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Latest Figures Show Worrying Lack Of Newcastle Talent

11 years ago
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There is a big debate going on about the move to having more players from abroad playing in England and of course that meaning a reduction in homegrown players.

Newcastle United have been thrust into the spotlight with their recruitment policy, another six players arriving from the continent in January.

However, maybe as Newcastle fans we should be worrying about a more localised problem following the release of a list by the Football League showing the 25 most common birth places of registered players currently on the books of Football League clubs.

278         London
76           Liverpool
38           Birmingham
34           Manchester
33           Sheffield
31           Glasgow
26           Nottingham
23           Bristol
23           Leeds
21           Derby
20           Preston
19           Middlesbrough
17           Wolverhampton
17           Leicester
15           Reading
15           Doncaster
14           Blackburn
13           Bolton
12           Salford
12           Stoke On Trent
12           Chester
12           Coventry
11           Plymouth
11           Edinburgh
10           Barnsley
10           Newcastle
10           Cardiff
10           Huddersfield

Now I know we might wonder about exactly where the boundaries of Newcastle begin and end but that still doesn’t explain the massive disparity between Liverpool’s 76 and Newcastle’s 10, or why even places such as Blackburn, Bolton, Doncaster, Reading…Middlesbrough etc. are producing more professional players.

It suggests that we could have a problem on Tyneside and that Newcastle United must be a key element in that relative failure to produce players, hopefully we will see more local players making it but I think we need United to take a strong lead in making that happen.

The other part of the equation is that while both Middlesbrough and Sunderland attained top status for their Academy, Newcastle United didn’t. What that means is that Newcastle are far more restricted with regard to how far they can spread their net for players and so if a big part of the problem is that maybe there isn’t a lot of local talent out there, then it will be a major handicap to youth development at St.James’ Park.

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