Starting to think we have a cultural problem at our football club when it comes to young talent. With the recent "outburst" (lol) that we saw from Anthony Gordon, I have seen suggestions Gordon should be dropped and placed in the reserves, forced to train with the U21s. That some will never respect Gordon and perhaps he should be sold. This is from social media. It should be noted, Gordon has consistently played well in every appearance so far. I have also witnessed remarks from some that Elliot Anderson is "****" and not good enough to wear the shirt. A 20 year old local lad who's made a handful of appearances and played well. Longstaff during Bruce received the same treatment. Now we send youngsters to rot in Scotland. Saw over the years on here @Darren Peacock’s Ponytail mention we have a problem with youth at Newcastle and I think we are seeing it. How do we go about improving the issue with young players and patience at Newcastle?
Patience is a trait not easily found in premier league football for any club but it starts with trust in the club and manager. If you believe the manager is making mostly the right calls then patience will stay when they play a youth player for a few games. In theory, Scotland should be a decent place for kids to learn the trade, it does rely on them being picked though so we have to make sure they are ready for the move. As for Gordon's outburst, I think it was I'll advised but clearly sorted quickly judging by the team photo a few minutes later. People making a big deal of it are just feeding off sensationalist headlines or negativity so think I'll ignore them
The Newcastle fans have been after Gordon since the 1st report Newcastle were interested and unfortunately he gave them an opportunity to start the bullying rather than confess he's been playing well. If he was foreign with a fancy name and a hairband they'd be making exceptions for it and saying it was a sign of passion that they like and that he shouldn't be happy coming off.
I think we have had a serious problem with our Academy and it has showed in the lack of young talent developing from the Academy Teams to the First Team. It is also noticeable how quickly we tend to slag young players off when they have a bad game. I remember the **** Woodman got after having a good debut and then looking shaky on his 2nd game. I remember Munson saying he never wanted to see him near the first team again. We have had several players who we have had come through our academy who were never really given a chance with the main squad, have been let go after loan periods and have gone on to show that we really should have persisted with them: Ivan Toney - we sold him to Peterborough for £650,000, two years later they sold him to Brentford for £5mill with another £5mill add ons James Tavernier - ok its Rangers, but he has been a very consistent performer there Freddy Woodman - now playing in the top half of the Championship with Preston I think the decision made with Garang Kuol was a poor one. Scottish football is not the place to develop young players, particularly those who have not come through an English academy. He should have been kept back with us and worked on by the coaches. As it is we are going to get him back with not much playing time under his belt and so no further forward. All seemed to be on the verge of first team football and then were shipped off on loan before becoming permanent transfers. Presumably the new owners are going to put this right and all these backroom signings are to try and improve these aspects of the club. The development of young talent will be an essential part of the club's growth. I think Gordon has been handled well by Howe - bringing him in slowly. He did look off the pace at first and I still think he is learning our style of play. However he has significantly improved when he has come on over the last few games and gives us something different down the right side. I watched him in the Man City game and expected much more of him but he seems to be settling in well. I don't know what the issue was with the substitution and why he got so upset about it. There was about 30 seconds left, he was down holding his ankle right next to the coaching team and it was an easy call to make. If it had been significantly before the final whistle then I can understand him being upset. I think he had a little strop then realised he was being stupid and calmed down. No big deal. I certainly don't think Howe has a problem with young players but he does like to introduce them slowly and get them up to speed with the way we want to play in training first.
The issue with the Academy is simply quality. The young players were/are simply not good enough. Combine that with no investment, poor quality coaches and Chelsea and Man City hoovering up the more promising youngsters and the results were inevitable. FIFA and UEFA should intervene on how young players are taken advantage of by certain clubs such as Chelsea and City by introducing greater restrictions on the geographical areas kids come from and the loan system and so on which would potentially redistribute young players between clubs. I've not looked recently but Chelsea having 30+ loans is an obscene abuse of young players. Of the young players we have had I'd only agree with Toney as being a loss. Woodman might be but not yet and might never be. Taverner, no. If we are a PL team players reaching top Championship and Scottish league standard is not good enough. Carroll could have been added to the list but he spent too much time in Emergency Ward 10.
Considering the level we're at, Longstaff playing regularly and Anderson being a regularly sub is actually pretty good for players from the academy. Considering once our academy was flooded with dross like Nile Ranger and Vuckic, and the best for years we could produce was Steven Taylor, Andy Carroll and Paul Dummett, this seems like progress. Especially now more is going to be invested in the academy, and the scouting is going to dramatically improve.
The main point for me are the fans. They give next to no support when they don’t appear to be world class or if they make a basic error. A lot of fans give young players next to no chance.
I certainly don't blame Howe, he's only been here a tiny amount of time. I'm placing the blame directly on the fans here, who flood social media at any sign of a slip from a young player. It has to be disheartening when a 300kg land whale, who eats Greggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner, can barely climb the stairs in the stadium; takes to Twitter to say a young Anthony Gordon isn't "fit enough to wear the shirt." Bruno has made plenty of bad decisions in a Newcastle shirt, but he ****s gold. Last game he sky rocketed a shot and I think it's still on the way to the moon. The fans just chanted "BRUNO BRUNO BRUNO!" no way would another player get that treatment.
I don't reckon any of them could sky rocket a shot into the stratosphere and have their name universally chanted around the stadium. But I do know you're general opinion on Newcastle is a bit like this fella below please log in to view this image
Given the length of time I’ve watched us play take my word for this, it definitely helps. l wouldn’t be sane otherwise.
I like Gordon. I had the potential to be world class. He has all the right attributes and I like the bit of fire in him. He will be a world class player for us I am convinced.
This was supposed to say he has. Not I had. But to be fair I did have the potential to be world class. Not sure what at mind.
Newcastle have had decades of no scouting; abysmal training facilities, second rate coaches and no desire to be the best. It’s fairly obvious why we don’t find talent. Bobby Clark recently. Even a Newcastle fan with a Newcastle dad didn’t fancy it.
