The Newcastle United home truths that kick-started a career

Newcastle United club captain Jamaal Lascelles gave an interview nine years ago which showed he had the character to lead the team into the Premier League.

Newcastle United club captain Jamaal Lascelles has had his contract extended, according to a report.

Nine years ago, a young player loudly came to prominence at Newcastle United.

And it has emerged this week that that player has quietly had another year added to his deal.

Club captain Jamaal Lascelles, according to The Athletic, has had another year added to his deal, which now expires at the end of next season.

The defender is recovering from the knee injury he suffered late last season, and it is unclear whether he will return to fitness before the end of the campaign.

However, rightly, skipper Bruno Guimaraes insisted that Lascelles, still a big influence off the pitch, should also lift the Carabao Cup at Wembley with himself and vice-captain Kieran Trippier.

“That the three of us did it together summed up this group, and the ethos this manager has instilled in us,” said Trippier. “Jam was our captain when this club was in a very different place.

“People may think it was a gesture from myself and Bruno to get Jam up to lift the trophy with us, but I see it differently. For me, it was an honour that Jam let me lift the trophy with him.”

Trippier was right. The club was in a very different place when Lascelles took the captaincy in the summer of 2016.

But the story of Lascelles and the captain’s armband started a few months earlier as the club tried to stay in the Premier League.

Bold interview

Rafa Benitez had been appointed manager of 19th-placed Newcastle with 10 games left of the 2015/16 season, and the club took on Southampton looking to end a run of six games without a win.

Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse at the St Mary’s Stadium, where the team was beaten 3-1. Benitez labelled the shambolic first-half performance as “unacceptable”.

Jonjo Shelvey, the captain that afternoon, did not speak to the media after the game, but a 22-year-old player who had come off the bench said summed up the team’s plight in an eloquent and passionate post-match interview.

“On paper our team is ridiculous, but we need to show more heart,” he said. “We need players who care and will look after each other – we’ve lacked it.

“We’ve got flair players, tricky players, players with loads of talent, but we need more heart, desire and bigger characters on the pitch.

“No matter how good you are, if you don’t have that fight and hunger, it doesn’t matter.”

That player was Lascelles, and his home truths resonated with the club’s fanbase.

It emerged after the game that Lascelles – who had joined the club a couple of years earlier from Nottingham Forest along with goalkeeper Karl Darlow – had also been vocal in the dressing room.

The team had lacked “fight” on the pitch that day, but there had been some fight after the game.

Daryl Janmaat – who had been taken off after indicating that he had a groin problem – broke two fingers after punching a wall at the stadium.

I filed Lascelles’ interview from a hotel in Southampton that evening, and, at a time when senior players were reluctant to front up and speak to the fanbase, I remember thinking that he had shown a lot of courage – and maturity – by speaking up after the game.