'No one can take it away from me' - What Newcastle players were told in final meeting as 13 exit

Not many academy graduates have set up a £40m signing on their professional debut, but Tom Allan has.

It was Allan, after all, whose smart cross picked out Joelinton for Newcastle United's final goal in a 4-1 win against Rochdale in a FA Cup third-round replay back in 2020. It seems a lifetime ago now, but club staff hoped that goal would help lift a weight off Joelinton's shoulders after the struggling number nine had previously been jeered by a section of his own supporters in the reverse fixture.

Was it any wonder, then, that Steve Bruce made a point of taking Allan aside to personally thank him for his contribution from the bench? As strange as it sounds, it was fitting that victory at St James' Park proved Allan's one and only outing for the first team. How could it get any better for a Geordie whose proud mother, Karen, was in tears in the crowd that night.

There was ultimately a strange sort of symmetry between the events of that night and Allan's departure nearly two-and-a-half years later. It was Steve Harper who told Allan to be ready to come on against Rochdale in his role as first-team coach at the time. It was also Harper, now employed as the club's academy manager, who levelled with Allan that 'you know how this is going to go' as he released the Geordie after a decade on Newcastle's books last month.

The news certainly did not come as a shock to Allan, who recognised it was time for a fresh start. Although Allan admitted that it was a 'bit strange knowing I'm not going to be there in pre-season', the 22-year-old noted 'how many lads in the North East would love to have lived the dream that I was living'.

"When I joined Newcastle at 12, if someone said I'd make it another 10 years and play for the first