Kevin Keegan has been very pleased with the level of skill displayed by the youngsters we currently have at Newcastle United. This is one of the most positive and hopeful areas of the club right now.
Kevin Keegan – delighted with the youngsters at the club
After commendably watching the last two Newcastle Reserve team games, and then having an even closer look at the youngsters yesterday, during the full-scale practice match at St James’ Park, Keegan told the Newcastle Chronicle today:
“There have been some really good performances.†“At some stage we will be looking at the younger players (for the first team), but only when the time is right.â€
“I first watched the reserves at North Shields a couple of weeks ago and was impressed.” “On a tough night they put in a performance against a side who were totally committed to beating them.â€
“I have been pleased with that.” “We’ve been mixing things up a bit, and at the stadium yesterday gave some of the young lads a chance to see how they compared with the senior players.â€
“This period is a great chance to try out new things and see what people can do.”
Good confident displays from 20 year-old David Edgar, 17 year-old Hungarian Tamas Kadar and Gateshead’s very own 19 year-old 6’3″ striker Andy Carroll, on Monday night in the Newcastle Reserve’s 1-1 draw with Man City, were fully noted by the impressed Newcastle manager.
David Edgar is now 20 years old so didn’t quite make our Top 10 Teenagers list we published recently, and neither did 21 year-old Charles N’Zogbia. We also excluded James Troisi, our Australian midfield player who is just 19 years old.
When you consider Steven Taylor and James Milner have both just turned 22 years old last month, and add these 5 players to the following 10 teenagers – we appear to be in excellent shape for the future.
We fully expect some of these youngsters to push through for the first team and augment our first team squad next season.
Here’s 15 youngsters for the future at Newcastle United brought in from 7 different countries 😀
Player Age Position Nationality Ole Soderburg 17 G Sweden Tamas Kadar 17 CB Hungary Ben Tozer 17 LB England Kazenga Lua Lua 17 M DR Congo Fabio Zamblera 17 S Italy Wesley Baheng 18 S France Mark Doninger 18 M England Andrew Carroll 19 S England Tim Krul 19 G Holland Fraser Forster 19 G England James Troisi 19 M Australia David Edgar 20 D Canada Charles N'Zogbia 21 M France Steven Taylor 22 D England James Milner 22 M England
That’s one thing the new regime has done very well this season, and that is to bring in these top youngsters from around the world. It will augur so very well for the future of our club, and it seems such an exciting and promising strategy.
It was used to great effect of course by the great Matt Busby at Manchester United in the late 1950s, when he had the famous Busby Babes. Busby used to sign the best youngsters from the National Under-15 Schoolboy teams of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
One of those was of course Ashington’s very own Bobby Charlton, who played for East Northumberland Schoolboys and England Schoolboys in 1953, before he was snapped up by Manchester United (where were the Newcastle scouts?).
We’d like to see some of the above youngsters given a chance this season, but Kevin is right when he says we have to first be safe from relegation.
Comments welcome.
28 comments so far
thelongshanks
Feb 14, 2008 at 2:48 PM
Comment #1Ed, Ryan donaldson should be on that list,the amount of goals he has got for the eng u17 is impressive.Def one for the future.
JP from The Rock of Gibraltar
Feb 14, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Comment #2Looks like we have a better reserve team than first team! lol The future looks bright for us but at the moment we should be really careful we don’t get relegated.
Davies
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Comment #3I see Godsmark didn’t get a mention. Do we still have him?
Kash2
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Comment #4Agreed, Donaldson seems to have the ability to do it at the highest level of his age group. But so did Chopra, and look at him now, a bench warmer for the mackems!!!!
Hopefully Donaldson has that little bit extra, hopefully all of the players listed have!!!
Kash2
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Comment #5Godsmark is still with us, and I think he will be for along time. Seen him play and he’s rapid!!!!
steve k
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:38 PM
Comment #6I’m sure most premiership clubs could boast this kind of roster. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and so far we haven’t seen enough of these guys to really rate them.
N’Zogbia is excellent as we all know and Taylor is a decent centre half, if not as talented as he is rated. But in truth, Ronaldo is the same age as N’Zogbia – and while it is an unfair comparison some of these “ones for the future” are players who have shown they will never be more than decent squad players.
Leo*
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Comment #7hopefully by this time next year that list will have doubled in size and the players in that list will have had some first team experience.
big pea ov the weab
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:48 PM
Comment #8the future doz look bright we have some good players in our youth squad i realy think kk should give them a run out in 1st team might b kick up the arse the older squad need
Cyprus Mag
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:48 PM
Comment #9I’m not confident the coaching staff we have are capable of turning all of this potential into top class premiership material. This should be KK’s main focus for the future.
CRAIGG
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Comment #10The best team is :
Given
Beye Taylor Faye Enrique
Milner Barton Emre N’zogbia
Owen Martins
Subs: Harper, Edgar, Duff, Lua Lua, Carroll
God some people have short memories about geremi he has a couple of decent games for cameroon and they would all have him in the team.
Also i will be slated for this but Nicky Butt was better at the start of the season than Geremi was.
Butt was excellent earlier on in the season and also was our best central Midfielder last season .
If it wasnt for Taylor, Martins, Milner Given & Butt (All who get slammed by people who watch from their armchairs) we would have been relegated last season and we wouldnt have a fighting chance of KK kicking things off again next Season ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
And just to add to my previous comments while im at it Terry Mac Helped us get to an F.A. Cup final and promotion to Div 1 as a player.
As an Assistant/Coach/Chief joke teller whatever he is.
We had one of our most successfull periods Div1 title, Runners up in the premiership twice , Playing in champions league & UEFA Cup and getting us to another F.A. cup final helping Kevin and Kenny.
More short memories
Please give me your views
Zx
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:16 PM
Comment #11I wish we can play more of the youngsters and give the senior players a kick on the backside.
Giving chances to the youngsters not only give them more motivation, but also motivate those complacent senior players to work hard and win their place back.
Graham
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:35 PM
Comment #12Top youngsters at Newcastle United…. its just a shame the senior players couldn’t kick my left arse cheek at the minute!
We do have some decent young’uns at NUFC at the minute – lets just hope some of them develop into the finished article as its a well known fact that for every 1 that make it – theres another 15 or so playing for pubs teams by the time they’re 20.
We’re going in the right direction by getting these kids in – we need Beardsley back as youth team coach / manager. He would be great as that
Scottyt
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Comment #13craigg tbh i agree with you butt was better than geremi at the start of the season and yes probably was our best cm last year. In the team you mention there i also agree with all but one of them and that is joey barton. maybe he could be a very good player but ive said it ever since the ‘latest’ punch up happened and that he shouldnt play for us again, imo i dont think he’ll ever change i mean look at villa on saturday.
ive said this before but if we are looking to attack teams why not try emre and zog in cm with duff on the left emre would have to track back tirelessly like he does quite a lot anyways but i agree it is a risk but i just dont like seeing barton in our team it spoils our reputation hugely, smith is a big no no in cm he isnt a midfilder simple as and geremi and butt are getting on really.
as for the youngsters would love to see even a few of them succeed and hopefully theyll be given that chance to shine sometime in the near future.
broon ale
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:39 PM
Comment #14HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR KEVIN KEEGAN!!!!
CRAIGG
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Comment #15Scottyt thanks it boils my blood people slagging off Butt yes he has been shocking recently and i dont want him in the team at the mo but he was good the start of this season and outstanding last season. I also dont want barton in the club but i feel if we get some of our moneys worth by exploiting his talent this season and flogging him in the summer!!!
Scottyt
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Comment #16yh i know what you mean, be interesting to see if anyone wanted him though and he might be in jail by then anyways lol and yh with butt i try not to slag anyone off atm cos i just dont think its what the players need right now but he isnt playing well right now thats for sure. ive also tried to defend cacapa recently but ive came to the same opinion as most and thats he can be excellent sometimes terrible the next faye still looks a much better player though and for his physical dominance uve got to go for him atm
Tom_Toon
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Comment #17Butt is fkin shit, Smith is fkin shit, Carr is fkin shit.
Harper
Beye Faye Taylor Enrique
Duff Emre Barton N’Zogbia
Owen Martins
Subs: Given, Capaca, Geremi, Milner, Viduka
Our best and most balanced team.
CRAIGG
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Comment #18I just think its daft some of the comments on this blog “keegan out” “Milners shit” “Givens useless” i also saw one saying we should sell owen and buy Djibril Cisse!!!
If theyre is nothing useful to say dont f**kin say it!
CRAIGG
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Comment #19“Butt is fkin shit, Smith is fkin shit, Carr is fkin shit.”
Scottyt isnt that what you mean!!
P.S. How is having Duff on the right wing balanced
Kash2
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Comment #20@Tom_Toon – How can you have a balanced team if you have 2 left footed players on the right hand side of midfield with a right footbed player on the on the left hand side of the central midfield?
CLEVER!!!!!
Kash2
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Comment #21Lets be real, if our youngsters were good enough then they would be playing in the first team!!!!!!!!!!!! I really hope its a case of bedding them in, so to speak, but really they’re not mustard. If arsenal can have 18-21 year olds playing because they’re good enough, then why don’t we considering our first teamers are proper shit? Mainly because our youngsters aren’t fooking good enough.
Tom_Toon
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Comment #22Its balanced because they can cross unlike Milner, the bench is very balanced.
Didnt bother putting the cm’s in their position. A cm is a cm.
CRAIGG
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:40 PM
Comment #23N’Zogbia and Duffs crossing ability is probably on par with Milners
Leo*
Feb 14, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Comment #24anyone seen eccelstones comments on what he believes their should be instead of game 39…?
a mini league with just the top 4 clubs playing 6 games… not sharing the revenue with teams like wigan
this is no good in my opinion, the rich get richer the poor get poorer.
Bill F
Feb 14, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Comment #25If we could get a few points on the board quickly, then I think KK should start using the youngsters as much as possible in the place of the obvious kickouts at the end of the season. Carroll should go into the team now. I would prefer him to the Burger King.
Leo*
Feb 14, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Comment #26by burger king i guess you either mean carr or vodka (viduka)
Mr T
Feb 15, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Comment #27Clearly means Viduka….
Tom Toon – Fckin is as much of a swear word as sh!t ….not being funny, just made me laugh your indifference of censorship!
What I don’t get is, 3 of them 15 players are keepers, one I’ve seen nothing of. I’ve been up to Falkirk to watch Timmy who does look good, and Forsters looked steady everytime I’ve seen him.
Kids aren’t getting used because the management is scared now, cos of the position Fat Sam has put us in. Maybe we should put some young ones in before we are relegated. David Edgar and Steven Taylor at CB sounds a good start to me. Did you intentionally miss Rammy out, or am I the only one to rate him still?!
Godsmark and Donaldson should be in there over Soderburg possibly, only saying that cos I think he’s in there on reputation alone, as is Zamblera for that matter probably.
We should put a few young un’s on the bench against Blackburn, Fulham and Brum, bleed them in, see how they do.
Speaking of giving people chance’s Kev, lets just give up on Ameobi hey?! he’s a monstrosity of football skills.
Ian
Feb 15, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Comment #28I think they do not give them a taste of first team football quickly enough, they are used to being the top dogs in the reserves, they need a taste of the first team to show how much harder they need to work and the standard they must work to. The best players have always been the hardest workers, Speed and Beardsley for example.