Cyril Knowles brought defender John MacPhail to the club from Sunderland in 1990. With MacPhail already 34 when he made his Pools debut it looked a short term option, but the veteran provided four years of excellent service as the club won promotion from Division Four and then enjoyed three seasons in the higher division. MacPhail was appointed manager in November 1993, but failed to keep Pools in the third division and lost his job after winning just 7 of his 36 games in charge.