Despite managing Chesterfield for four years, former Sunderland coach Arthur Cox was a relative newcomer to management when he took over at Newcastle, and it took some time for his talents to show. In the early '80s football wasn't really top of the agenda for most people, and crowds dipped badly, with Newcastle pulling in only 18,000 on average thanks to some uninspiring, insipid football. But then Cox pulled off an absolute master-stroke, convincing Kevin Keegan to sign for Newcastle in the Second Division, despite interest from Manchester United. Under Cox, Newcastle started to play the brilliant attacking football that would later underpin the philosophies of Keegan's Entertainers side, hiding defensive frailty with their ability to pour forward with Keegan, Beardsley and Waddle. Cox signed some incredibly gifted players, from Waddle and Beardsley to Terry McDermott, David McCreery and while he left after promotion to Division One after he wasn't promised enough funds, he was a key under-rated part of changing the philosophy at Newcastle.
