In the summer of 1971, after more continental drama, Joe Harvey tried a different formula, with both Robson and Davies moving on; Harvey paid a club record fee for arrogant Cockney striker Malcolm MacDonald, and the next five years belonged to "Supermac". The new season saw Newcastle at the foot of the table and knocked out of the FA Cup by then non-league Hereford United. Goals from MacDonald and the midfield strength of Terry Hibbitt and Tony Green saved the Magpies from the drop and a new period of entertaining, but not always successful, football followed. United made another appearance at Wembley in the FA Cup in 1974, where they failed to produce anything like their best form, and were soundly beaten 3-0 by Liverpool, who had Kevin Keegan in sparkling form. Harvey departed in 1975 and virtually unknown manager, Gordon Lee, took over. Gordon disliked the 'star system' in his teams and the teams he put together increasingly failed to excite the Newcastle public. Lee clashed with MacDonald, and although United went back to Wembley for the 1976 League Cup final and enjoyed their highest league placing for 25 years, Lee's sale of MacDonald to Arsenal was not well received on Tyneside to say the least. On his departure, MacDonald said "I loved Newcastle, until Gordon Lee took over". Newcastle however, did not appear to miss Supermac, qualifying for the UEFA Cup despite Lee's own departure to Everton mid way through the following season. Lee's sensational departure focussed the media on St. James' and into the furore stepped former coach Richard Dinnis. There was a headlined "Players Revolt" surrounding Dinnis and as attendances dropped to below 8,000 - as low as anyone could remember - the now familiar relegation battle was lost in 1978. A long rebuilding programme started, which saw first Bill McGarry in charge, then Arthur Cox. The crisis around the turn of the decade deepened with disillusioned supporters drifting away from a poor team and a worsening financial plight which eventually saw changes on the board. In 1982, Cox brought striker Kevin Keegan to St. James' for a bargain 100,000 pounds. This proved to be the catalyst for success, and the team, featuring budding stars such as Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle gained promotion to the first division in 1984. However, the board refused to give Cox funds for new players, Keegan retired and Cox left for Derby County. What had looked like a new era, turned suddenly to dust! But then the board appointed local hero, and former England World Cup ace, Jack Charlton as manager. Charlton made the team more solid, playing occasional good football. However, Charlton's playing strategy, friction with Waddle and his apparent disinclination to find quality players in the transfer market, did not always make him popular - the fans booed him during a friendly match with Sheffield United and he resigned, later attaining more international glory!

Enter former United keeper, Willie McFaul, as manager. During this spell, despite having Brazilian international striker Miran dinha, Beardsley, Waddle and a superslim Paul Gascoigne, Newcastle failed to finish higher than 5th in the league, with no real cup success either. The board's lack of ambition was typified when several key players were sold, Waddle in '86, Beardsley in '87 and Gazza in '88. The club made no reasonable attempt to replace any of these players, and relegation soon followed in 1989. McFaul departed and Jim Smith took over.