The local cauldron at Newcastle United
On 13 April 2024 Wor Flags unveiled a pre-match banner that hailed the squad’s local lads, or lads that grew up fans of the club. Eleven players graced the banner, with Sean Longstaff front and centre. Silhouetted behind was the Tyne bridge motif from the old Pavel Srnicek ‘96 ‘keeper kit in what was a stirring display of support for the local lads.
There were calls from certain quarters after a difficult start to last season for Longstaff to come into the side and steady the ship. He bagged the third goal against PSG on an epic night. He had his best goal scoring season last time out with eight. Yet, he misplaces an attempted progressive forward pass and is hooked at half time in an away win at Wolves and is awarded a 1.63 on the BBC player ratings.
The next worst rating was Lloyd Kelly with 7.05. I want to be clear this is not a defence of how Longstaff played against Wolves, he was poor but to dig him out for being at fault for the Wolves goal seems harsh. He was trying to progress the play with a forward pass and the ball was cut out on the edge of the oppositions eighteen-yard box.
A lot happened between the loss of possession and the ball ending up in the back of United’s net, including terrible Dan Burn jockeying, poor tracking back from Bruno, Tino and Hall, and Schar losing his man by being drawn towards the ball in the middle of the six-yard box.
Psychologically it’s interesting how fanbases treat local lads who pull on the Black and White stripes. Anecdotally, I’ve heard stories of similar fan concerns for players like Lee Clark and Steve Watson during the ‘90’s. I remember fans digging out Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage in the early 2000’s. More recently, Shola Ameobi and Paul Dummett have also been much maligned due to their footballing shortcomings.
In 2021, as part of an attempt to dispel the ‘glory supporter’ trope, an 888 Sport survey named the club as the most locally supported team in the Premier League. The average distance away from St. James’ Park that fans live was 44.9 miles, the shortest in the division, highlighting what a close-knit environment most fans turned players are working in.
Some players who have come to the region to play have struggled in the intense heat of playing for United – Jermaine Jenas being the prime example. He preferred the relative anonymity of playing for London’s ninth or tenth best team over playing for Newcastle.
That white-hot glare is what makes players who come in from beyond the region and ‘get it’, such as Bruno Guimaraes or Kevin Keegan, deified on Tyneside because it is simply different to anywhere in the country.
Criticism for poor performances is undoubtedly warranted but every squad needs players like Longstaff. He reminds me of the quintessential utility man successful teams need, in the mould of Brian McClair or Nicky Butt for the Man Utd team of the 90’s.
Longstaff’s quote that accompanied the display before the Spurs game last season read: ‘I love representing the city…representing the people that are me’, and he is living so many supporters’ dreams. Hopefully, if he becomes a squad player, doesn’t have to play through injury, and plays in cup games, he can turn his performances around and stop his experiences becoming a nightmare.
