As many ardent Toon fans know, the club has had a young gem in its midst for a while, however after an intoxicating introduction at Bristol Rovers’ training ground in February, when a relatively unknown Newcastle United loanee danced through tackles, an obvious nickname for Elliot Anderson presented itself to his new team-mates reports Chris Waugh in the Athletic.
“They’ve called him Billy,” Joey Barton, the Rovers manager and former Newcastle midfielder told BBC Radio Bristol. “A Geordie Boy, a bit of a ballerina.”
If being equated to the lead character in the fictional film and musical about Billy Elliot — a north-east boy who discovers a passion for ballet — may not necessarily immediately appear complimentary for a footballer, it was intended as an affectionate, if playful, tag.
Graham Carr, Newcastle’s former chief scout, has compared Anderson’s agility to that of Peter Beardsley. Tyneside youth coaches have remarked that they have not seen a Geordie who possesses such innate talent since Paul Gascoigne. Barton has even gone as far as to compare his ability to “slow things down in the penalty area” to that of Diego Maradona at the same age.
Just six months after Newcastle only just managed to secure him a deadline-day loan move to the fourth tier of English football, Elliot is back on Tyneside where he is being assessed by Eddie Howe, the Newcastle head coach, before the 2022-23 season, with “tons” of EFL clubs and multiple Scottish Premiership sides eyeing a loan move.
Across 21 League Two appearances, during his first regular taste of first-team football, Anderson provided seven goals and six assists — representing a goal involvement every 135.2 minutes.
What is evident is that this lad has a bright future somewhere, lets hope we develop this amazing talent and not sell him off, we have lost too many local lads who’ve gone on to do well.
Up next….. Fan of the week