Harps strikes the right chord with young Toon stars
STEVE: ACADEMY GATEWAY TO FIRST TEAM
STEVE Harper feels Newcastle United have the perfect pathway for Academy players to the club’s firstteam training base.
During the pandemic, the club’s seniors and Academy squad were separated into two bubbles to try to limit the spread of Covid.
Now the club is closer to what life was like before the pandemic.
The former Toon goalkeeper has been in his post for the majority of 2021 after switching to the club’s youth HQ in Little Benton as Academy manager and replacing the long-serving Joe Joyce.
Now he is hoping his understanding with former Academy coach Ben Dawson can help push more youngsters like Sean Longstaff, Matty Longstaff and Freddie Woodman into the senior team.
This week the sight of youngsters like Matty Bondswell, Jack Young, Dylan Stephenson and Elliot Anderson, who was handed his senior debut last January, in training suggested the club’s system to give youth team products a fair chance at the club is working.
Once on-site, of course, it is up to the individual to impress and then on to new first-team boss Eddie Howe to grant them their opportunity.
It remains to be seen who will be Howe’s first Academy pick on his watch but teenage midfielder Anderson is pushing hard after a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest in midweek.
Stephenson has also been banging the goals in for the second string with an impressive nine goals in 15 matches this term.
Dawson was promoted to the firstteam coaching staff during the club’s Covid crisis last winter but has remained there ever since.
Under Howe, Dawson was handed the role of first-team development coach and he will be the familiar face youngsters see when they check in to the senior end of Benton.
Harper told the Chronicle: “Ben is a really good coach.
“We had a really good year working together in the under-23s - I know we lost two cup finals but we had a good working relationship.
“When Ben was head of coaching and I was with the first team an opportunity came up for him when Steve Agnew had Covid and Stephen Clemence lost his dad.
“We were a bit short and Ben came up and he has proved just what a good coach he is.
“The next step in his career pathway is to move into the first-team environment.
“He certainly deserves it and he will bring a lot to the coaching team. Good luck to him.”
Harper and Dawson helped Newcastle’s second string to the Premier League Two play-offs and the Premier League Cup final in 2019 in a side which proved the foundation for the Longstaff brothers to make their first-team bows.
The club’s longest-serving player added: “We work well together, we have a good relationship and he can help open the door and do individual work.
“As we come out of this post-Covid world it will be easier for Academy players to experience a session with the first-team players and staff. That is what we need.”
For Harper his new role is all about taking on new ideas, implementing those he learned on a sporting director degree after his playing days were over - but also ensuring the traditions of club legend Pavel Srnicek remain firmly in place.
Harper said: “I probably helped players too much in my career to my own detriment.
“Tim Krul and Fraser Forster would probably vouch for that!
“I think it comes from Pav. Pav was a wonderful help to me as a youngster.
“He really took me under his wing, I could not do the things he could do.
“He really took the time to help and that lived on with me.
“It was something I was keen to do throughout my career and it is something I am keen to continue to do.
“If people can come in and work hard in a positive environment with a smile on their face then that is great.
“We will continue to improve every day and that is the aim.”