Stan Collymore compares Tottenham and Newcastle United – Infrastructure, Youth strategy, Ambition…

Stan Collymore has been comparing and contrasting Newcastle United and Tottenham.

Currently, only one point separates the two clubs, Spurs with five points and NUFC on four.

Only a couple of weeks ago Newcastle United celebrated their first ever visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a 1-0 win.

However, in particular, Stan Collymore wants to compare and contrast the Newcastle United of the 90s and the Tottenham of the here and now.

He says he can see ‘similarities’ between the situations of the two clubs but that ‘Spurs, with their new training ground and stadium, and a very good youth strategy, look to be building on rock, which isn’t what Newcastle did.’

Stan Collymore kind of gets it right but his timings are a little bit off.

Newcastle United did actually show some ambition since the 90s and ‘days of Asprilla’ as Collymore puts it.

The St James Park capacity of 36,000 was raised to 52,000+ ahead of the 2000/01 season and that of course coincided with Sir Bobby Robson starting to turn things around on the pitch, helped by ambition shown in the transfer market – with the likes of Woodgate, Robert and Bellamy arriving.

Premier League finishes of fourth, third and fifth, as well as Champions League football.

It was a disaster when Hall and Shepherd replaced Sir Bobby with Graeme Souness and then the arrival of Mike Ashley has ensured any remaining ambition has left the building.

The only aim to try and survive on as low a spend as possible in the transfer market, plus a refusal to invest in the long-term health of NUFC, whether that is St James Park, the Academy, training ground etc.

An absolute disgrace what has happened at Newcastle under Mike Ashley.

Stan Collymore writing in The People:

“Newcastle seem to lurch from one argument to the next and sadly they just haven’t been able to build on the days of Asprilla banging in a hat-trick against Barcelona.

“I see similarities between Newcastle then and Tottenham now.

“Big clubs with great stadiums that house 50,000-60,000 supporters and lots of upwards mobility.

“But Spurs, with their new training ground and stadium, and a very good youth strategy, look to be building on rock, which isn’t what Newcastle did.

“Now the Magpies must decide what they want to be and owner Mike Ashley will be key to that, whether he sells up or stays put.

“Do they want to be a club which stays in the Premier League and cashes the cheques?

“Or do they want to be a club which stares eye-to-eye with Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea as equals?

“The answer seems to be the former and that, sadly, is why this (Liverpool v Newcastle) is a fixture for the history books rather than a game for the here and now.”

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