The departure of Chris Waddle from Newcastle to Spurs did not help Newcastle’s league fortune; they could only manage to finish the campaign off in 11th place. They were woeful in the FA Cup as they crashed out in the third round losing to Brighton and Hove Albion. The 1986-87 season showed little improvement for the Geordies and their league campaign was an unmitigated disaster, they gradually disintegrated as the season wore on and were fortunate to avoid relegation, finishing off in a dismal 17th position. They had a horrid time in the FA cup, losing 1-0 to Bradford City and they lost against spurs in the last sixteen of the FA cup.
The 1987-88 season saw a huge improvement by Newcastle and that was partly due to signing their new Brazilian star, Mirandinha. He scored some breathtaking goals for the Geordies and helped the club finish the season off in a respectable 8th place.
The Geordies reached the last sixteen of the FA cup once again, this time losing out to eventual winners, Wimbledon, 3-1. The following season saw a very poor Newcastle cup campaign, elimination stared the side in the face after an embarrassing defeat in the league cup against Sheffield United; they also crashed out the FA Cup third round, losing to Watford. It was their league form that stole the headlines for the wrong reasons, they finished the season off, rock bottom in the league, demoting the club to the second division.
Their first season back in the second division was unfortunate, they did enough to usually gain promotion however they just missed out on automatic promotion, finishing the season off in third position, they narrowly missed out on promotion via the play offs as they were eliminated as they narrowly lost to Swindon. They reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, losing to eventual winners, Manchester United.