make there that are so important.
"Yes, I've got some good contacts.
"I'm very into the scientific approach. "