The new normal for Newcastle United – and England
A transfer to Newcastle United is now a great career move for players with England ambitions – as underlined by Anthony Gordon, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento.
Watching England’s win over Serbia, I was reminded of one particular statistic from the Mike Ashley era.
There was a time when it was unusual to see one Newcastle United player in an England squad, let alone two in the starting XI and another on the bench.
Last night, Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento started for England, 5-0 winners in Belgrade, a city to which a few hundred Newcastle fans had had an eventful trip for a Champions League fixture during the late, great Sir Bobby Robson’s time as manager.
Dan Burn – who had started against Andorra last week – was an unused substitute at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.
Elliot Anderson, sold by Newcastle to Nottingham Forest last year, also started the World Cup qualifier. The 22-year-old – who had made his debut against Andorra on Saturday – again impressed in midfield.
Anderson – who thrived playing week in, week out for Forest last season – is one that got away, having been reluctantly sold by the club so it could comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Lewis Hall would most likely have also been involved had it not been for the injury which saw him the back end of last season, while Jacob Ramsey, signed from Aston Villa last summer, will be hoping to earn a call-up from Thomas Tuchel ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the USA.
So there’s an abundance of England talent in Eddie Howe’s squad.
The England cap fits
But back to that statistic. Only 11 England caps were won by Newcastle players during Ashley’s 14 years as owner. That is less than one a season, on average.
Michael Owen played seven games, while Alan Smith (2), Andy Carroll (1) and Andros Townsend (1) were also capped in that period.
I reported on a few of those England games, and even saw Owen and Smith start together for the Three Lions for a game against Germany during Steve McClaren’s short-lived time managing his country. Another Newcastle player, Steven Taylor, was an unused substitute at Wembley that day.
Andros Townsend ironically won his only England cap as a Newcastle player on Wearside, having come off the bench at a Euro 2016 warm-up game at the Stadium of Light.
Today, seeing two Newcastle players in the England starting XI is normal and unremarkable. So much has changed at the club since the takeover in late 2021.
And the number of senior Three Lions caps – 48 – won by the club’s players in almost four years tells its own story.
Kieran Trippier, the club’s first post-takeover signing, leads the way with 19 caps, while Nick Pope (2) and Callum Wilson (5) have also featured for their country.
Gordon (14), Hall (2), Livramento (3) and Burn (3) have featured more recently.
I wrote about Blyth-born Burn’s remarkable footballing journey long before he joined his boyhood club, and his elevation to the England squad, aged 32, added another extraordinary chapter to his story.
Newcastle transfers
Moving to Newcastle was not always a great career move for players with England ambitions. Fortunately, that is not the case now, as underlined by the caps won by Gordon, Livramento and Hall, three talented young players who moved to the club to progress their careers.
Ramsey will hope to follow them into the senior set-up, having played for England’s Under-21s.
Of course, a number of players, including Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil), Sandro Tonali (Italy), Nick Woltemade (Germany), Anthony Elanga (Sweden) and Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), were also away during the international break.
This is a huge season for so many of the club’s squad – for club AND country.