This Toon Academy Reject is Tearing Up League 1

Former Newcastle United academy reject, Marcus Maddison, who was released by the club in 2013, seems to have revived his career at League One club, Peterborough United.

The 21 year-old  midfielder has embraced life in League Once since his £250,000 from Gateshead in the Summer, and has fast become a fan favourite. And if his goalscoring exploits continues for the Posh, Gateshead could be netting a further £250,000 of additional bonuses in the coming months.

Having scored five goals in his first eleven games, he is starting to look like a steal, and could well be attracting interest from Championship clubs in January. 

At one point in his Newcastle career, Maddison was touted as the new forward to rival Andy Carroll. 

But after former Reserve Coach Willie Donachie insisted that Maddison still had “a lot to learn” 18 months ago, he was soon released by the Magpies. Unfortunately, like so many others before him – Spears, Tozer, Kadar, Ranger, Vuckic to name a few – his early potential wasn’t realised.

Stints at St Johnstone and Blyth Spartans were unsuccessful, but when he resurfaced at Gateshead last season, he took his chance, and the resultant move to Peterborough has only strengthened the likelihood of fulfilling his dream of one day playing in the Premier League.

Maddison – who scored 13 goals in 37 games for the Heed – said this is August:

“I suppose I was a bit naive when I was at Newcastle.

“But I was never going to let my release stop me from fulfilling my dream of being a professional footballer.

“Football is my life and I would have gone down to the lowest of leagues in an attempt to work myself back to the top.”

It’s good to see a former Newcastle academy product doing so well. It would be wreckless to start pointing fingers at the Newcastle coaching staff – after all, this is still only League One. One just hopes that it doesn’t turn into another Fraser Forster-type gaffe. There is still a long way to go for the lad, but its reassuring to see he has matured and now revived what was a slowly-deteriorating career. 

Here’s a video of an absolute stonker he scored against Barnsley last month:

Another player on Peterborough’s books this season is former Hartlepool starlet, Luke James. The 2013 League One Apprentice of the Year scored twenty goals in ninety games from midfield for Hartlepool, which subsequently earned him a £700,000 move to the Posh. He scored on his debut for the club against Leyton Orient.

Comments Welcome