Newcastle United diehards were left 'baffled' but Eddie Howe plan has been huge success

Lewis Hall walked into Newcastle United at the age of just three to launch a lifelong love of the Magpies. His dad Colin, a Geordie, and grandad forged a passion which has grown with every passing year despite him being born and raised in far off Berkshire.

Lewis, who was taken on a club tour as a toddler, ironically made his Chelsea Premier League debut against United at St James Park and as we all know - and have become extremely grateful for - he incredibly went on to sign for the Magpies initially on a season's loan and then for a hefty £28m transfer fee.

Some tough love during an inconspicuous start to his black and white career saw Eddie Howe turn a fresh faced boyish looking player into a 20-year-old left-back oozing with enough quality and promise to earn a full England call to arms alongside team-mate Anthony Gordon, also catapulted to international stardom via the same hard yards at SJP.

READ MORE:I saw Newcastle United trying to solve problem Eddie Howe wants fixed after behind the scenes work

READ MORE:Lewis Hall hits nine out of 10 as Newcastle United players rated for the season so far

Come Thursday night in Athens when Greece are the European Nations opposition and Sunday back at Wembley against the Republic of Ireland Hall will have an opportunity to complete a nosebleed rise to top flight acceptance by winning his first full cap. Lewis deserves everything which is now coming his way. This season he has been exceptional at a time when virtually every other player's form has veered up and down with inconsistency.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: with birth certificates on their side Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall can in tandem have the modern day trophy-winning impact of super full-back pair David Craig and Frank Clark at NUFC. Craig made 435 appearances for the Mags and Clark 487 which saw them team up to win the European Fairs Cup of 69, the Anglo Italian Cup, and initially the Second Division championship. Craig only missed the FA Cup and League Cup finals of 74 and 76 through injury.

Tino, promoted back into the senior squad this week due to injury withdrawals, is like his full-back partner awaiting his first senior cap.

After what must have been a difficult time for Hall to accept at his dream club as he was continuously shunned both in terms of the starting eleven and vital time as a sub he has proved that everything can come to he who waits. Even when he did get on the team sheet in those early days Howe subbed him at half-time against both Borussia Dortmund and Bournemouth. This has been a comeback before he even started!

Geordies were frankly baffled by what was happening last season. Had Hall been bought by United's scouting set up only to be quickly assessed by the manager as not fit for purpose? Was he defensively too naive while admittedly comfortable attacking? Nought was said by the player and very little in way of explanation by the manager.

However it turns out that Howe was successfully undergoing a procedure which he has used before upon the signing of new players though admittedly it took longer with a young inexperienced lad. United's boss was getting him up to speed and understanding, learning to play the Newcastle way. It happened with Gordon in his first few months. It is happening now with Lloyd Kelly.

Nevertheless Lewis might have sunk without trace during a long disappointing isolation and public speculation but he got his head down, did the hard work, learned and listened, and has emerged this season as a top notch Premier League performer and now an England squad member. All before he gets the keys of the door at 21. Well done him. Well done Eddie.

His opportunity with the Three Lions is huge and early, acceptance liable to come much quicker than at club level because, simply, England are suffering from a dearth of left-back alternatives while chock full of talent elsewhere on the field.

Since Luke Shaw took up permanent residence in the physio room and Ben Chilwell fell spectacularly out of favour at Chelsea the options have been severely limited.

Indeed Gareth Southgate used Newcastle's Kieran Trippier on his wrong side during virtually the whole of the Euros last summer in what was Southgate and Trippier's farewell to international football.

Even with Lee Carsley on borrowed time Hall's future in the white of his country could well be assured. Remember it was incoming manager Thomas Tuchel who in January 2022 gave Lewis his debut at Chelsea aged 17 in a 5-1 FA Cup win over Chesterfield which sparked everything off. Tuchel left in the September and a month later with Hall continuing to blossom new boss Graham Potter handed him the ultimate reward, a PL debut at Newcastle when we won 1-0 and watching dad Colin didn't know if to stick or twist! Hall went on to make a further 10 first team appearances that season.

It is the ultimate romantic story for Lewis whose his elder brother Connor is also a passionate Toon Army fan and a footballer who has performed in the lower reaches of the pyramid system. What is fabulous is that his England call up is not the pinnacle of his career but merely the start of it. So much more is to come.