The cap now fits at Newcastle United after key transfer
Anthony Gordon's smart Newcastle United career move underlines one thing as England's squad prepares for Euro 2024.
In 20-odd years as a Newcastle United writer, I didn’t get to visit Wembley too many times.
The club has played at the national stadium just three times since it was rebuilt – and two of those visits were for Premier League fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur. The other time, of course, was for the Carabao Cup final last year.
And visits to see the club’s players representing England were few and far between during Mike Ashley’s time as owner.
I was reminded of one of those rare trips during Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to Iceland at the stadium.
Two Newcastle players – Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon – had been named in an England starting XI for the first time in 2007, when Michael Owen and Michael Owen started up front for their country against Germany at Wembley.
I don’t remember much about the England v Germany game, as it was a forgettable day in the capital for Steve McClaren’s team. England were beaten 2-1 – the loss was their first defeat at the new Wembley – and I remember the players weren’t exactly been keen to talk the post-match mixed zone.
What is also forgotten is that a third United player, Steven Taylor, had been an unused substitute that day.
Taylor, never capped at senior level, would surely have played at least some international football had it not been for injuries and the club’s relegation the following year, having previously captained England’s Under-21s.
Caps were few and far between for United players in the following years.
Owen won his final cap while a Newcastle player in 2008, and Andy Carroll and Andros Townsend won single caps in 2010 and 2016 respectively while at the club.
Townsend’s appearance came at the Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, which hosted a friendly against Australia before Euro 2016. The winger, however, didn’t make Roy Hodgson’s final squad for the tournament in France.
I had asked Hodgson what the club’s relegation that season would mean for Townsend’s international career at England’s pre-match press conference at the Hilton in Gateshead.
“It doesn’t impact on his (international) career in any particular way,” said Hodgson.
Townsend, however, wasn’t prepared to take his chances in English football’s second tier, and moved to Crystal Palace.
The winger, maybe fearing some awkward questions about his club future, didn’t speak in the mixed zone after the England game on Wearside. All told, Townsend’s spell at the club lasted less than six months.
In the Mike Ashley era, a move to Newcastle wasn’t a great career move for a player with England ambitions given the club’s own limited ambitions under his ownership.
New generation
Today, the situation is very different thanks to the 2021 takeover.
Trippier, Gordon, Callum Wilson and Nick Pope have won 23 caps between them as United players in a little over two years.
And Gordon’s move to Newcastle from Everton in January last year gave the winger – who helped the Under-21s win last summer’s European Championships – the platform he needed to break into the senior England squad.
Gordon, helped by head coach Eddie Howe and his staff, has flourished at St James’ Park, which hosted England’s penultimate Euro 2024 warm-up game against Bosnia & Herzegovina last Monday.
The versatile and creative 23-year-old’s pacy first-half performance on the left wing against Iceland was one of the few bright spots from the game, and the winger – who missed the fixture on Tyneside through injury – has a chance of starting Sunday’s first Group C game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.
Gordon scored 12 goals in all competitions for his club last season, and he also looks at home on the international stage.
Asked what being in the squad meant to him, Gordon told Sky Sports: “Everything. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this point. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to play for England and represent them in a tournament, and now I get to go and do it.”
Trippier – who captained England at St James’ Park – also made the Euro 2024 squad.
Newcastle’s signing of Trippier from Atletico Madrid in January 2022 was absolutely pivotal to the club’s survival that season. The right-back was arguably the first world-class player to join the club since Owen made a £16million move to St James’ Park from Real Madrid in 2005.
Trippier – who is out of contract next summer – made a huge leap of faith by swapping a Champions League club for a team fighting to stay in the Premier League.
Speaking at a media day before the Carabao Cup final, he said: “I never look back. I was criticised for going to Atletico Madrid in the first place. When I came to Newcastle, it was the exact same, but I know how to handle all these situations where the outside might not agree with the decision I've made.
“I believed in the manager – I worked with him before – and I believed that I could help the team stay in the Premier League.”
And, to this day, his signing is arguably the most important player deal the club has done under new ownership.
Thanks, in part, to that deal, prospective signings know that they can advance their careers, for club and country, by joining Newcastle.
And that certainly hasn’t always been the case.