In the final hours of the January transfer window, Elliot Anderson found himself in professional football purgatory.
Newcastle United’s teenage forward was one of hundreds of footballers glued to Sky Sports’ yellow ticker who was in desperate need of minutes on the pitch. Long-mooted loan moves to Luton and Sheffield Wednesday had fallen through and Newcastle’s loan manager Shola Ameobi was beginning to fret.
In stepped Bristol Rovers and Joey Barton, a friend of Ameobi’s willing to take a risk on the 19-year-old in a frenetic few hours without having ever seen him play.
For all the talk of process and planning, sometimes chaos theory prevails. Anderson has wound up playing a key role in a League Two promotion race that reaches its thrilling climax on Saturday.
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Seven goals in 20 games have pushed Rovers into automatic promotion contention but it’s the manner of the goals he’s scored that have most impressed.
Barton says he reminds him of Diego Maradona while former Newcastle Chief Scout Graham Carr likened his movement to Peter Beardsley after seeing him play for Rovers at Northampton, the club that currently occupy third place and the final remaining automatic promotion slot.
One recruitment official who saw Anderson play told i he was like a “League Two cheat code” and his performances have certainly caught the eye.
It says much that for all the millions they’re likely to spend this summer, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe intends to give him an opportunity in the first team squad in the close season. Another loan seems likely.
It is understood West Bromwich Albion are the latest Championship club to register interest in taking Anderson on loan next season, joining a list that includes Millwall, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. The Baggies are managed by Steve Bruce, who gave Anderson his senior debut for Newcastle.
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“For Elliot the expectation was always Championship and to get games there but being in and out of a team at that level would not have done as much for his profile as a really successful loan at League Two,” a source told i. “Now he has the pick of any team in the EFL off the back of what he’s done with Bristol Rovers.”
Anderson is just one of the actors in what is set to be a last-day thriller in the fourth tier.
Exeter and Forest Green Rovers have confirmed two of three automatic promotion places while the two relegation spots have also been filled: Scunthorpe and Oldham paying for a myriad of mistakes at ownership level.
But the lack of relegation jeopardy doesn’t mean a lack of drama. Every club from third to ninth is involved in the top seven shake up on what could be a dramatic denouement.
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They host Forest Green. Tranmere, Swindon and Sutton – who fell out of the top seven with a shock defeat to Hughes’ Bradford last weekend – are locked in a battle for the final play off place.
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