The future at Newcastle United is very bright.
Major changes have taken place and it is so often the very hardest thing to put effort and resources into something that you know won’t stand a chance of showing positive results until some time in the future…
It was always going to be a very long and ongoing process in terms of transforming the younger age groups at NUFC but undeniable progress has been made under these Newcastle United owners and their staff.
Patience needing to be shown and a massive shake up and upgrade increasingly put in place for the Academy, essential investment to repair the damage of a decade and a half of Mike Ashley.
This couldn’t be sorted overnight, especially when you are talking about bringing kids/young players through, it is a situation where you put the right things and investment in place and then in the years ahead you potentially reap the benefits.
The Newcastle United owners inherited a total failure from Mike Ashley when it came to in any way allow the club to properly invest in its future.
Exciting times though now at the Newcastle United Academy.
Here’s the backdrop to how things had gone previously in recent seasons with the NUFC Under 18s.
These are the league finishes for the Newcastle Under 18s from the most recent previous five seasons:
2021/22 – Newcastle United Under 18s finished 14th of 14 with 17 points.
2022/23 – Newcastle United Under 18s finished 12th of 13 with 24 points
2023/24 – Newcastle United Under 18s finished 8th of 13 with 32 points.
2024/25 – Newcastle United Under 18s finished 5th of 13 with 35 points
2025/26 – Newcastle United Under 18s finished 3rd of 14 with 49 points
Indeed, last season, only Manchester City and Manchester United finished above Newcastle United in the Under 18s (North) league table.
This season couldn’t have started any better for United’s future prospects.
Saturday saw the latest victory and another four goals scored by the Newcastle United young stars.
It is now a full maximum 12 points banked and 16 goals scored in just four league matches, to put the NUFC kids top of the pile above Manchester City.
This time it was a demolition job away at Leicester City.
Exciting 16-year-old winger Kyran Thompson turned down a contract offer at Arsenal to instead move to Newcastle United this summer, it only took two minutes for him to give United the lead with an excellent effort from outside the penalty area.
Leicester somehow kept it at 1-0 down and even managed to equalise five minutes after the break.
However, that only sparked the United Under 18s into real action and Alfie Hutchison then smashed a quickfire hat-trick to tear the young Foxes apart.
Hutchison is one of numerous young talents taken away from other clubs in recent times, in his case it was last summer (2025) that the then 16-year-old was persuaded to leave Rangers and move to Newcastle United. He now has scored six of the 16 goals scored in the four league matches, having previously scored in each of the first three Under 18 league games this season.
So this is how things now stand in the Premier League Under 18s (North) table:
Premier League U18 North Table 2026/27 as of 5 September 2026
| Pos | Team | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newcastle United U18 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 12 |
| 2 | Manchester City U18 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 12 |
| 3 | Nottingham Forest U18 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 9 |
| 4 | Burnley U18 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | Manchester United U18 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 6 |
| 6 | Blackburn Rovers U18 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 | -10 | 6 |
| 7 | Liverpool U18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Everton U18 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Stoke City U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 3 |
| 10 | Derby County U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 3 |
| 11 | Leeds United U18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 | -10 | 3 |
| 12 | Middlesbrough U18 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 2 |
| 13 | Sunderland U18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Leicester City U18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 1 |
| 15 | Wolverhampton Wanderers U18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 0 |
Four games, four wins, just 26 left to go and a potential Under 18s league title for the NUFC stars of the future…
As I say, early days, but great to see the Newcastle United Under 18s at the very top of the table and continuing the excellent form of last season.
The progress is stunning after the Mike Ashley depressing decade and a half, building blocks now put in place to give United every chance of a successful future with young players recruited locally and from the rest of the UK and overseas, to give hopefully a production line of talent coming through to the first team in the future.
It was always going to be a very long process for these current Newcastle United owners to build a proper professional top level set-up, to support the younger age groups.
However, we are now seeing real green shoots of progress, thanks to the much needed investment in coaching, facilities, scouting and bringing in the very best possible young players both locally and further afield.