Who’s looking after the kids?

kimtoon

Home grown talent. Do we make the most of it?
Home grown talent. Do we make the most of it?
With reports last week suggesting Newcastle are looking to offload 5 players,( Mike Williamson, and Yoan Gouffran being the most high profile names) It is disappointing to see Gael Bigirimana, Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic on that list. Disappointing because I’m sure we all had high hopes for those particular 3 to hopefully develope into players capable of turning out on a regular basis for our first team.

Quite why our academy and young prospects don’t make the grade is open to question. Is it the fault of our local scouts? or the level of coaching? Maybe the players themselves just never reach the potential fit for Premier League football, perhaps it’s a combination of all the above. What ever the reason there does genuinely seem to be a lot of work going into these young lads start in football.

In April this year the Chronicle was given access to the Academy and the academy manager Joe Joyce and also head of academy education Darren Derwent, and It produced an interesting article as a result and well worth a read if you are interested in what goes on there. Click here if interested.

I guess we all have to be realistic about how many young players will make the grade. We think of past talents to of come out of Newcastle, but you don’t get too many superstars popping up all the time, it’s more likely one every decade or so. We were fortunate to see the likes of Shearer and Gazza playing in the same era but it’s rare to see that. Yes, you’ll see lots of talented local lads play all across the Premier League but how many are real ‘super stars’ like Shearer or Gazza for instance?

In the case of Gael Bigirimana, we took this lad from Coventry City where he had won Championship apprentice of the year and on first viewing looked a real prospect. Yet after a total of just 25 senior appearances for Newcastle anda loan to Rangers whilst injured, he is now seemingly deemed surplus to requirement.

Then there is Haris Vuckic, another hot prospect when he signed at just 17 years of age. This lad was seen as one of the top youngsters in Europe, reports saying he had been eyed up by Real Madrid before we signed him. Fast Forward from 2009 to the present day and he has been Loaned to Cardiff City, Rotherham and was part of the 5 we loaned to Rangers last season. He did pretty well at Rangers and scored 10 goals for them before returning to Newcastle. To be fair the lad has been beset by injuries which has resulted in a stop start career for him. He has had plenty of stand out performances for Newcastle during his time with us most notably the memorable 4.3 win against Chelsea in the 3rd round of the league cup and again in the 4th round 4.0 loss to Arsenal where he got MOTM despite Newcastle losing the match. He won an additional five and a half year contract after impressing but it seems to of all come to nothing in the end in so far as his career with Newcastle is concerned.

Next on the list is Mehdi Abeid. Signed up to a 5 year contract in 2011 aged 18, he has been loaned to St Johnson where he made 12 appearances and in july 2013 went to Panathinaikos, where he made 28 appearances and scored 7 goals. He won pludits for his play there and helped them win the Greek cup. He made his premier league debut some 3 years after joining Newcastle having only featured in the cup competitions previously. Last season he made 13 Premier League appearances and looked pretty good in a some to be fair, he seemed stronger and in my personal opinion i think he could do well for us given half a chance. All the same if reports are true, he’s on the list to go.

So where does that leave us in terms of bringing youngsters through, the above three , so full of promise at first now deemed not up to scratch. Yet as outlined two of those players have done well at other clubs, so is it the physicality and pace of the Premier League that scuppers them or are they just not all that, as they say?
And what of the new prospects coming through. We have seen young Perez go straight into the first team even though he was bought in to develope and he’s done very well. Top marks to Carr and co there, but what of Adam Armstrong,now on loan at Coventry City, will he come back Premier League ready? We released Adam Campbell, now at Notts county so his early promise also came to nothing. Then there is Satka and Mbabu two defenders we could do with really progressing and talking of defenders will Curtis Good EVER be fit again?

There is also the strange case of Olivier Kemen, the combatative midfielder is now apparently wanted by the likes of Liverpool ,Spurs and AC Milan yet Newcastle are said to have reservations about his first team potential. To be fair that was the view of Carver and Stone and Steve McClaren has yet to run the rule over him having not seen much of him in pre-season. Lets hope we don’t lose a possible gem there.
There are of course positives in the respect that we have some very promising young players like Rolando Aarons looking like he can be very special if he can stay injury free albeit we nicked him off Bristol. And Paul Dummett could improve under Steve McClaren and the coaches. Freddie Woodman is catching the eye as a promising young keeper and lets hope he does well while on loan at Crawley Town. We’ve Also just added young Ivan Toney from Northampton Town, he looks a promising young forward who scored 13 times for Northampton, but there are no guarantees he’ll progress to Premier League level.

On the horizon we have Alex Gilliead, Tom Heardman, Liam Smith,Kyle Cameron, Dan Barlaser, Adam Laidler,Callum Roberts,Jamie Cobain,Callum Williams,Brendan Pearson, Liam Gibson,Macaulay Gillesphey and Jamie Sterry.

We can only hope someone is looking after the kids and that there is a budding new Geordie hero in amongst that bunch. What are your views on the Newcastle youth prospects, do any of you attend u21 and u18 games? and if you do ,who do you consider a future star?
Talking of the future, I cannot seem to find out if work has actually started on the new Academy building, which was due to commence in may this year. Does anyone know what’s happening there?

Kimtoon

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127 thoughts on “Who’s looking after the kids?”

  2. @Eric

    Thauvin hasnt signed yet 😆

    its the team I’d pick with SM’s formation

    I’d drop Colback and Anita although I would like to see Perez in there. he had a decent season lst yr.

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  4. Cabella training with OM already,didn’t take them long

    Canny read KIM,ime wondering if beado is good enough to bring kids through we seem to be lacking somewhere

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  5. the club believe so Stuart. Hope he’s remembered his boots. He’s clearly a talented player, reminds me of HBA and Waddle, although not quite as good as either. Funny all 3 played for Marseille.

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  6. Rooney desperately want’s a goal and Colocini will just give it to him without a fight then the flood gates will open. My prediction will be a 3-0 beating. Manu will be happy with an easy victory against us. Our defence really is ****.

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  7. Thauvin seems like a panic buy to me. Why didn’t we just go all out for Ayew if we are going to waste 12 million on someone else.

    Vesterguard and Austin is what we really need.

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  10. Janmmat could run up and down the touchline Stuart. Would that do? At least he couldn’t get sent off.

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  12. Not sure he is a panic buy, we need this kind of dribbling, left winger, who can cross and also hit dead balls and we have been tracking him all summer. They probably also think that over the longer term he is going to be better than Ayew. Fair enough. Hope so.

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  13. McC watching Sterry and he scores his first goal, draft him in, might as well follow that up by stuffing Depay in his pocket. 😀

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  14. Ice@79, Joe Joyce seems to of had more success with the kids than Beardo has with the u21’s from what I could see.

    Honours[edit]
    League WinnersPremier Academy League U17 (1): 2001–02
    Cup WinnersFA Youth Cup (2): 1961–62, 1984–85
    Milk Cup (2): 1985, 1989
    Foca Tournament Cup (2): 2009, 2010[1]
    Brasileirão 2010
    Tournoi International de Football U17: 2015
    Neuville Tournament: 2015

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  15. KIM aye I see that,as great a player beardo was he’s brought nowt to improve the kids imo,he’s well known as a right *** kisser like

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  18. So Cabella has signed his OM contract. Wonder when we will get confirmation of the signing of Thauvin, Monday?

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  20. Christ, our club is sooo ****!! They are ver bloody spending now and he might just be light weight and ****, and they can’t even announce it as quick as the bloody French. We are ****!!!!! 😉 😆

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  21. If ee see you today or tomorrow Thauvin, welcome, hope you turn out to be fanbloodytastic, and hope you do a bit of damage down that left wing this season. Good luck to you, lad.

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  22. So Man Utd have bid for Mane of Southampton. Don’t fancy him having another go at Colo this Saturday!

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  23. Hope the lad does OK for us,seems nobody in France rates him very highly,now reading back when Cabella came most of the French rags said he was a top young player and would do well when he settles in the PL which could take a few months that’s a little worrying to me,Carr has pushed for this kid so for me Carr rep is on the line here

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  24. Ayew has been really impressive in his first two games at Swansea. I would have liked him here. Thauvin doesn’t seem that popular with the OM fan’s. 12 million is a heck of a risk considering we might not be able to recoup the money if he turn’s out to be failure.

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  26. At this point, i couldn’t care less about Carr and his reputation, just want to welcome what could well be a very exciting winger/ player. If further down the line it all goes to ****, so be it. Right now, we’ve spent nearly 50 million net and bought some good players, yeah we could do with another CB and yeah the league is getting tougher all the time, and yeah we’ve got ridiculously tough games coming up and could go into October with **** all points. But, Christ, what a fantastic few months- Pardew and Carver all gone, McC, Cathro and Blackey in, and 4 decent players – 1 decent young’n – all for a fair bit of wedge, and as yet non sold. Signs of decentish football on the horizon, even if it is going to take a bit more time to get this defense of ours sorted out.

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  27. Good article Kimtoon lass. Vuckic was just overwhelmed with injuries. I don’t think Abeid was given enough of a chance but he looked a little slow on the ball as well. Bigi has had numerous problems. Armstrong may just not be good enough for the Prem, as with Campbell. Most clubs have this kind of failure rate with young’uns. What I can’t stand is the club’s refusal to address the problems in defense. We just aren’t good enough there. ManU and especially Depay will tear us a new one on the weekend but nothing will be done. Harrumph!

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  28. Lionel

    We’ve spent £50m net?
    How much did we pay for Thauvin?
    How much did we get for Cabella?
    Think your sums are wrong fella.

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  29. Do you mean Cabaye Troy mate? I would agree we have spent nothing like 50M pounds overall. Our net spend on players is still trivial.

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  30. Oh and another thing. We are not northern softies Mickey Quinn!!! We are northern pillocks who put up with the likes of Ashley and Co. There’s a big difference there Mickey! Harrumph…..

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  31. We’ve knackered ourselves again with this shoddy defense. Clubs will beat us easily as Swansea did. Mito must come good quickly, as must McLaren. Has he been out of the Prem too long? Is he good enough? This may all end in tears yet again……

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  32. Are you lot ready for some topnotch football from wor club this season? Well don’t be. We have a few good players but at the rate we do things it would take 5 years to make a good club and by that time we’ll have sold off all the decent players we’ve just brought in and be left with dead wood. Ashley oot!!!

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  33. How about Mito as a CB? He’s a big brute, dominant in the air. Much better than Colo. Just a thought…..

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  37. TAE too bloody late in announcing it…should of been announced halfway thru his medical. why we spending money on a decent prospect anyway Bah! we’re so **** for spending money 🙄

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  38. “I am delighted to be a Newcastle United player,” said Thauvin.

    “I have come from France to a really big club and am very happy to be here.

    “It is a big honour to know that Newcastle have been after me for such a long time and that they wanted me that much.

    “They have put their trust in me and I am looking forward to playing for the team.”

    Newcastle United head coach Steve McClaren added: “Florian is a player the Club have been watching for a long time and I am delighted that we have been able to sign him.

    He is a perfect signing for this Club – someone who is young, with great potential and is one of the best young players in Europe.

    “He is an exciting, creative talent who can score goals and make assists, and we believe he will have a very bright future at Newcastle.”

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  39. I can’t get my head around the point of this signing. We need a CB for around £6m. We get another.. French winger for £14m. Really? After Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Cabella, Gouffran. (Some of them came with bigger reputations that this dude). The experts say this guy has flopped in League 1, so forget him being able to cut it in the premier league. Carr has made some irresponsible decisions and should retire IMO.

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  40. I’m Gona wait until I have seen him play for a few months before judging him. At worst he will flop like Cabella but chances are he’ll fare better and bring something to the team. I hope the club still has a brutal established CB in the pipeline though and we still need a back up RB…

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  41. DJG 114
    they have signed him to swing left foot crosses in from the left wing,or they would be no feed coming from there this season

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  43. give the rotweiler something to get his teeth into 😯 did i really say teeth 🙄 i meant get his head on 😆

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  44. TAE
    He is like Benny from the vid I’ve see. All close control and taking people on. Good luck with those left wing crosses mate.

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  46. DJG
    yeah i looked at the vid looks like they played him the wrong side alot of the time

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  52. Interesting comments from Simpson. “Disappointing to lose Janmaat as it’s obviously a dept were short in” So coaching staff clearly know what we need.

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