Charlie Woods, Tottenhams chief scout and former Newcastle player, will join NUFC in the summer as part of Bobby's staff.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Answers

Great......and his resume reads?

Tottenham getting someone decent then?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Well he used to work with Bobby at Ipswich. Old boys connections.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Sadly, he was 'misprinted' as a "talent stopper" as opposed to spotter in earlier reports. How we laughed...

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

I don't think he was at Spurs for that long. I'm assuming (hoping) most of his good work was done at Ipswich. Suppose he might even have spotted a young Dyer?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Considering as how he was at Ipswich with YBR, there's an outside chance he fathered LKD :-)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

I'm sure I read somewhere that he'd only been at Spurs for a year and a half?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Quite right Windy:

"NEWCASTLE have raided Tottenham to prise their chief scout, Charlie Woods, away from White Hart Lane. Woods will quit Spurs at the end of the season to return to the North East, where he will be re-united with Bobby Robson (pictured). The duo were together at Ipswich Town, and Woods is a former Newcastle player. Spurs will be forced to look elsewhere for a new talent-stopper but they will be quick to acknowledge the job that Woods performed after quitting Portman Road a couple of seasons ago."

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

So what talent has Charlie Woods potentially spotted for Ipswich over the last 10 years..umm..apart from Dyer.
Chris Kiwomya? Taricco? Dozell? Memory dosen't go back further.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

I like the way that YBR has Harper and Barton using their coaching badges to take groups of young'uns. Surely the most proactive approach to identifying future talent that the Club has ever taken

Harps and Warren get to practice their coaching skills (theory into practice and aal that), the youngsters are fired up by the presence of big name players so we see a bit of how they react to pressure, current premiership stars who took the hard route to the top will have a great idea about character and natural ability and the whole scheme has "excellent public relations" written all over it.

How many times do they wheel out the mentor who found Shearer and yet the club missed the boat? That's the kind of thing you need strong links with teh local community for. Beardo had to go and play in Vancouver before we took any notice, and even then he had to be 'discovered' by Manchester united before we trusted the point of view of Arthur Cox and co. Ridiculous!

If this new fella has only ever discovered Kieron Dyer because he hangs around in the local park watching the kids play then he's precisely the kind of bloke we need. Bags of talent on Tyneside: it's been a cliche for years that if you want a creative genius you'd whistle down the mines, we just have to safeguard that supply by providing an alternative to mining and shipbuilding to keep folk in the area.

It's a bit rich coming from someone with my accent, but it all ties back in with not replacing the local fanbase with the pick of the more affluent types from a wider area. It's not a case of "Keep Newcastle for the Geordies" just a matter of watching the mix, because it does make a difference.

Eh? how did I get there from talking about a scout? Help, I'm lost.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Eh? how did I get there from talking about a scout? Help, I'm lost

Don't know, but I'm not sure quite what you mean, so pray continue.

Re Woods, got a reply to a posting on an Ipswich board, and they suggest Woods in the past few years was better at facilitating moves for ex-Ipswich Town players than finding any new talent. Not that anyone would know yet anyway, as it would obviously take a few years for them to come through.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Are you totally certain " talent stopper" was a typo, Softy? Perhaps he's FF's replacement!

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000