Tag: Footballers

NUFC: Don’t leave me this way!

Whichever way you turn so far this summer, it seems you’ll be hearing or reading about one of our stars leaving. Mostly you’ll hear that FFP, or whatever other set of initials it’s been given, dictate that we have to sell. But then if you choose to delve into the cesspit of social media you might well hear it’s because the player is unhappy or he’s made it known that he wants to join another club. They mostly all want to join Arsenal, for some reason. I can’t begin to think why the likes of Bruno or Isak would be getting in touch with random Arsenal ITKs in order to let them know their plans, but some tool somewhere wants to believe that it’s true.

But should we be living in fear of star players being sold? The answer is that I’m not entirely sure, but what I can categorically say is that there’s possibly never been a better time for the likes of Bruno, Isak and Gordon to put down roots. And that’s sadly not really been the case for a very long time.

As an older Toon fan I’ve watched on helplessly as most of my heroes were sold. In fact, I also had to listen to my dad’s anger when the club sold Supermac. I was four at the time, but let’s just say that he was still ranting about it some years later! Almost 50 years have passed since that moment, so it shows that this certainly isn’t a new problem for fans to deal with.

As I got older and started attending games it just kept happening though. Kevin Keegan deciding to retire was a blow, but that at least couldn’t be helped. But then we started to sell our biggest and best players. The first notable exit was of Chris Waddle who had shone in the promotion side of ’84 and was tipped for great things by Keegan himself. And he’d go on to achieve them…just with other clubs when he was sold in 1985! Another integral part of that promotion side was Peter Beardsley, but he too was sold, this time in 1987 to Liverpool for a record £1.9m fee. The most heartbreaking exit for me though was that of Paul Gascoigne, a player labelled ‘the best in the world’ by none other than Jackie Milburn. Gazza brought in another record fee of £2.2m when he was sold to Spurs, but the money didn’t offer even a crumb of comfort.

In a world without the internet I would be scanning the pages of the Chronicle or whatever tabloid my dad had brought home from work, for confirmation that the club wasn’t going to sell any of these players. I remember vividly convincing myself that as each rumour hit, that the player wouldn’t leave. Naïve me told myself that there couldn’t possibly be a reason for them to leave. To teenage Graham, Newcastle United was the pinnacle of all achievement, football or otherwise.

However, to Waddle, Beardsley and Gazza the club lacked ambition and the rewards they could gain elsewhere made Newcastle’s offerings small fry. While Waddle and Gazza left for the bright lights of London and later Europe, Beardsley went on to win league titles and an FA Cup with Liverpool. Newcastle United under the chairman Stan Seymour and managers like Jack Charlton and Willie Macfaul just couldn’t compete. Worse still, they didn’t really want to compete either. Think Mike Ashley, but 30 years before.

Later on in life, I’d understand as I realised that there were other clubs that were actually much bigger than us and that all those trophies counted for something. I even discovered that I’d have to leave the North East myself in order to find work. But as a youngster looking at the world through black and white eyes, I was angry, frustrated and heartbroken at the fact that over the course of 3 years we’d dismantled a potentially fantastic side and sold 3 local lads on into the bargain.

Fast forward to now and Newcastle United under the present ownership is a vastly different animal. In fact, if they show even a little bit of patience those players will find there’s no need to leave at all.

Most importantly of all, the players are all clearly very happy playing for Newcastle United. And we know that for a number of reasons. Just look at what they’ve said about the place recently.

Anthony Gordon – “I’ve never come to a stadium where I get the feeling of just pure joy…I absolutely love this place.”

Bruno Guimaraes – “I have never felt so loved at a club before. It is lovely how much the fans love me, I love them as well.” He also recently added that he’s “at my best moment in my personal life, in my professional life”.

Alexander Isak – “I am really, really happy at Newcastle. I love everything about the club, the fans, the city. I don’t really have any thoughts of moving or anything like that. I’m having a great time and I’m very happy with my life.”

They don’t sound like players that are looking to move, do they? And I know that they’re only words and that the badge kissing ultimately doesn’t have to mean anything either, but put it all together and it represents a pretty good measure of their happiness on Tyneside.

Aside from something as direct as saying how much they love the place, there are other reasons why these players certainly should stay at Newcastle.

At the moment, these players are part of a very good team. Without doubt – and with a little bit of luck on the injury front – they could be part of a great team though; a Newcastle United side that goes down in history. Despite what some of the more negative side of our fanbase would have you believe, there’s plenty of room for optimism. A Champions League campaign and a Cup Final appearance within the last two years suggests that we’re very much heading in the right direction, especially when you compare that to the previous 15 years or so.

The team that these players are such a crucial part of also have much responsibility, carrying as they do the hopes of so many supporters. These players could be the first to win a trophy in my lifetime, the first to bring silverware back to Tyneside since that Fairs Cup triumph in 1969. Surely, that’s enough ambition right there? By staying and fulfilling their potential these players could go down in history; so why leave and shirk the challenge?

Unlike with regimes of the past, our owner’s ambitions match that of the players. The idea is to win trophies and the owners are spending money and securing financial backing left, right and centre in order to make that happen. The stadium is fairly certain to be developed and a new training ground is being planned. Our facilities will soon be a match those of any club in the world.

There’s no doubt that new players will be added to the squad where possible in every window, especially if the FFP rules somehow manage to get amended. Players like Bruno, Botman, Joelinton, Isak and Gordon are an integral part of what’s being built and to my mind, there’s very little reason for them to leave unless it’s what they desperately want and is too good and opportunity to miss. For instance, I think we’d all understand if Real Madrid came in for any of our top players…unless you’re like teenage me of course!

Clearly, the future’s bright at Newcastle United and players such as Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon should want to play a big part in that. There are more reasons to stay than there are to leave, even when we’re looking at the situation through black and white tinted spectacles. Let’s just hope the players see it that way!

NUFC: Dan Ashworth and the changing face of the academy.

Some months ago, I wrote an article about the state of the Newcastle United academy. It was largely a tale of failure over the years and of neglect, particularly during Mike Ashley’s tenure, with gambling on talent released by other clubs or kids being brought in from non league to compliment the local talent. In short, the academy hadn’t been working, with only a handful of first team players of any quality emerging over the course of far too many years.

However, like Gary Barlow and his band of oiled up and oddly dressed mates once sung, ‘everything changes’ and in the case of our academy there’s now more than a hint of hope again.

So how have things changed then? Well, it would appear to be down to the masterplan of one man; Dan Ashworth, who seems driven to rebuilding our club from the bottom up. And thus, the whole approach to investment in our younger years has begun to take on a bit of a transformation.

As a fan, it’s nice to feel like there’s a plan. As someone who’s followed the club since the late 70s, ever since I was able to understand the concept of youth teams, our system has never felt like it’s the work of a professional football club and we’ve lagged behind names as wide and varied as Manchester United, Liverpool, Crewe Alexandra and even Sunderland. While others have appeared to have had some kind of conveyor belt producing first team ready players, we’ve been metaphorically hunting down the back of the sofa for small change. For every Gazza type of success, there have been dozens of young players released from the club. If anything, it’s felt like a fluke when a young player has actually come through to the first team.

Our new plan appears to be effective in its simplicity. We’re scouting the best young players in all age groups from various countries and attempting to bring them to the club. We’re investing money. I mean, you’d have imagined someone might have thought of it before now, really. Of course, it’s a wider net than just that, but it’s still simple all the same.

It’s the picture closer to home that really interests me though as it seems like we’re delving down the age groups and attempting to cherry pick the best talent from the home nations too. However, where before we seemed to be happy just to take a chance on kids who’d been released from other Premier League clubs – Charlie Wiggett, Rosaire Longelo and Remi Savage spring to mind – now we’re upping our game somewhat.

In the recent past, under Ashley, we did take the odd chance on youth. But it was never an expensive or risky gamble. The signing of Regan Thomson is a case in point as we paid £60k to Queens Park to bring the highly rated 16-year-old to St. James’ in 2020, beating Celtic and Rangers to his signature and then failed to develop his talents. Thomson was released in summer 2022 and as of June this year has been without a club having left East Kilbride back in Scotland. I must confess, I’d forgotten all about him. Similarly, Jake Turner was taken from Bolton after they’d gone into administration but didn’t make the grade here, although he is playing league football with Gillingham now.

Under Dan Ashworth’s guidance lots changed in the youth ranks. While we still have a fair number of local lads battling to follow in the footsteps of Sean Longstaff and Paul Dummett, the focus feels like it’s shifted somewhat and moved up a gear, if you like. The shift began with the signing of Garang Kuol last year, but the pace has stepped up even more since then.

This summer saw Newcastle bring in several highly rated youngsters from various domestic clubs. And we’ve started young too! Firstly, there was a compensation fee paid to Port Vale for 14-year-old midfielder Michael Mills. Then, we shelled out a reported 5 figure fee for 16-year-old striker Kacey Wooster from Southend’s academy.

After that we’ve also signed up a number of highly rated young players for the Academy and Under 21 sides, both of which have underperformed for years. England Under 17 internationals Leo Shahar from Wolves and Travon Sanusi from Birmingham have come in and seem to have made an immediate impact. On top of that we’ve also signed 17-year-old midfielder Travis Hernes from Shrewsbury, a kid who’d already made first team appearances for the League One Shrews.

But the investment in youth didn’t stop on these shores. Of course, we signed Yankuba Minteh (19) from Odense, a player who already look first team ready with his loan exploits at Feyenoord. Add to that the signing of Cathal Heffernan from AC Milan and it’s clear that we’re intent on making our youth set up far more competitive than ever.

Obviously, when investing in youth there’s never a guarantee of success. Year in, year out for instance, there seems to be a ‘highly rated’ striker in the academy set up and yet a breakthrough to the first team is rare. Even Andy Carroll had been played at left back for much of his youth career with the club. In recent years Elias Sorensen, Tom Allan and Tom Heardman were all touted for success after Carroll, but none was able to make the step up.

I’ll confess to knowing little of our new arrivals. Obviously though, Minteh looks to be a real find. I actually watched Hernes play for Shrewsbury against Leeds, but couldn’t say I noticed anything special that night. After that, I’m guessing. Experience tells me that someone with Heffernan’s background might well be a good bet for the first team in the future. And Travon Sanusi comes with a glowing reputation. As for the rest, who knows? Luckily though, the scouting network has been vastly improved in the two years since the takeover and in Dan Ashworth we have someone with a track record that we can trust.

You can be sure that the additions at youth level will continue through the season and year after year from then too. At the time we signed Heffernan there was also a lot of talk about signing his international team mate Kevin Zefi from Inter too. It didn’t come to fruition, but I’d be surprised if moves aren’t still being made. And with scouts working hard across the world, there will be other targets being constantly monitored too.

The professional approach to youth team football is a refreshing change of direction for the club. Newcastle United are now establishing themselves as an attractive proposition and you can be sure that will catch the eye of many talented youngsters who end up with their choice of clubs. With Ashworth at the helm it feels like we can rest assured that we’re now a totally viable option and that hopefully we’ll be regularly producing first team regulars from within our own ranks.

These are much needed exciting times for our academy set up. The future’s bright. The future’s black and white and it appears to be in very good hands!

Dear Gabby Agbonlahor (and any other deluded, misinformed football pundits).

I’ve supported Newcastle United FC all my life. I don’t often blog about them, but occasionally something crops up that piques my interest and gets me typing. This is one of those occasions. Let me explain.

Over the weekend the TalkSport pundit and ex Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor offered his audience some rather stupid views about Newcastle United. Now, I’ve only seen a clip of this, but essentially his point was that no one would want to sign for Newcastle. By ‘no one’ I’m taking it he meant players of any great quality and those that might get us out of the kind of trouble that we currently find ourselves in. His argument was something along the lines of “If a player was offered £40k a week to play for Newcastle or £30k a week to play for Brentford, he’d choose Brentford because players don’t want to live in Newcastle, they want to live in London.” What, all of them?

Now, I’m not an idiot. I realise that there are players who would turn us down in order to go and live in London. But his comments got me thinking. At first, like many others, I thought of the many attractions of my home town. Then I recalled some of the brilliant players we’ve had over the years. In fact, several of these former players took to social media to refute Gabby’s argument. More of this later.

What struck my mostly, when I’d had time to think about it a bit, was how utterly absurd a point Agbonlahor had made. Because of course, even a small amount of thought would produce a list of players who signed for less glamorous clubs than those in London. Some went for money, others to play for a certain manager and others because doing their homework revealed a lot about the clubs they would sign for and the cities in which they’d live and told them that although there was no Harrods, they could probably have an excellent quality of life wherever they lived. I mean, taking Gabby’s £30k or £40k a week analogy, earning more than a average person’s yearly salary in a week might make life quite easy really. But not in Newcastle though. Never in Newcastle. Take less money, to play in front of less fans at a smaller club because…London. As I said earlier, utterly absurd.

It’s widely acknowledged that Diego Maradona was and is one of the greatest – if not the greatest – footballers to ever grace a pitch. A breathtaking talent, worshipped wherever he played. And yet, he was arguably happiest at Napoli. That’s in Naples, Gabby. That’s in Italy, Gabby. Europe, Gabby. Maradona left Barcelona and signed for a club in Naples; not AC or Inter of Milan, not Lazio or Roma, but Napoli, a city that while far sunnier is totally comparable to Newcastle in terms of its economic profile and appeal. And unless I’ve missed something, Naples doesn’t have a Harrods, a Thames, a London Eye or a Buckingham Palace either.

Fast forward to the present day and a player that many would deem the best in the world plays in an industrial city in northern Britain where, on first glance, it might not seem like the best place to live. And yet, Mo Salah is as happy as a pig in the proverbial. I understand the draw of Liverpool FC, but looking at what Gabby tells us, it proves a point. Liverpool is nowhere near London, yet even in their barren years they’ve signed a great number of quality footballers.

Explain to me also, the phenomenon of world class footballers from many countries of the world, joining clubs in the arse end of Russia or China to play their football. The quality of life or that of the shopping doesn’t matter if the right amount of money is waved in some people’s direction. And while the majority of fans would rather it was a direction we didn’t take, if money needs to be waved, we’ve got enough to tempt most players out of signing for Brentford. And that’s no disrespect to Brentford.

A little bit of thought also added the following names to throw at Gabby’s argument. De Bruyne at Wofsburg, Hazard at Lille, Ravanelli, Juninho and Emerson at Middlesborough, Sane and Van Dijk at Southampton, Okocha at Bolton, Carbone at Bradford, Yeboah, Strachan and now Raphinha at Leeds and anyone, literally anyone at sunderland. These players all dispensed with geography to play football and live in places that weren’t as glamourous as London for one reason or another. None of them hung around for a late bid on only slightly less money from Brentford, West Ham, QPR, Fulham or even bloody Watford. And yes, I know Watford’s not actually in London. You take my point though? Not you Gabby. You wouldn’t understand my point if it was projected onto a stand at Villa Park.

In other news, a lot of footballers are not rocket scientists. They just want to play football. They’ll have enough money to afford a nice place to live in a nice part of the area around their new football club. They may well not have heard of Newcastle, but history proves that they’re happy enough to sign for us and happier still once the decision is made. Because you know what, Gabby? It’s not a bad place and no one says these people have to stay there until the end of their days. These careers are nothing if not transitory and temporary.

Newcastle United and Newcastle Upon Tyne have a lot to offer. Whisper it quietly, but some might even enjoy it more than living in London, simply because it’s a fabulous city and area. The place is renowned for the friendliness of its people (although I’m not sure you’ve got too many fans, Mr.A), there’s culture – in case someone like Patrick Bamford ever wanted to sign for us – beaches, stunning countryside, nightlife and a night out that untold thousands would vouch for once they’d recovered from the hangover. We’re the home of Greggs – although I believe London has branches too – we have an airport with planes and everything, we have the Byker Wall if you want to see some rather unique architecture, we have the Metro, we have the Town Moor in case you do so well that you’re given the Freedom of The City and need somewhere to graze your cattle and best of all, we’ve got an absolute shitload of bridges. Probably more than London, in fact.

When I was 22 years old I left Newcastle. I had just finished university, couldn’t find a job and was in a long distance relationship that wasn’t going anywhere if we continued to live so far apart. So, I left home. And I stayed away. I’ve lived away for 27 years now, settling in Leeds for the last 24 with the lass that I left home for. So, good decision really. I love Leeds, but it’s not home. It’s not Newcastle. And let me tell you, there’s not a day goes by when I don’t feel some sort of homesickness, because I was born and bred in a very special city that sadly lots of people adopt a view of without knowing very much at all about the place itself. Isn’t that right Gabby? Well, as far as I’m concerned Newcastle is my home town, regardless of where I live and as much as it’s changed over the years – for the better – I still love it dearly. So, I see no reason why anyone else wouldn’t love it too, be they a foreign superstar or an up and coming young British player.

Which leads me on nicely to the final point I’d like to make to Gabby Agbonlahor and people like him. It’s a point that lots of others have made, but still, it’s worth repeating. There’s already an enormous list of gifted and cosmopolitan footballers who have moved here previously, despite what some may think. So let me jog your memory with a small sample of them. Tino Asprilla (clever enough to arrive in a fur coat), Yohan Cabaye (Dreamboat), Shay Given, Philipe Albert (arrived after a World Cup that meant he could have played anywhere), Gary Speed (legend of the British game), Robert Lee (an actual cockney), Demba Ba, Warren Barton, Hatem Ben Arfa, David Ginola (because while he was worth it, he thought we were too), Jonas Gutierrez (who traded living in Majorca to come to the Toon), Kevin Keegan (England captain and European Footballer of The Year, twice), Didi Hamann (left Bayern Munich to play for us), Hugo Viana, Les Ferdinand, Obafemi Martins, Nobby Solano (enjoyed it so much he signed twice), Patrick Kluivert, Laurent Robert and Gini Wijnaldum. Players from all over the globe. Some of them even from that there mythical London.

So when you think about it Gabby, what you said was a little bit daft, wasn’t it? Because footballers, primarily just want to play football, don’t they. And sometimes, just sometimes, London doesn’t even come into their thinking.