Ever since Mike Ashley took charge at Newcastle, one of his main missions has been to improve the quantity and quality of youth players at the club. He has had his scouts scouring Europe to bring in the likes of Haris Vuckic from abroad and Nile Ranger from a little closer to home. He also seems to be going down the route taken by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in not offering lengthy contracts to older players; in fact you could say he is basing his whole football model on the Gunners. However, it would be a mistake for Ashley to sacrifice experience for in a search for youth at St James’ Park.
This topic of discussion has arisen mainly because two of Newcastle’s more experienced English players, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan, have not signed new contracts and the former could well be off next summer. With Alan Smith also looking likely to leave, that means Shola Ameobi is the only outfield player who has a large number of games under his belt, following the departure of Sol Campbell. 12 months ago Nicky Butt also called it a day, so there seems to be something of a trend developing at Newcastle.
There are of course plenty of advantages of investing in youth. Players are often cheaper as they are yet to prove themselves at the top level, and you’re also likely to get a larger sell-on fee, too. While Alan Hansen’s claim that ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ isn’t quite true, it isn’t too far wide of the mark and you don’t see many teams climbing towards the top of the table with a bunch of youngsters in their ranks and an elder statesman nowhere to be seen.
There is definitely room for one or two old heads in any starting eleven, and I don’t think Newcastle should disregard signing a couple of experienced players, even if they come at a premium. If, and it’s a big if, Nolan, Barton and Smith were to leave Tyneside in the not too near distant future, other than Steve Harper in goal who now sees Tim Krul when he looks over his shoulder, you might say that Fabricio Coloccini was the only player with bags of top class experience.
While Newcastle’s pursuit of exciting young talent is admirable, it should not be done at the expense of experienced players who are invaluable to any team. You need players who won’t go missing when times are tough, those who will rally round and can give advice to some of the younger members of the squad. The likes of Steven Taylor and Cheik Tiote may well go onto to become those experienced players, but I don’t think they’re there yet and thus in addition to their talent, Nolan and Barton still have plenty to offer Newcastle.
