Lee Charnley agrees with Gary Neville that it is great to see the Longstaff brothers playing for Newcastle United after the pair impressed in the 1-0 win against Manchester United last week.
Matty and Sean Longstaff played alongside each other in the Premier League for the first time, with Matty, 19, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal on his senior league debut.
After the game at St James’ Park, Neville tweeted via his personal Twitter account that it was “amazing” to see the boyhood Newcastle fans play for their club together and really convey their delight in post-match interviews.
The Longstaff brothers made me happy yesterday ! We see hundreds of interviews every year where players/managers are concentrated ,focused and on guard. The purity , the joy and the love of football was amazing and it should be shown to every young player . #Dreams
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) October 7, 2019
Newcastle managing director Charnley clearly agrees with Neville and says that it is great to see two players who are so loyal to the club playing in the Premier League.
“You hear people talking about footballers being mercenaries. These are two boys who desperately want to play for their hometown club,” he said, as quoted by the Chronicle.
“To see Sean do it last year and Matty get his opportunity — and he looked like it was his 25th or 50th game, not his first — was so pleasing for everyone. I think it was fantastic and we’ve seen the public reaction, not just the Newcastle public. I saw what Gary Neville tweeted after the game.”
OPINION
It is a shame that Newcastle do not have more players like the Longstaff brothers, and it is a shame that more clubs in the Premier League do not have as many homegrown aces who love the club and put all their heart and soul into each performance. Manchester United do not seem to have that at the moment which may be why Old Trafford legend Neville was so quick to air his opinion on Matty and Sean after the game. Steve Bruce has no choice but to start the pair in the centre of the midfield again when Newcastle travel to Chelsea next week. Unless there is an injury or something out of the ordinary happens between now and the trip to Stamford Bridge, they simply have to start after playing so well against Man United. None of Isaac Hayden, Jonjo Shelvey or Ki Sung-yueng have played as well as Matty Longstaff all season.
