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LoveItIfWeBeatU

by LoveItIfWeBeatU
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Robster

Robster

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Really starting to get the "what's the point" feeling again regarding the club, it all just feels like a massie waste of time :anguish:

f*** off Mike.

I'm not quite sure why anyone, at any time this season, thought there was a point.

With or without Rafa, this club is pointless while Ashley is around.

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https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastles-wayne-rooney-icelands-third-16082902

 

Surrounded by imposing 1,000ft snow-capped mountains, the Icelandic town of Ísafjarðarbær is better known for its breathtaking views and seal watching than it’s football team.

 

Tap it’s name into Google and you get hair-raising but hypnotic footage of one of the world’s most difficult approaches to an international airport. Jutting out on the westerly tip of the country – some five hours from Reykjavík by car – planes have to bank left over a sweeping fjord before landing in a town of some 3,000 habitants.

 

It is a long way from the Plymouth hotel where a 15-year-old Aaron Spear met Dennis Wise with his mother and father to be sold a vision of how the club could plot his pathway to becoming the next Newcastle number nine.

 

Spear was a teenager at the time, a strong, physical forward scoring freely for Plymouth Argyle's youth sides and catching the attention of scouts. Arsenal and Everton had watched him, someone compared him to Wayne Rooney and there was momentum behind his fledgling career. But Wise, tasked by Mike Ashley with the job of turning Newcastle into a club that nurtured promising young players and spent big on their Academy, was one step ahead of the rest.

 

“I was only young but I had an agent at the time and there was a lot of talk about what was going to happen – but it was Newcastle who really went the extra mile,” Spear, now 25 and playing in the Icelandic third tier, tells ChronicleLive.

 

“I remember meeting Dennis in that hotel and really getting the impression that Newcastle wanted me to sign. There were others who were interested but he was impressive to talk to and he did help me out a lot in those early years so I’ll be grateful to him. But I think, looking back, I didn’t realise quite what a big move it was. I just went with what other people around told me was going to be the best move.”

 

Wise’s remit was backed by funds: owner Ashley sanctioned a £250,000 fee for Spear – a huge amount for a 15-year-old and the most Newcastle have ever, and probably will ever, spend on a player of that age. And the initial signs were good: Alan Thompson had seen some good signs and he made his debut for the reserves at the tender age of 16.

 

“That was my first real taste of proper football, playing in front of a big crowd and with some good players. That was great for me and it’s something I will always remember. Alan Thompson gave me that chance and I’ll never forget it,” he remembers.

 

It was around about this time Spear was featured in the Football Manager series as a “wonderkid”, something he says he still gets reminded about.

 

But initial promise was dissipating a few months after he arrived, with upheaval at the club – they had two Academy managers and four senior team bosses in his first year – making a mockery of United’s supposed commitment to young talent. Wise found himself increasingly sidelined by internal politics and Spear, despite costing a quarter of a million pounds, was left to flounder. There was simply no joined-up thinking and Spear speaks of the gap between the Academy side and the senior set-up.

 

Pressure around the ‘next Rooney’ tag was also starting to tell.

 

“To be honest it took me a while to settle – and looking back I don’t think I ever really did properly,” he says.

 

“I think going from Plymouth to Newcastle is worlds apart and I was young and made the move on my own so it was not easy. A lot of things go in to being a young professional footballer and I struggled with many of them.

 

“Pressure to be the next big thing was always there and I knew Newcastle had spent a lot of money on me. I felt people expected a lot from me and to honest I knew I wasn’t at the level Rooney was at and never would be but when you have that tag, anything less is going to be a disappointment.

 

“The club was really up and down at the time and I don’t think it was a good time for them to give youngsters a chance. I played with a lot of great players who didn’t get an opportunity and should have done.”

 

When people ask why Newcastle’s Academy doesn’t produce, Spear’s story is perhaps the perfect riposte to a question that has troubled supporters down the years. You can invest in talent but without the infrastructure, joined up plan and man management there is always a danger they will drift.

 

It didn’t help that Newcastle was a mess at the time and, of course, bringing in players at the age of 15 is not a precise science.

 

For Spear, the end arrived in 2011. “I wasn’t getting the games, I wasn’t happy and I think they just thought I wasn’t going to make it so I left.

 

“I’d say I regret it in one way because my football career was sort of over before it started because of that first decision I made. I think it was too big of a step at the time but when you’re that young you put your trust in people and if you get it wrong it’s a difficult situation. It was too big a step.

 

“But of course not many people get to experience this so I won’t forget it and something i will always remember.”

 

These days, Spear plays his football for Knattspyrnudeild Vestra – or Vestri – in the third tier of Iceland’s football league and his career has zig-zagged across Scandinavia, also playing in the lower leagues in Sweden.

 

“When I left Newcastle I just wanted a break from football. I’d concentrated on being a professional footballer since I was young and it was the only thing I wanted to be but then it’s over,” he said.

 

“I’d always been really interested in travelling and at that point, that urge took over. Luckily my agent told me he had been contacted by a team in Iceland which was a surprise because I didn’t know anything about football in that country but it came as a good time because I was ready for a new challenge and wanted to travel so it fell hand in hand.

 

“Abroad the seasons are shorter and therefore I have time to do more things in life. In England when you play football at a good level it’s 100 percent of your time spent on that. I just don’t think I wanted that anymore.”

 

He’s now back at Vestri, where chairman Samuel Samuelsson offered him a chance, after a team he played for in Sweden folded. The games are only played in front of a few hundred and the money is a fraction on offer as a teenager at St James’ Park but it’s about regaining that passion for the sport again.

 

Spear’s done well to avoid any bitterness – there is regret and a wonder of what might-have-been – but he still keeps an eye out for Newcastle results. Is there any advice he would give to anyone else signing for Newcastle?

 

“Just get the right help around you. You need people that are looking out for your best interests and I’d just say: enjoy it. Newcastle is a massive club and they are a much more stable team now and they’ve started giving the young players more of a chance now, which is great.”

 

Lost boys – what happened next for some of Newcastle’s ‘next big things’

 

Fabio Zamblera

Zamblera was the throwback Italian forward who joined Newcastle in 2008 with genuine credentials to be the next big thing. He signed at the same time as goalkeeper Ole Soderberg, who also struggled to make the grade.

 

He was at Atlanta when United spent a six-figure sum on him – an Italian under-19 international who certainly looked the part. Big, strong and athletic, he looked tailor-made for English football. He was a “stone’s throw” from the first team and trained with Michael Owen and under the tutelage of Alan Shearer. Andy Carroll was a compatriot.

 

But again, it was a case of too much, too soon. “Everything is quite grey in England,” he said in an interview in 2015.

 

“I did not like food, the cold or the rain. I had an apartment in the centre of town but just lived a normal life. I went to training and learned.” He missed Italy. “Life is better here, or maybe it’s just my home.”

 

In 2010, everything changed when he suffered a serious and “violent” knee injury. “I had hurt myself before but in 2010 I broke everything that could be broken in the left knee: the cruciate and the two meniscuses,” he said. “For ten minutes, I could hardly breath. It was a violent thing.”

 

He faced a year out of football. Obafemi Martins and Emre – who could speak Italian – were supports but, Zamblera remembers “there was not much they could do”.

 

He went on loan to Roma and Sampdoria but Newcastle released him in 2011. But injuries at such a young age prevented him from realising that early potential. He played at amateur level for Casazza: using football to help him get his weight down.

 

Having moved on from professional football, he studied for an economics degree in Bergamo and is now a business consultant.

 

Ben Tozer

Another Wise signing, Tozer was brought from Swindon in 2008. The price was £1million as United doubled down on their investment in youth.

 

“It happened so fast and at the time it was fantastic for me, thinking everything was going to go onwards and upwards for me. I had a great time up there and to be among players of that calibre was a massive eye opener. You soon get used to it and it becomes normality,” he told GloucesterLive last year.

 

He went from Swindon’s youth team to training alongside Michael Owen. “The list of players I had the chance to play with is mindblowing really,” he says.

 

Tozer was introduced to manager Sam Allardyce, who was promptly sacked eight days later. The instability of the club was again proving problematic.

 

“There are a lot of factors in football as to why you do and why you don’t succeed. I think the turnover of managers you have when you are at a club is always massive as to how you develop as a young lad. That may or may not have been the reason why I didn’t succeed up there, but I am still fortunate enough to have had that experience,” he said.

 

Tozer now plays for Cheltenham Town in League One.

 

Gael Bigirimana

Wise was no more but Newcastle spent £1.25million on signing Bigirimana from Coventry on the recommendation of Graham Carr.

 

After bursting on to the first-team scene he carried the look of a player with Premier League potential. But it soon went sour – and his agent Lee Marsh spoke about the reasons. There are familiar signs.

 

“He went for a million quid – a lot of money – with add-ons and what I would say is that he was 19 years old and didn’t have the right people around him,” he said.

 

“It seemed that they wanted to move him on quick; the club might have wanted to just take the money because that might have been the best he becomes.”

 

It was claimed Alan Pardew mishandled him: “It was a rush of a deal and he shouldn’t have gone. There were other clubs who were interested - I know Arsenal were looking at him – but the managerial side of things from Alan Pardew was the most alarming thing.

 

“He’d gone up there, a kid from Burundi having lived in Coventry, which was his club and he respected it. But he probably couldn’t turn the move down because of peer pressure from his family – ‘take it, it’s good money’ – and a lot of issues surrounding it. Sometimes kids at that age just can’t turn it down.

 

“Alan Pardew told him he wasn’t going to play first-team football for him. When a manager tells you that, no matter how much money you’re on, you’re uncomfortable.

 

“Gael asked to give him 10 minutes here and there as a sub, let him play his way into it; but Pardew wouldn’t have it.

 

“It’s not fair for me to sit here and have a go at Pardew but when you have paid close on a million quid for a player that’s 19 years old – it’s like if it was your own son, you’d put your arm around him.”

 

Bigirimana is now at Hibernian, having resurrected his career in Scotland.

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

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The situation around gael bigirimana was utterly bizarre as I thought he looked decent and then suddenly we has nowhere to be seen.

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Guest firetotheworks

Guest firetotheworks

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The situation around gael bigirimana was utterly bizarre as I thought he looked decent and then suddenly we has nowhere to be seen.

 

It was really weird that. I didn't think he was amazing or anything, but he was young, had promise, and his attitude on the pitch was really good. I can't remember him every going into his shell or shying away after making a mistake or anything.

 

Just had a look and apparently he had an undisclosed medical condition when he was at Rangers?

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Guest chicken little

Guest chicken little

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He was at Atlanta when United spent a six-figure sum on him – an Italian under-19 international who certainly looked the part. Big, strong and athletic, he looked tailor-made for English football. He was a “stone’s throw” from the first team and trained with Michael Owen and under the tutelage of Alan Shearer. Andy Carroll was a compatriot.

 

really, aye? had to click through to check this was written by lee ryder, was surprised.

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xLiaaamx

xLiaaamx

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Pardew did it to Sam Field at West Brom last year too. Just an absolute cunt. Abeid, Vuckic Bigirimana, Tav, Ferguson all look decent players then low and behold, him and his bezzie mate John Carver get their hands on them, and ruin them all.

 

Carver comparing Abeid to forrest gump ffs.

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Anyone know the added time for each of our wins this season?

 

It feels like it's 5 minutes every fucking time  :lol:

From latest win to oldest:

 

5,5,5,3,5,5,4,4,4,4

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