In mid-February I sat opposite Sean Longstaff at Newcastle United’s training ground and interviewed him for FourFourTwo. The club’s then Technical Director Dan Ashworth was just yards away in an adjacent meeting room.
The open-plan nature of Newcastle’s recently upgraded training ground, and the glass meeting rooms, meant Ashworth and his delegation were in plain sight. I alluded to this in a separate article last month, but the building's revamped layout could even be the brainchild of Ashworth himself.
Longstaff spoke openly, eloquently and maturely about his past, present and future, and towards the end of our one-hour chat, Dan Ashworth’s name came up. No-one in the room knew that Ashworth would be all over the media just 24 hours later when Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment into Manchester United was officially sanctioned by the Premier League and he announced his intention to appoint Ashworth as the club’s sporting director.
Longstaff admitted he had recently been joking with Newcastle’s Technical Director about a future transfer.
“It’s funny actually: the boss of Toronto, John Herdman, was here not long ago,” he said. “I met him and was then talking to Dan Ashworth, saying, ‘Just so you know, I want to play for Toronto before I retire – two, three years in Toronto please.’”
It’s perhaps no coincidence that shortly after Herdman (a fellow Geordie) visited Newcastle’s Training Centre, that Longstaff’s younger brother, Matty, joined MLS club Toronto on a trial that quicky led to a permanent deal.
Matty Longstaff’s contract had long since expired, but he was allowed to complete rehab from a serious knee injury at Newcastle. In a way, it’s a dream move for the younger Longstaff brother, and his entire family, given Canada’s national sport is ice hockey and their father, David, was the first man ever to receive 100 caps for Great Britain’s ice hockey team.
“Being from Newcastle, it’s football first and foremost, but we went to ice hockey training a lot” explained Longstaff. “You soon work out which one you’re better at. It sounds bad, but there’s loads more money to be made in England playing football!
“My dad probably pushed me down that [football] alley. I thank him, because it’s worked out. I really enjoyed when he was coaching ice hockey at Whitley Bay. I’d go down there all the time and jump on the ice.
“That was my first taste of a team environment; how to act around a dressing room. He’s been my biggest influence and he’s the person I’m always trying to impress – even more than the manager, sometimes!”
When asked directly if he’s serious about finishing his career with a Canadian MLS club, Longstaff is unequivocal. “Oh, a million per cent. In an ideal world, that’s how it’ll end. That’s where I want to retire, so maybe that could happen, but hopefully I’ve got plenty of years left in me here.”
More Newcastle United stories
In 2019 Sean Longstaff was linked with a £50 million move to Manchester United, five years on he tells FourFourTwo ‘I’m happy it didn’t happen’
Where are England’s world-class goalkeepers? Analysing the past, present and future between the sticks for the Three Lions
The ‘small thing’ I spotted at Newcastle United’s training ground last week that underlines why Dan Ashworth’s potential departure to Manchester United is a ‘big thing’
