Gareth Southgate loves coming to watch Newcastle United at St James’ Park, and it is not just because of the atmosphere.
While the noise inside St James’ Park is special, there is another reason why England manager Gareth Southgate loves travelling to the North East.
The Three Lions boss will be on Tyneside at the beginning of next month, with England set to play a friendly in Newcastle against Bosnia And Herzegovina on June 3rd. It will be the first that that the national side has played at the home of Newcastle United since 2005, back when Sven-Goran Eriksson had the ‘golden generation’.
Now Southgate is manager in 2024, and people will argue that he has an even more talented squad – and a squad that is more than capable of winning a World Cup or a European Championship.
Newcastle United’s English core
Whether or not they will do that remains to be seen, but the current England camp often has a fair few representatives from Tyneside.
More and more Newcastle United players are getting international recognition, with Anthony Gordon making his England debut last month.
Kieran Trippier is also an England regular who Southgate absolutely loves, while Nick Pope and Callum Wilson have been involved.
Gareth Southgate loves coming to St James’ Park
And that is part of the reason why Southgate enjoys coming to St James’ Park to watch Newcastle United.
In an interview with NUFC TV, the 53-year-old has stated that you are guaranteed to see a core of English players whenever you come and watch Eddie Howe’s Magpies.
“Sometimes you go to games, you don’t see many English players on the pitch,” he said.
“One thing that’s guaranteed here, as well as the atmosphere, is there is an English core.
Obviously Nick Pope being with us, Jamaal Lascelles was with us for the Under-21s, Tino has been with us in the Under-21s, Lewis Hall with the junior team as well, and Elliot Anderson coming over who I am sure will be involved with the junior teams very soon as well. So, there’s been plenty to watch.
“I know there is always a push whenever I come here – everybody is telling me which players I should be picking, but that’s lovely. That means a lot to everybody here. I am sure there will be some Newcastle players involved in the night when we play here.”
Eddie Howe has given Southgate a reason to travel to Tyneside
Eddie Howe has built an exceptional team at Newcastle United, and it has a core of English players. Away from those who Southgate mentioned, there is also Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy and Sean Longstaff.
There are always going to players for Southgate to take a look at whenever he heads to Tyneside, and that is why he is suddenly making the trip more and more. There was once a time when playing for Newcastle United seemed to hinder your England aspirations…
But that is no longer the case, and Southgate is often seen in the directors seats alongside the likes of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi. He has even had Staveley telling him to take Callum Wilson to the 2022 World Cup, which he did.
Not only do Newcastle have a lot of English players, they arguably have one of England’s brightest stars. Anthony Gordon has ambitions of going right to the top of the game, and will believe that he can do that at Newcastle United.
He is someone who Southgate has watched a lot this season, and he has impressed the England boss – so much so that he is surely going to the Euros this summer!
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