Jonjo Shelvey was in the stands at St James’ Park on Monday night when Newcastle United’s Under-23s lost 1-0 against Swansea’s Under-23s in Premier League 2.
Shelvey, 27, missed Sunday’s 5-0 defeat to Leicester with an injury but was at the Magpies’ stadium just over 24 hours later to watch the club’s youngsters take on his former side Swansea.
Neil Redfearn’s side of youngsters went on to suffer defeat courtest of a late goal by the Swans and Newcastle’s official Twitter account confirmed Shelvey’s attendance in the first half.
30' – It remains goalless between Newcastle's second-string and their @SwansOfficial counterparts, with United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey in attendance at St. James' Park. 0-0. #NUFC
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) September 30, 2019
OPINION
Shelvey is a player who needs to up his game for Newcastle. The £70,000-a-week [Spotrac] midfielder is one of the biggest names in Steve Bruce’s squad but is yet to really prove that he is a better option than Isaac Hayden or youngster Sean Longstaff in the centre of the midfield with some poor performances. He may have scored one of Newcastle’s four Premier League goals in the loss against Norwich but that was just about as good as it got by the ex-Liverpool player, who was dubbed as “lazy” by Sky Sports pundit Sue Smith for his performance against Leicester in the Carabao Cup when he missed a penalty. It’s good to see Shelvey attend an Under-23s match but it is perhaps more to do with the fact he’s a former Swansea player than being interested in seeing the Magpies’ younger players and maybe giving them a bit of encouragement. It’s not like Newcastle’s first-team players have the right to encourage anyone at the moment though based on their form.
