The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
It’s been a really special journey for me ... it just could not be any better
MILEY LIFTS THE LID ON HIS METEORIC RISE WITH BELOVED BOYHOOD CLUB
LEWIS Miley is one of the kids of lockdown now living and breathing his way through one of football’s wildest dreams.
When the world became encased in a world of uncertainty during the first Covid-19 pandemic, just seven miles away from Sir Bobby Robson’s native Langley Park, on a plastic pitch in Stanley, Miley and his brothers played for fun, then went home and did it all again on their games console.
After enjoying those lockdown kickabouts on the local astroturf near their old house in Stanley, they’d head home for tea and then have “little FIFA tournaments” pretending to be stars like Kylian Mbappe or Mario Götze.
To coin that phrase from Sir Bobby on “wild dreams”, what has happened to 17-year-old Miley since lockdown is three or four levels above it.
It was against AC Milan in the Champions League that Miley walked out at St James’ Park, took in the famous anthem and then glanced up at the Gallowgate End as Wor Flags unfurled a banner with Robson’s words on reading:
“It’s not beyond our wildest dreams because we did have wild dreams.”
That statement feels very appropriate for Miley after going from Beamish Football Centre in Stanley, a scholarship at United and on to the Champions League. For when the UK government announced that schools were shutting down and the world was about to come to a standstill back in 2020, the Academy product was just 13.
Miley, a pupil at Tanfield School back then, may have dreamt of playing for Newcastle as a young hopeful coming through the Academy system at Little Benton. But that was before the Saudi-backed takeover, and before the club ended its 20-year wait to dine at Europe’s top table again. Fast forward from those strange old days of lockdown, and Miley was rubbing shoulders with Mbappe against Paris St-germain and laying on goals for Joelinton against AC Milan. Now he’s just signed a new long-term contract that should keep him on Tyneside for years to come.
Miley, a player for today and tomorrow, has taken everything in his stride in the last 12 months. It feels a far cry from the days of Covid r estr i ct i ons, Newcastle’s own youth system shutting up shop and the veil of uncertainty that brought football to its knees. Right now, Miley is a young star who literally has the world at his feet. Although he admits he’s still a “normal teenager” off the pitch.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, we take a look back to a typical day of lockdown, a memory still fresh in the 17-yearold’s mind. Back then the Miley brothers, Lewis, Jamie, Mason and Layton, would relish the chance of “kickabouts”.
Miley told me: “The good thing about lockdown back then was having my brothers around because we all did the same things. So we have an astroturf not far from our house and we used to go there a lot and have a kickabout. My two little brothers still play FIFA now, me and my older brother don’t now!
“But yeah, used to have little family tournaments on FIFA when we were younger, not so much now.”
That’s no major surprise for Miley after being thrown his big chance at Newcastle amid an injury crisis but proving he can deal with life at the very top. As the milestones have been ticked off, the Miley family have watched on beaming with pride, but the teenage midfielder, who doesn’t turn 18 until May, insists he will never get “carried away”.
He never got carried away after making his competitive debut at Chelsea last season when he struck the bar just minutes after coming on. Nor did he get too ahead of the game after his full debut against Man City in the Carabao Cup, his first Premier League assist, first Champions League assist or maiden Premier League goal against Fulham.
That strike against the Cottagers was an important one for Miley, not just because it was his first goal but because it came on a day when he had been rested and came on as a substitute for Joelinton in a 3-0 win. How do you celebrate scoring your first goal in the Premier League at just 17?
For Miley, it was in the warmth of the family front room with dad Mick, mother Maxine and his brothers watching Match of the Day. Miley said: “We all sat and watched Match of the Day together as a family that night. “Me and my dad watched it, and really enjoyed it. It was a quiet night to be honest! You can’t really get carried away.
“It was my first goal at the Gal
To play for the boys club around the corner, to the Premier League and Champions League stage, it couldn’t be any better