If this was Arsenal or Chelsea? Yet Newcastle United probably accused of discrimination | OneFootball

I was reading an interesting article on The Mag on Wednesday morning, talking about Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle United.

I would really recommend reading that article, which is entitled ‘He is not Harry Potter – Eddie Howe can only produce so much magic…’ and can be read HERE.

It was talking about the brilliant job Eddie Howe is doing, when it comes to the huge financial disadvantage Newcastle United and the Head Coach have, when it comes to money.

How the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and the other usual suspects have such a massive advantage in terms of how big their wage bills are compared to Newcastle United, as well as the cost of their squads, plus countless other inbuilt advantages.

Anyway, in a roundabout way, it reminded me of an article I had been intending to write.

I’m not in at work until later today, so I thought I could rattle it off and at last get it sent over to The Mag.

This was the Newcastle United team v Chelsea:

Pope, Krafth, Schar, Kelly, Hall, Joelinton, Tonali, Longstaff, Willock, Gordon, Isak

This was the Newcastle United team v Arsenal:

Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Longstaff, Bruno, Willock, Gordon, Isak, Joelinton

That article I read this morning was talking about the disparity between NUFC and both Arsenal and Chelsea, when it came to the money available to spend on transfer fees and wages.

However, I wanted to highlight another disparity, when it comes to Newcastle United and the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.

That Newcastle team against Chelsea had six English players – Pope, Kelly, Hall,  Longstaff, Willock, Gordon.

That Newcastle team against Arsenal had seven English players – Pope, Livramento, Burn, Hall,  Longstaff, Willock, Gordon.

Can you imagine if this was Chelsea or Arsenal?

We would never hear the last of it from the media.

How great it is to see so many English players getting their chance at Premier League clubs etc etc. Managers developing the England stars of the future, giving homegrown players a chance.

I just checked and Arsenal had two English players who started against Newcastle on Saturday, Saka and Rice.

Same for Chelsea last Wednesday, only two, Tosin and Dewsbury-Hall.

It isn’t just the ‘glamour’ clubs either, I watched a few minutes of that Fulham v Brentford match on Monday night and there were very few players on either side who qualify to play for England.

The likes of Chelsea actively want to sell on young English players that come through the ranks, in order to maximise their PSR flex to help allow them to buy ever more players from overseas.

Does Eddie Howe and Newcastle United get credit for doing such a great job in signing the likes of Hall and Livramento (two players who Chelsea sold at very young ages) and developing them into the England internationals of the future (indeed it could be very near future…)? I think you know the answer to that one.

In this bizarre world we live in now, where every negative angle possible is thrown at Newcastle United and Eddie Howe by the media and other clowns.  It wouldn’t surprise you to find one or more journalists to come out and accuse NUFC of discrimination, playing too many English players and not giving overseas players enough chance!

The reality of course is that in today’s modern football, you need to attract talent from both at home and overseas.

However, surely a club and manager should be applauded for looking to have a homegrown core of players in their team, to help give England hopefuls the best chance.

I just checked other line-ups from the Premier League matches at the weekend.

The Liverpool team that faced Brighton, Trent Alexander-Arnold was the only starter who is qualified to play for England.

The Man City eleven who started in the defeat to Bournemouth? Only Foden and Walker are qualified to play for England.

Man U eleven who started on Sunday against Chelsea? Rashford the only England candidate.

Tottenham team who started on Saturday against Villa? Only Solanke can play for England.

Looking at the Newcastle United squad overall:

Have already played for England (senior side):

Nick Pope, John Ruddy, Kieran Trippier, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, Callum Wilson

Also qualified to play for England:

Mark Gillespie, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Dan Burn, Lloyd Kelly, Jamaal Lascelles, Matt Targett, Jacob Murphy, Lewis Miley

I make that 15 ‘England’ players in total in Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United squad.

Six who have already played for England at senior level, with surely only a matter of time before Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento make it eight.

If Joe Willock can stay fit, then who knows? Certainly his performances across the 2022/23 season were at a very high level and rumours that he was heading for a place in the summer 2023 England squad, until he got injured against Brighton in May 2023 and needed an operation. Eddie Howe also carefully bringing Lewis Miley along, in the years to come his potential is enormous.

At what other major Premier League club is this emphasis on developing England players also happening, which other manager is giving so many English players their chance as Eddie Howe is doing?