Paul Cox recalls how he became Mansfield Town manager

He relived the approach when he was at Eastwood Town during a recent Q&A night - Legends Live - at One Call Stadium.

“It started here,” he said. “We played a Notts Senior Cup game against Carlton Town here.

“We were lucky enough to win the game and I was just in the bar having a beer and my assistant Richard Cooper, who still works for the club, came over and told me Mansfield Town were on the verge of signing one of our talented players, Lindon Meikle.

“I turned round and saw John Radford and Mark Hawkins tapping him up.

“I turned away and then I got a tap on the shoulder from John Radford who said he was really impressed with what we did and could he have a chat with me?

“The stuff at Eastwood is well documented. We couldn’t get promoted. I had been lucky enough to work for a great guy – Rob Yong – at the time. It just went from there.”

Cox and his assistant Adam Murray cruised to legendary status by rescuing the club from the pits of the Conference and back into the Football League.

So the pair were delighted to get a warm welcome back when they brought Guiseley to the One Call Stadium for an FA Cup tie eight months ago which Stags won 3-0.

“It was excellent coming back,” smiled Cox. “In the build-up I think a lot of people were putting the emphasis on me and Muz coming back. But we never looked at it as that.

“We were lucky to get the reception we did. And I think we tried our hardest to give you the result you wanted to get you through to the next round!

“I think we’ll always have a closeness to the club. I’m a Nottingham boy so I always keep an eye on the results here.”

Cox still believes it was the mental side of the game that got Stags over the title-winning line in 2013.

“We can talk about tactical and technical but it’s the mindset of a group that’s most important and what I’ve always worked on,” he said.