On a summer’s night six years ago in front of 470 souls at Whitley Park in North Tyneside, Ivan Toney made his debut for Newcastle United Under 23s.
The consensus? Nowhere near first-team standard, and not ever likely to be. It was an opinion that barely altered during the course of his three years at the club.
Sportsmail was there for that 1-1 draw with Blackburn, in which the 19-year-old missed an early chance. We did not disagree with the idea of Toney being a useful player to have around the youth set-up, but little more.
Ivan Toney has taken the long route to becoming the leading striker at a Premier League club
Graham Carr was Newcastle’s chief scout at the time.
‘I saw him just along the road in the first team at Northampton at 16 years old, so I knew all about him,’ Carr tells us from his Northampton home.
‘He had something, a nice physicality for one so young, but I wasn’t banging down the door saying, “We have to sign him”.
‘But Northampton were struggling financially and I took a call from Lee Charnley (Newcastle’s managing director) asking would I pay £250,000 for Toney. It was a no-brainer. We only had Adam Armstrong coming through as a striker, and I thought it was worth a chance.
‘But I would be telling lies if I ever thought he would go on to achieve what he has done.’
The Brentford marksman has had to overcome his fair share of setbacks to reach the top flight
What Toney has achieved is 82 goals in three years with Peterborough and Brentford. His tally of 31 in the Championship last season means the 25-year-old will line up on Friday night as a Premier League player when the Bees kick off the campaign at home to Arsenal.
It will be his third top-flight appearance, with the previous two cameos for Newcastle remembered only for him losing the ball in the closing stages of a 3-3 draw with Manchester United in 2016, very nearly leading to a goal.
Toney, it is said, feels let down by his lack of opportunity at Newcastle, where he was sent on loan six times.
For Carr, there is regret. ‘Look at him now, he is a colossus. I am so pleased for the lad.
‘But I look at him, and Armstrong going to Southampton for £15million this week, and I think, “They could have been playing for
