“To see Sean do it last year and Matty get his opportunity - and he looked like it was his 25th or 50th game, not his first - was so pleasing for everyone. I think it was fantastic and we’ve seen the public reaction, not just the Newcastle public. I saw what Gary Neville tweeted after the game.
“We want to be the best academy in the region. Our vision is we want local boys to look at it and think it’s not going to be full of boys from London, Manchester or abroad. Between nine and 16, it will be an academy with boys predominantly from the local area. There will be exceptions but generally, it will be local. Other clubs may move boys around the country, sign them at 12, 13, 14, move their education. We’re not doing that. Consciously, we have made a decision not to do that and to give local boys the opportunity.
“People say it might be because of this reason or that but it’s not. It’s a conscious decision to get local boys because we want local boys to see what’s happened with Paul, Sean and Matty, and say that’s who they want to be. They’ll know, if they’re good enough and work hard enough, they’ll get an opportunity at their hometown club. That’s what we want.”