Steven Taylor Tells Newcastle Prospects To Be Ready Or Leave Now

By Simon Gallagher / November 4, 2014

Steven Taylor has spoken to the Shields Gazette to paint a picture of the strains placed on youth talent at Newcastle United by saying any young player who is not immediately ready to take their chance in the first team to leave and find another job. Newcastle's newly refocused strategy of blooding youth players, rather than relying entirely on imported talent has brought younger talents into focus, and so far this season the progress of the likes of Rolando Aarons, Paul Dummett, Sammy Ameobi and Mehdi Abeid has been a big plus. Obviously some of those players - Ameobi and Abeid in particular - have been around for a while now, and didn't take their chance as quickly as Taylor is suggesting is necessary, but you can see the tide is changing. The defender - who is currently enjoying a bit of a renaissance at centre-half, as he usually does once or twice a season - has admitted it was a lot easier for him to come through the ranks as he was eased in, but now players are expected to land on their feet.

€œWhen I first started, you need to wait for your chance. Now they have got to step up to the plate, you don€™t get time. Now, we are in a game where you have to be ready for it. If you are not ready for it then go and find another job. €œWe are living every kid€™s dream here. We know what it€™s all about and they (younger players) know what it is all about. They€™re letting their football do the talking at the moment.€

That offers some context to Alan Pardew's open criticism of some players who haven't lived up to their potential - the likes of Shane Ferguson, and even Ameobi and Dummett earlier this season - though of course it doesn't take into consideration the club's responsibility to the players' development. Because Newcastle's squad is small, we can expect to see more emerging youth - with Adam Armstrong, Lubomir Satka and Kevin Mbabu all talked up - and if they can have the impact Rolando Aarons has had already, that can't be a bad thing. The only issue is of over-hyping and rushing players through their development: already Alan Pardew has admitted he put Aarons back in the first team against expert advice, and the danger is we end up putting too much pressure on players who need to be more carefully handled. Sadly, as Taylor's comments prove, Newcastle are abandoning that patient model, which should hopefully mean that talents don't hit brick walls - as they'll either adapt to first team or be jettisoned away - but which might come with a difficult price to take if the coaches don't uphold their end of the bargain.