Jak Alnwick was fed up. Consigned to the obscurity of life as Newcastle United’s third-choice goalkeeper and denied a chance to shine on loan elsewhere, the 21-year-old knew something had to change. He arranged a meeting with Alan Pardew and proceeded to tell him he was “very disappointed” in his management and felt “let down”. As a younger coach, Pardew might have responded abrasively but, at 53, his overriding reaction was amusement.
Behind the Newcastle manager’s smile lay a certain respect for the youngster’s audacity allied to an appreciation of Alnwick’s anxiety about the future. “You had to admire Jak really,” says Pardew. “Especially as he wasn’t really in a position to bang the door down on me – we’d just won four games in a row and it was before Tim Krul’s injury. But Jak’s contract is up in the summer.”
At the time neither man could have envisaged the impending drama waiting to ambush them. Shortly after that exchange in Pardew’s training ground office last month came the news that Krul would be sidelined until late January. Suddenly Alnwick was warming the bench as understudy to Rob Elliot and finally appreciating why another club had not been allowed to borrow him. After spending so long in Krul’s considerable shadow, Elliot suffered a piece of wretched luck when he tore a thigh muscle and realised that he, too, would be in the treatment room until the new year but, for Alnwick, opportunity finally knocked.
At half-time last Saturday, with the score 0-0 against Chelsea, he made his senior debut in front of 52,000 spectators at St James’ Park. Within 60 seconds he had applied a fist to the ball and a knee to the back of Diego Costa. The Spanish striker immediately crumpled to the floor.
Two fabulous saves in a 2-1 home win followed before the novice stepped, blinking, into the limelight. “I think I’m in shock,” said the younger brother of Peterborough’s goalkeeper Ben.
Now he is preparing to start against Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday evening. After that comes Wednesday’s Capital One Cup quarter-final at Tottenham and then, next Sunday, it’s back to St James’ for the Tyne-Wear derby. On Wearside they still remember that, back in 2008, Newcastle lured Alnwick from Sunderland’s academy.
“I think Jak knows this is a real game changer for him,” says Pardew. “He’ll have, roughly, seven matches in goal and it’s a great opportunity.” Even so, Newcastle’s manager is keeping everything crossed that a keeper whose previous competitive experience amounted to nine appearances for the Conference side Gateshead during his solitary loan adventure in 2011 does not choke under sustained pressure.
“Although he’s very young to be Newcastle United’s goalkeeper Jak is confident he can do the job,” says Pardew. “Let’s hope he can. The ball is very much in Jak’s court. Who knows, after five or six games we might be kicking ourselves that we didn’t give him a new contract earlier. It might have been cheaper. Jak’s a humble guy. He’s got no delusions of grandeur but he believes he’s ready.”
His display against Chelsea certainly prompted questions as to how good other Premier League No3s might be if called to arms. If some, such as Manchester United’s 24-year-old Ben Amos, still have youth on their side, others are old hands, winding down careers while offering high-profile managers added insurance. Apart from Chelsea’s 42-year-old Mark Schwarzer and Manchester City’s Richard Wright (37), their ranks include Alnwick’s boyhood hero, Hull’s Steve Harper (39).
The current poster boy for third choices is Arsenal’s Emiliano Martínez. The 22-year-old Argentinian recently kept three straight clean sheets against Dortmund, West Brom and Southampton after injuries to Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina. He may well be back on the bench on Saturday but has already vindicated a difficult summer-time decision to fight to become Arsène Wenger’s first choice.
Having gained vital experience on loan at Sheffield Wednesday last season, Martínez remains several steps ahead of Alnwick. It rather begs the question as to why Newcastle have not recruited an experienced replacement keeper under the emergency loan system. After all, their temporary No2 is the 17-year-old Freddie Woodman, son of the club’s goalkeeping coach, Andy Woodman. “We’ve two fit professionals and until you’re down to one you can’t call that emergency loan in,” says Pardew. “Freddie’s a professional, even though he’s 17.”
Matters are complicated by Newcastle’s possession of a third registered keeper – even though Karl Darlow, signed from Nottingham Forest last summer, is spending this season back at the City Ground. “Karl can’t be recalled so that rule is wrong,” says Pardew. “If every other club can have an emergency loan and we can’t purely because we’ve got a keeper out on loan for a year, it doesn’t make sense. I think that’s going to be looked at.”
Andy Woodman trusts there will be no need. “Jak’s an incredibly mature young man,” he says. “Talking to him or watching him play, you wouldn’t think he’s just 21, there’s this calmness and assurance about him. He’s like a lot of young English players, bags of talent and good character but it’s all about getting the chance and, as a goalkeeper, it’s even harder to be given that chance. I’ll have absolutely no worries about Jak at Arsenal, he’ll handle the occasion. In fact, he’ll relish it.”
Born in the prosperous Northumberland town of Hexham, Alnwick grew up in a Newcastle-supporting household, dreaming of keeping goal at St James’. If, as many predict, Krul moves on next summer, he would revel in the chance to persuade Pardew that he, rather than Darlow or Elliot, is the Holland keeper’s natural heir.
Newcastle’s manager likes what he sees in training and is desperate to be convinced but requires the proof only first team games can offer. “If I’m honest, I don’t know whether Jak’s good enough yet,” he acknowledges. “But what can I do?”
