BRITISH Call-up for reborn Toney’s a far cry from early days
IVAN TONEY is the Premier League penalty king and on the verge of a first England cap – a far cry from his days as a Newcastle misfit.
The Brentford striker, 26, has been called up by England for their Nations League games against Italy in Milan next Friday, and then Germany at Wembley on September 26.
But It still pains former Toon master spy Graham Carr – the man who spotted him as a raw teenager at Northampton Town – that Toney’s Newcastle career amounted to just four fleeting appearances off the substitutes’ bench.
As a 19-year-old the Toon had forked out £250,000 for the Cobblers striker (right) on chief scout Carr’s recommendation.
Carr had forged a reputation for spotting untapped talent after bringing the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Papiss Cisse to the club.
“Ivan was in the Northampton first team at the age of 16,” he said.
“They were struggling financially and so he was given an early opportunity.
“Once I knew that Northampton wanted to sell I persuaded Newcastle to take him. He only cost them around £250,000.
“At Northampton over the years somebody decent usually comes through the youth set-up there. The latest example is the boy from Aston Villa who has just gone to Chelsea, Carney Chukwuemeka. Ivan was 19 when he went to Newcastle and had things to learn but he wasn’t really given a decent chance. “Sometimes the young players that go to big clubs like Newcastle get lost in the system.
“In the end it probably boiled down to the manager at the time, Rafa Benitez, not fancying him. “Years ago Liverpool used to take players in and groom them. “Signings like Ian Rush and Terry McDermott were nurtured in the reserves for 18 months.
“But at Newcastle if you didn’t get in the first team pretty well straight away you were sold. Going on loan was his best bet and that didn’t do Harry Kane any harm did it?”
There were loan spells at Barnsley, Shrewsbury, Scunthorpe and Wigan before he was sold to Peterborough.
Carr believes that at Posh, Toney finally felt wanted. “When he went there, Barry Fry and everyone put an arm around him and that helped him improve,” he said. “He is now playing at Brentford for a good manager in Thomas Frank.
“He needed to feel wanted. He never had that at Newcastle.”
And what about those penalties? It’s 18 out of 18 for the Bees so far. “Two steps and a whack!” said Carr. “I can’t remember him taking penalties as a young player but he could always finish.”