Building new foundations at NUFC

All change at the academy
It seems as though the revolution of our Youth Academy has begun, with 16-year-old Slovakian U17 Captain Lubomir Satka being the newest youngster added to the ranks.

It was reported earlier on in the season that owner Mike Ashley wasn’t overly impressed with the standard of talent in the academy so has backed a £15 million improvement drive with the aim of improving the quality of youngsters on our books.

The better prospects, such as Remie Streete, have been retained although fortune hasn’t smiled on a lot of the lads who are all looking for new clubs after being released by United. It’s a cruel part of the game and no doubt some of the kids that have been released have been with us for a few years, but ultimately if they are deemed not good enough for the future then why waste their time and ours?

The aim is to make our academy a place where young players want to come. With a visible path into the first team youngsters will know that as long as they impress and prove their ability on a consistent basis then they will edge closer to the first team picture.

Satka may just be the start of a new intake of players, and being fair most if them will probably not make it, but if we can drag even one or two from our own academy then surely it has to be an avenue that should be explored?

Lots of players will be turning up on Tyneside for trials, and lots of them will no doubt be unsuccessful, but what we need to do is ensure we retain the best ones and look to groom them for a future role in the first team.

Our academy has been pants for years in truth. Many players have been touted as the next best thing, but only a handful have ever made it through to the first team while the rest have disappeared into obscurity. That is something that has to change is Mike Ashley’s vision of “growing our own” is to ever come to fruition.

It starts now, and whilst it will be a long road for some of our youngsters, I for one am glad that we are now looking to get the best from our outstanding facilities at Little Benton.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

49 thoughts on “Building new foundations at NUFC

  1. Nice one, it would be nice to see a few more youngsters making the next big step up.. We haven’t exactly has a conveyer belt of players coming through the ranks of the youth set up..I hope this changes 🙂

    Oh and I like smoked salmon, ricotta cheese and a sprinkle of dill on my Satka biscuits.. very good pre dinner snack 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  2. I wouldn’t even say we’ve had a “handful” of players making it to the first team. Well maybe a handful have had a pop, but only really Steven Taylor and Andy Carroll have had much success over the last 10 years or so.

    A good move by the fat controller anyway.

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  3. Sorry Rodz, didn’t mean to rain on your rant mate 🙂 🙂 it sounded good tho, very convincing 🙂

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  4. 😉 🙂 …I do have my sensible spells Aussie. It wasn’t really a rant though, they usually incorporate expletives.

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  5. The academy needs to sort itself out, players are dubbed as ‘the next big thing’ while they’re there, then can’t get out of the reserve team, Phil Airey and Donaldson being an example of this. Hopefully Hooper and Campbell live up to expectations.

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  6. this Slovakian lad gives me deja vu with tamas kadar

    didnt work for him – but hes STILL a hungarian international

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  7. Andy…unfortunately very few players from any academies in the Premier League… “of 600 boys joining Premier League and Football League clubs at the age of 16, 500 are out of the game by the time they are aged 21” 😯

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  8. Richie
    Just seems odd that they can be rated so highly yet not step up, Inman and edmunson are other examples.

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  9. Andy…aye I know, bearing in mind that of those 100 that make it, very few of those will “make it” in the premier league, most will end up at lower league clubs.

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  10. Hitman…I don’t think that links working, none of the words make sense 😆

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  11. Richie
    Aye so the majority of our academy ***** goes to borough and scumderland 😈

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  12. Richie
    We’ll have to learn French do enough with all the frogs signing for us, just to read the gossip we have to be bilingual, how about that :mrgreen:

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  13. Andy…aye 😆

    Basically says we’re in negotiations for him, but other clubs are interested, last paragraph says “Moreover, still active in the French market, the Magpies have also expressed interest in Mathieu Debuchy (Lille), Ibrahima Toure (Monaco) or Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Montpellier).”

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  14. it says we’re in advance talks with corgnet n a winger from Rennes brahimi, also says in talks with lad from Monaco called toure n traore from auxerre

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  15. Andy…I need to get the hang of English first…..and been a year in Spainand can’t speak Spanish 😳 ……although they do understand, “GET the F**K off the car!!” 😆

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  16. I reckon he’s good friends with Cissé, same age, played for Metz around the same time, and are both Senegalese. Hope he’s not a regular national player otherwise he’s another one that’s gone in January 👿 maybe he’s supposed to be papiss’ buddy when Demba leaves.

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  17. Andy..can’t see that one coming off, he’s 26 and still not played in a top league and looks like no international caps at any level.

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  18. Seems like a bit of an odd one, 26, playing for a ligue 2 side and has only got 16 goals this season, Shola could score more than that in that league, he’ll I could and I’m ***** 😆

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  19. Richie
    Wow, didnt notice that, no chance then. 😕 unless carrs seen something in him that no one else has in 9 years, I wouldn’t bet on him coming to the toon.

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  20. Mark
    No but there’s still 3 days left, maybe the shocking announcement was that we’re going to tour south Africa :mrgreen:

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  21. Andy…He’s scored 9 in 16 games 😉

    Mark no news yet, I’d guess nowt would happen on a Saturday so really it’s just the rest of today and Friday 😯
    Bearing in mind its “cataclysmic” news, which to qualify for that description would require Pards sacked along with all the spine of the first team sold to 5under1and for £3.50 worth of Green shield stamps 😆

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  22. Alan Pardew is set to join liverpool on 5years contract after a wonderful season with Newcastle which he lead them to 5th position.

    😯 😯

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  23. i wonder if thats why theres loads of camera crews outside stJames’.

    Ive just past it. Hope not.

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  24. Nope, the camera crews are there for the appointment of Jose Mourinho as manager and Pep Guardiola as his number 2, Jose was originally offered the Liverpool job but he said “I’m not that f**king special” 😆

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  25. Ice…Don’t fret, everything I know is written on the back of a postage stamp and kept well under my hat 😉

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  26. So now, we have vacancies for Aston Villa,WBA,Liverpool. And i am sure chelsea will be vacant too,even if RDM wins UCL.

    😯

    Not forgetting Newcastle. 😥

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  27. Haven’t had chance to read all the comments above, just wanted to add this tho. I have had a feeling for a few yrs now that the problem with the academy, is the coaching staff.
    We have often been told ‘so and so ‘ is the next big thing, just for them to wallow around in the academy and then into obscurity.
    Something isn’t right over there, we should be bringing more thru than we are, even if only to sell on to championship clubs etc. Just releasing a dozen or so for zero return beggars belief.
    The academy MUST do better.

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  28. BB…hopefully with a better scouting system that looks into players more in depth we’ll start having a higher success rate 😀

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  29. “what we need to do is ensure we retain the best ones and look to groom them”

    😯 😯

    Prettty sure that’s illegal toosny mate 😕

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