Newcastle United’s new U21s head coach Adam Lawrence had high praise for Eddie Howe after sharing his interactions with him.
While there was a lot of drama and controversy surrounding the first team during the summer months, the Magpies’ academy were working on bringing bright new talents in and replacing Diarmuid O’Carroll, who left the club for a coaching role at Sparta Prague.
Newcastle United welcomed multiple young stars to their academy during the summer transfer window, with Alfie Hutchison and Oliver Goodbrand joining from Rangers, and Seung-soo Park impressing after joining from Suwon Bluewings.
However, new players were just the tip of the iceberg. Adam Lawrence joined Newcastle following his departure from Manchester United in June.
The 39-year-old enjoyed a successful spell at Old Trafford, winning the U18s Premier League in the 2023/24 season and came just three points from retaining the title last season. While settling into his new role, Lawrence opened up about the engagement he has had with Toon boss Eddie Howe.
Adam Lawrence praises Eddie Howe after conversations with Newcastle United boss
Lawrence had a brilliant record of developing Man United’s youth players, with the likes of Harry Amass and Chido Obi making their first-team debuts thanks to his work with them.
Now, Lawrence has the task of developing promising young players like Sean Neave, ensuring he has the best chance of making it in the professional game. Howe is a manager who is known to promote youth players into the first-team setup. Whether it is giving them their full debut or just promoting them into training with the senior players for a couple of weeks, he is happy to do so.
That gives a lot of young players the chance to impress, and that is something which was highlighted by Lawrence when asked if he has spoken to Howe since his move in an interview with The Chronicle.
“I’ve had a couple of conversations with the manager,” he said.
“The way he comes across, you can see the staff and the link between the first team and the academy, we have a lot of players to go between with training and games.
“We’ve had some contact in the couple of weeks but (there is) a lot of support from the first team down in terms of players coming through and I am linking and for me personally, going forwards, that will further strengthen.
“We are here to energise the first team, to progress players through and maximise every individual.”
- Newcastle United academy: Stadium, training ground, managers and Steve Harper’s role
Newcastle United’s academy can go to the next level under Adam Lawrence
After losing Ben Dawson and then O’Carroll, who did an exceptional job during his season on Tyneside, it is clear that Newcastle needed to bring in somebody who could steady the ship on Tyneside and give the young players at the club a chance of breaking into the first team.
Newcastle have made a brilliant appointment in Lawrence, an individual who has devoted the entirety of his career to developing youth players and getting them into the first-team picture.
Lawrence took charge of Newcastle U19s’ loss to Barcelona on Thursday, where the likes of Neave and promising defender Leo Shahar got the opportunity to test themselves against top opposition. Meanwhile, there will be plenty more games for the youngsters to showcase what they have to offer in the future.
Newcastle’s academy has been in need of someone who can take it to the next level. They have a great U18s coach in Chris Moore, and they now look to be onto a winner with Lawrence.
The young Magpies are back in action on Monday, where they take on Norwich City.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
