Harder Path to the First Team
- mattlewis89
- 2h
- 6 min read
Something a little bit different for the article here is the written version of my video earlier on in the week.
One of the of the most popular chants across all clubs is “He’s one of our own insert players “ When someone comes through the system at a club or they are from the area, supporters instantly have that connection with them, but With global football what it is it is becoming harder for young talent to break through, especially in the premier league and with financial restrictions hampering the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa or any other club outside the traditional norm how can the academy and young player development be used as an extra tool as we try to bridge the gap between the established norm on and off the pitch.
Sean Neave is the player that I am looking at but this conversation could be applied to any of the academy players who look like they could be our next star. Leo Shahar, Alex Murphy are the names that spring to mind.
For those who follow the academy results Sean Neave has scored 12 goals in 21 appearances for the under 21s this season and in the games that I have been able to watch he is a clear standout player in that squad.
He has been in the first team squad 19 times this season but his 4 minutes against Qarabag is the only minutes he has had for the first team and between the 17th December and that Qarabag game he only got played 61 minutes of football in that time.
He clearly has talent and potential which is why he is involved with the first team squad, but what is the best way to develop him so that we can harness that potential.
Here are three different approaches which can be used in tandem but for the sake of the conversation will look at them separately.
As I mentioned before he has been in and around the first team. The obvious positive there is that he will be training with quality players day in day out. Going up against quality defenders in that time, soaking up knowledge from players with experience like Trippier and Dan Burn and being around generational talents like Bruno and Tonali.
At the same time if the player has that quality, then that will start to come through and standout to the manager and eventually translate to minutes.
Lewis Miley broke into our first team in the 23/24 season, and his quality has been there for all to see and this season especially he has proved what a vital part of our squad he has been playing in multiple positions.
Being in that environment every day is a massive plus for me from the mental side of the game because if a young player like Neave has the right attitude that environment would be the best apprenticeship to top level football you can imagine but also the likes of Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy who have been through it all would be able to support and give their insights on the inevitable lows that come with the game as well.
The Negatives of course are the number of minutes that a player would get would be minimal. They may go off and play some odd games for the U21s but to maximise the impact of being around the first team they would need to be involved a lot more and that is where a players current ability comes into play.
Alex Murphy for example has only got on the pitch in10 games across both the under 21s and 1st team this season and 4 of those games were 15 minutes or less.
The obvious positive for this option is that he will be playing games regularly. Match sharpness can be worked on, in game decision making such as when to pass when to shoot, building up on field chemistry with players regularly and how to develop that understanding quickly with new players.
The Under 21s also have the National league Cup and EFL Trophy where it is a chance to play against senior players, Players from League one who may have that mentality of “Were not having a team of whipper snappers come here and beat us” So those games offer adversity training mentality that most of the time end in defeat but hardens a player up to the lows of football and the difficult environments.
Of course the negative is that you will be playing less quality. Yes developing in game management and decision making would be valuable but going from the academy matches to first team matches is a massive jump up and that decision making has to be even quicker.
That brings me on nicely to the loan market. That is a clear and obvious way to bridge the gap between the academy and the first team but when is the right time for that loan move.
Before I speak about the negatives with our loan dealings a successful one in recent years before he moved on was Elliot Anderson. He had a great loan move at Bristol Rovers. 13 Goal Contributions in 21 appearances. Broke into the first team squad with Newcastle but then had to be sold because of the stupid PSR Rules.
Newcastle’s loan dealings are something that I have always felt needed reviewing. Granted I haven’t had a deep dive into it properly but just off the top of my head Travis Hernes has been on loan at Groningen all season and only played 46 minutes. He may have been injured for a period while he has been there but I don’t have a lot of confidence in our loan department.
Football Is ever changing. You could send a player somewhere seeing that club has similar manager to us with philosophy and style of play but 2 months into the loan they could be sacked which again would be something a young player would have to learn,
There are non-football factors that come with a loan move. You may get a Swindon Town let’s say come in and say “We would love to bring in Sean Neave on loan he would get regular game time for us play most weeks and have a real chance to impress but that would mean Sean moving to the other side of the country away from most of his friends and family and lose that local support network around him and at any age that would be difficult but especially for anyone under 21 dealing with the demands of professional football.
On the flip side of that I like to put things in real world comparisons. If a young person aspires to be a doctor, politician, scientist, actor, actress, etc a stint away at university is maybe the best option for that learning to get the best degree or experience for the career they want. That degree may lead to there dream job in their dream organisation, but those opportunities are limited so it may be the case that different direction. I may have that basic comparison wrong but hopefully you understand what I’m trying to say.
So what do you think? Where do you stand on player development and how to manage it. The Football manager players amongst you will defiantly have thoughts about this.
The obvious thing with player development is using a multi-pronged approach and a big example of that is Harry Kane. He was in and around the EFL moving through those clubs some ups and downs. Signed for Spurs and had his breakthrough using the Europa League and cup competitions to stand out. And we all know what he went on to do.
Could that happen with Sean Neave? If we are in the conference league for example next season, could we see a similar story there? (Just with a few more trophies than what he won at Spurs)
Let me know what you think about how we should approach our young player development in the squad. You can either leave a comment on the article or in the comment section for the video itself.
Also Look out on social media for the Newcastle Fan’s TV pages for regular updates on the Under 21s and 18s matches.
One final thing what do you think to transcripts as articles for certain videos. Is it something that you would be in favour of for some videos. Let me know in the comments for this article.
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