Whither the local heroes?

Setting out our recruitment policy, the recent club statement claimed that we're going to focus our search close to home: "The days when players such as Alan Shearer, Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick had to leave Newcastle to begin their illustrious football careers elsewhere are over". Interesting, then, to find the Guardian's resident Smoggie Harry Pearson decrying the dearth of international-quality talent that the region's produced in recent years.

I take his point - Steven Taylor and Bigger Lad are decent players, but hardly on a par with the likes of Gazza, Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Wor Al. Whatever the reasons for the apparent decline (and it might just be coincidence), looking near rather than far could perhaps prove myopic metaphorically as well as literally.