So you think the current scouts are no use, then!

In the 1960s I worked at the coast and so we lived at the Four Lane Ends, Benton. Being a keen footy fan I often went to watch schoolboy football. One of the venues I enjoyed going to at that time was the Manor Park School that was then located on Benton Road. Not only that, but it was just up the road from the local hostelry that is situated still on Benton Road. So after watching the football I could nip in to the pub for a quick one before returning home.

On more than one occasion I happened to recognise the then well-publicised chief scout for Newcastle United who had almost taken up residence at the school’s playing field. I will not use his name because it may embarrass any remaining members of his family. But this story, is absolutely true.

The chief coach was there to watch, on a continuous basis, a young lad who played centre forward for Manor Park in those days whose name was Jimmy Husband. At that time he and his family had not decided at which football club he was to go to although later he signed for Everton. Also on that team was a little skinny lad, and I mean little, who played in the number four shirt which in those days was the right half position. For a few weeks I had noticed this little lad playing away and, in my opinion, was the star of the team. Not Mr Husband! I mentioned this several times to the chief coach of NUFC. He replied, that he had watched this laddie but had decided that he was ‘too small to feature in any team for Newcastle’. And so, the little lad continued to play for his team and play well too, week-in week-out.

Along came a team called Sunderland who watched this ‘little laddie’ and signed him up. He went on to play in the first team as well having come through the reserves. Then, surprise-surprise, a big team called Manchester City approached Sunderland and bought the young lad and took him off to Manchester. Whilst at Sunderland and Manchester City, the ‘little laddie’ had grown, not only physically but in stature as well – he had become an England international footballer.

In 1976, Newcastle United did well in the League Cup, scraping through against Spurs at White Hart Lane and then giving them a football lesson at St James’ to a packed house and so reached Wembley. My next-door neighbour and I went to London to watch the Toon play. In London, the story was going about that Newcastle players all had the flu bug. That may have been so but at half-time the score was one all, with Alan Gowling netting for Newcastle. Then immediately after half-time a certain ‘little laddie’ popped up with an overhead kick to plant the ball firmly into the Newcastle net. We had lost again, and the long trip home was equally miserable. That ‘little laddie’, a little wing half wearing the number four shirt for Manor Park had just broken my heart. His name was Dennis Tueart, a Geordie, a player for Sunderland, Manchester City and England.

Dennis Tueart (Manchester City) 27/9/75 Manchester City v Manchester United.Credit:Colorsport.
Dennis Tueart (Manchester City) 27/9/75 Manchester City v Manchester United.Credit:Colorsport.

…And here he is breaking Toon hearts….


Not all chief scouts have a commanding knowledge of football. Some have – some haven’t!

Tom Page

51 thoughts on “So you think the current scouts are no use, then!

  1. Great story Tom, thanks for sharing. What a goal by Tueart in the final! Must have been painful for him, being a Geordie. Looks like we really missed out there – and to think he represented Sunderland too….. The shame of it all!

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  2. great story.
    wasnt that a similar path that shearer took? put in goal then shipped to Southampton after being deemed not good enough

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  3. Excellent write up Tom !

    Dennis Tueart may have been a toon lad, but from what I recall he didn’t bother too much with the black and whites, a bit like Steve Bruce later, all to busy getting on with there own careers.
    In fact there have been loads of them, Beardsley, Shearer, Bruce, Carrick to name but a few, all escaped the net of the so-called expert scouts frequenting the north east hot bed in those days !

    I was at Wembley that day as a 14 year old, when Dennis Tueart’s overhead kick broke all Geordie hearts. I recall spending all morning playing pool in the pub in London, and managed to stay on the table undefeated for 2 hours before having to leave for the game. Brilliant day out at Wembley, it was fantastic to actually celebrate a toon goal at that famous stadium, following on from the previous years debacle against Liverpool. When Alan Gowling scored his goal the roof nearly blew off Wembley… !

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  4. Shamrock, Tueart wasn’t bothered one bit mate when he put that goal in, just watch his goal celebrations ! He was also the same when he played for the makkems… no love lost for the toon !

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  5. Munich Mag:
    Excellent write up Tom !

    Dennis Tueart may have been a toon lad, but from what I recall he didn’t bother too much with the black and whites, a bit like Steve Bruce later, all to busy getting on with there own careers.
    In fact there have been loads of them, Beardsley, Shearer, Bruce, Carrick to name but a few, all escaped the net of the so-called expert scouts frequenting the north east hot bed in those days !

    I was at Wembley that day as a 14 year old, when Dennis Tueart’s overhead kick broke all Geordie hearts. I recall spending all morning playing pool in the pub in London, and managed to stay on the table undefeated for 2 hours before having to leave for the game. Brilliant day out at Wembley, it was fantastic to actually celebrate a toon goal at that famous stadium, following on from the previous years debacle against Liverpool. When Alan Gowling scored his goal the roof nearly blew off Wembley… !

    aye but playing pool against a blind dwarf with a broomstick shouldnt count 😀

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  6. Probably because the Toon spurned him MM! Ah well. That was a cracking goal – and to score it at Wembley in the Cup final! Must have been a canny player.

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  7. Munich Mag:
    Excellent write up Tom !

    Dennis Tueart may have been a toon lad, but from what I recall he didn’t bother too much with the black and whites, a bit like Steve Bruce later, all to busy getting on with there own careers.
    In fact there have been loads of them, Beardsley, Shearer, Bruce, Carrick to name but a few, all escaped the net of the so-called expert scouts frequenting the north east hot bed in those days !

    I was at Wembley that day as a 14 year old, when Dennis Tueart’s overhead kick broke all Geordie hearts. I recall spending all morning playing pool in the pub in London, and managed to stay on the table undefeated for 2 hours before having to leave for the game. Brilliant day out at Wembley, it was fantastic to actually celebrate a toon goal at that famous stadium, following on from the previous years debacle against Liverpool. When Alan Gowling scored his goal the roof nearly blew off Wembley… !

    So that’s where the the name hustler came from lol

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  8. Sham, there weren’t too many overhead kicks in those days, it was an absolutely belter of a goal… and from what I recall, despite my black and white blinkers, the best team won. Was also at Wembley when Liverpool beat us, two years running spent bubbling at Wembley 🙂

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  9. Icedog, that was me mate, the original Hustler, honed my skills in the Pineapple Club, then later at the Gold Cup :-)… happy days 🙂

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  10. Munich Mag:
    Icedog, that was me mate, the original Hustler, honed my skills in the Pineapple Club, then later at the Gold Cup :-)…happy days

    God the pineapple club how could I have forgot that place,thanks for the memory

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  11. Gashley:
    great story.
    wasnt that a similar path that shearer took? put in goal then shipped to Southampton after being deemed not good enough

    I was just gonna type that mate. But at least we got him back 😀
    Great read Tom, yet again.

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  12. Interesting story. I vaguely remember seeing him when I was a kid. I more remember Man City with Franny Lee, Colin Bell and Dennis Law. Was that the same time period (I think it might have been earlier with Malcolm Allinson)?

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  13. MM: did you ever go to that snooker club in Newcastle City Centre? I took a year off before University and was on the dole for a couple of months before travelling to Munich. Used to sign on every week and then play snooker and drink for a couple of hours. I wasn’t very good so obviously didn’t have as much of a wasted youth as you 🙂

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  14. I am getting a bit pissed off at not seeing many of our games. Hopefully, now they know we are decent they will televise more but I just cannot believe there wouldn’t be an audience as there are some well supported teams like us, Villa, Forest, Derby, Wolves etc. Football isn’t just the Premier League Sky, BT and BBC.

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  15. Eric Sykes:
    I am getting a bit pissed off at not seeing many of our games. Hopefully, now they know we are decent they will televise more but I just cannot believe there wouldn’t be an audience as there are some well supported teams like us, Villa, Forest, Derby, Wolves etc. Football isn’t just the Premier League Sky, BT and BBC.

    Eric – count yourself lucky mate, you’re missing very little!!.

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  16. Eric Sykes, Riley’s Snooker Club ? Yes I used to go in there now and then, but preferred the YMCA because it was a bit cheaper. Must have been around 1980 as I was at Northumbria Uni at the time..
    The same year I played in a pool tournament on Northumberland Street and got absolutely slaughtered and that was the end of that !

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  17. Eric Sykes you’re not missing much mate, did you see the game yesterday, if Rotherham can batter our midfield wait until De Bruyne and co get there hands on us .. “slicing through butter” in midweek against Norwich, fortunately Gayle pulled us out of the mire otherwise we could easily have beenlooking at back to back defeats and full on panic stations from the toon faithful..

    Must say I really liked the look of that young 19 year old Chelsea loanee Issy Brown playing for Rotherham yesterday. He looked a class act for such a young lad and absolutely bossed our midfield at times, has pace and a great range of passing, can put himself about too. Excellent prospect !

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  18. Eric Sykes:
    I am getting a bit pissed off at not seeing many of our games. Hopefully, now they know we are decent they will televise more but I just cannot believe there wouldn’t be an audience as there are some well supported teams like us, Villa, Forest, Derby, Wolves etc. Football isn’t just the Premier League Sky, BT and BBC.

    looks like we’re waiting until November 20th. Its desperate stuff. BBC-Newcastle had the sunderland game on yesterday.. ive got to find a life on a Sat now 😈

    http://www.live-footballontv.com/live-championship-football-on-tv.html

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  19. Always annoys me when people say a player is too small. Small players are usually better balanced and because of their size have to concentrate on skill rather than brute force. There have been countless small players who have excelled at the highest level. After all we are talking soccer not rugby. Talent will out. Thanks Tom for such an interesting article. I remember Tueart for wearing expensive overcoats.

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  20. Jan is a tough month. 3 away matches & 1 home game then 4 home games from 6 in Feb. away to Norwich and Wolves

    Defo some defeats in there.
    Makes you wonder what our achilles heel is when Norwich go to Wolves and look decent.

    Ive said it before but I think we struggle v the bigger teams that play a few long/high balls. Rotherham are amongst them. Fulham, Huddersfield and Wolves also mix it up a bit..

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/fixtures

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  21. yesterdays game was never gonna be easy for me.

    The one thing with the Championship is its all new to most fans. There’s a surprise element to every team we play, which doesnt help with limited tv coverage…

    Rotherham looked decent yesterday. They have some quick players that will cause most team problems. I couldnt name 1 of their players that ive saw live before yesterday.
    Next up Brentford. can anyone tell me four of their players? no cheating 😆
    How do they play? I havent got a clue…

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  22. Darlow made a massive difference yesterday. I dread to think of the scoreline had Sels been in there, staying on his line or punching balls away.

    Darlow caught quite a few that Sels would of flapped at..

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  23. The toon midfield has always been our weakness, and yesterday was no different. We had Colback and Diame who were nowhere to be seen, then Shelvey flitting all over the place trying to make things happen from an attacking perspective. A disjointed set up filled with players uncomfortable on the ball, not keen on having it up them. Maybe they will perform better in the prem where teams adopt a more patient attacking approach giving you more time to collect the team defensively. Yesterdays game was played with a wide open midfield where we had to dig deep to defend the onslaught of a large and hard tackling Rotherham side. Our defence stood pretty firm, especially Darlow who handled pretty much everything that was thrown at him. Hats off to the lad having spent a long time on the bench. Still not convinced of Lascelles though I’m afraid, looks good on the ball but as soon as someone gets in his face he’s all over Hexham…

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  24. Tueart is 1.73m tall apparently, Vurnon Anita is only 1.68m, Wayne Routledge 1.7m. So we have had smaller players even recently.

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  25. whats the game coming too,this Pearson carry on beats the makers,the owner has been watching him taking training by using a drone hence a fight between them,think i might get one to watch MM hustling at pool 😆 😆

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  26. Atsu calls Anita “lanky legs” apparently.
    The lad has a cracking left foot though.

    We should sign that lad Issy Brown imo, has a bit of Tom Huddlestone about him…him and Shelvey would form a brilliant centre midfield pairing…plus he’s English.

    Icedog, the term “droning” I’ve heard before, though nowt to do with pool ??

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  27. Ice, theres summat up with Pearson, he had Leicester attacking brilliantly but still flaundered at the bottom of the league…then pretty much the same team under different stewardship won the league… good try but no cigar…

    Just watch Pep set Jose on his way to early retirement.. he’ll not only boss Manchester, he’ll absolutely toast the Premiership, leaving Rooney, Zlatan, Pogba and the rest of the big money signings looking on in awe…

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  28. Munich Mag:
    Ice, theres summat up with Pearson, he had Leicester attacking brilliantly but still flaundered at the bottom of the league…then pretty much the same team under different stewardship won the league… good try but no cigar…

    Just watch Pep set Jose on his way to early retirement.. he’ll not only boss Manchester, he’ll absolutely toast the Premiership, leaving Rooney, Zlatan, Pogba and the rest of the big money signings looking on in awe…

    he just looks and acts like a nasty piece of work to me mate 👿

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  29. Villa better worry if they get McClaren. He will probably take the same team that worked for him at Newcastle and expect a different result. If they get him I think they might be in trouble as he seems OK when things are going well but has little clue of how to turn it around when things go against him.

    I also think the Villa squad has been overestimated.

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  30. Clarky-o-Meter: Played 8, points 6. Lost 4-0 at home yesterday to Aberdeen. Second bottom of SPL, exactly the same position as when Lee Clark took over.

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  31. funny like L/Pool fans shouting on about how Gino goes missing and does nowt in games away from home a waste of 25 mil,now where i have seen this before??,thanks for the 25 mil 😆 😆 😆

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  32. I cannot believe that a team of lightweights at Spuds cuffed Pep’s Citeh.

    Unbelievable !

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  33. typical Sissoko
    Moussa Sissoko – 6

    Terrified City with his energy and direct willingness to run at defenders, which made him a strong replacement for Dembele. Didn’t really have the finesse in the final third to trouble the City goal, but he played his part in Spurs’ excellent pressing game.. subbed on 72mins

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  34. Gash Sissoko is way better than ANYTHING we have strolling round in the black and white stripes at the minute.

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  35. Dontcha just love the international break? Malta have a population of 416,000 so there could be another upset on the cards. Toad of Toad Hall has done a great job of throwing the team into even more turmoil but the man who got Boro relegated will come to the rescue. Rooney runs the team anyway which Fat Sam tacitly admitted when he said he plays where he wants and Mr. Roy allowed his Captain to dictate who took corners after Kane had taken them all in training. In this case Rooney was correcting an obvious flaw in Mr. Roy’s thinking but it was still Rooney assuming too much control. Just make him non-player Manager.

    I am sure that Southgate will not have the balls to 1) Drop Rooney 2) Not let him play wherever he wants and end up slowing the game down and hitting 40 yard meaningless crossfield passes.

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  36. Thoughts on Southgate’s selection and in particular, Glen Johnson?

    I hate to say it but looks like we’re gonna be stuck with him for the long haul – Shearer was singing his praises the other day too if I recall correctly.

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  37. P.S.

    Great write-up again Tom, I have to admit that bicycle kick for Citeh was pretty special

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  38. Brilliant article Tom mate. I hope you will write others for us to enjoy. A great pity that chief scout didn’t think more about heart than size and see the quality of Tueart. How many others have more recent scouts missed for us?

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  39. Munich Mag:
    Gash Sissoko is way better than ANYTHING we have strolling round in the black and white stripes at the minute.

    there’s no denying that mate but we’re in the fizzy. The only player i would of kept from the ones we sold is Townsend.. the rest, we got decent money for and we don’t need half-arsed performances from players who cant be bothered.

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  40. One thing many bloggers have not noted is that many a time when you play a ‘lesser’ team, they can drag you down to their level. Anyone that has played the game will have experienced this. You can’t put a finger on why this happens, it just does.. It can be hard to lift when you are not fully respecting your opposition, maybe that has a part to play.
    When we play these ‘lesser’ teams, they will lift a little and we will drop a little and as a result, you get scrappy games that are not pretty to watch. I don’t really concern myself to much with these performances as long as we escape with a win…

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  41. Aussie:
    One thing many bloggers have not noted is that many a time when you play a ‘lesser’ team, they can drag you down to their level. Anyone that has played the game will have experienced this. You can’t put a finger on why this happens, it just does.. It can be hard to lift when you are not fully respecting your opposition, maybe that has a part to play.When we play these ‘lesser’ teams, they will lift a little and we will drop a little and as a result, you get scrappy games that are not pretty to watch. I don’t really concern myself to much with these performances as long as we escape with a win…

    talking sense there mate,have said the same myselfa lot of fans just dont see it 😐

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  42. Aussie and Ice, makes perfect sense, it often works other way round as well like playing a lower division team in the cup and giant killers come along, but more often works as you have said

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  43. Aussie I agree totally mate. We must respect the opposition and I think Rafa does his best unlike Pardew. Research there strength’s and weakness’s without being complacent and I do think Rafa does this as well. I’m happy we are 3rd mate and look at Villa to see why, we could have crumbled. We’ve had a couple of lucky win’s against Bristol City and Norwich but we got the result and that’s all you can ask.

    Sharpy an older comment I agree totally agree with Shamrock. Our attack is still gelling. Rafa is finding out what his best strike force is whilst trying to keep everyone happy. I never said we would get a easy run in the PL. We do have a January transfer window coming up and a summer one as well mate. 1 step at a time.

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  44. All in all I’m fairly happy with the team so far this season. Unlike last season but I don’t wont play off’s too risky for me. I’d be satisfied with 2nd but happy with 1st.

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