Life through a lens: Elliot Anderson

A very young Anderson at one of his first Newcastle United games

That's me at the front. I think I'm about four years old here. I was born in 2002 and that looks like about 2006, so it would be my first season going to games. My brother Louis is there on the right - he will have been eight - and my other brother Wil, on the left, will have been six. We used to sit up there in a box in the Milburn Stand which my dad got through work. It was just along from Michael Owen's. This may well have been Alan Shearer's last season - I remember seeing him play.

I'd started playing football by this time. My brothers had training sessions on Sunday mornings and I'd join in, which I'd been doing since I was two. I was a bit young, really, but we all played together. My first memory of St. James' Park though would be walking up towards the stadium, seeing how big it is from the outside, the supports sticking out on the top of the Leazes End, and walking out in the stand and seeing all the green. Then you're glued to it.

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An academy team photo from the start of the 2017/18 season. Anderson is on the front row, third from left

This is our team at under-15 level. Nathan Carlyon's on there, Will Brown too. I was younger than everyone else - I always played a year up, so I was always the smallest. Physicality-wise, that was always quite tough, but my mind was always sharp. It's probably helped me to this day, playing with bigger players - you have to be quicker than them on the ball. I didn't really think twice about people being older than me. I just went out and acted as if they were the same age.

My coaches then were Neil Winskill and Liam Bramley. I had them from under-13s to under-18s - they came with us every year, so they've played a big part in getting me to where I am.

With Winskill (left) and Terry Mitchell (right) in Poland

This photo is from a tournament in Krakow that season, 2017/18, with Neil and Terry Mitchell. It was called the Salt Mine Cup. We ended up winning and I scored a free kick in the last minute of normal time in the final. I think I was captain that day. The trophy was actually made of salt, which was weird...

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Anderson stepped up to United's under-21 side at the age of 16. Here he is pictured netting for the Magpies' second string at Port Vale in what was the Leasing.com Trophy in 2019

I've grown a bit by this point! I was still very young - I was 17 here - and this is Port Vale away in the EFL Trophy. It was all new to me, my first game against a professional league team. It was more competitive and, in my eyes, they were professional games. Again, I was one of the youngest in the team, playing with the likes of Jamie Sterry, who was a good influence on me. I managed to get a goal in this game - a header from a cross.

I remember it being a big step up. It was quite intimidating, being so small and playing against all these big, experienced players, but I've always backed myself that once I'm on the pitch, technically, I'll be better than the player I'm playing against. I did well in that game too, which helped.

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Anderson returned to the under-18s to feature in their run to the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals in 2020/21

This is me scoring a last-minute free kick against Watford at St. James' in the last 16. I've got the captain's armband on there as well. When I first go into a group I'm quite quiet - it takes quite a while for people to see how I am - but once I've been there a while, my true side comes out, and I think I'm a good leader. Off the pitch I'm nice, but when I'm on it, I just go into football mode. I get so involved in the game... you just can't help doing that.

On his 18th birthday, Anderson signed a new deal with the club in 2020

And this one is signing what I think was my second professional contract. This was about a month after I started to train with the first team. I had a good few weeks after coming up from the academy - I was training well - so I was buzzing to sign this one on my 18th birthday.

People had started to notice me a bit around then - there was talk about me on Twitter and things like that - and I quite enjoyed it, to be honest. But you learn sharply not to get involved with stuff like that once you're up with the first team. I got some good advice from lads like Dummy (Paul Dummett), Sean Longstaff - local lads who'd been through the same things. They know that when it's going well it's great but that also, you get the odd one or two things that can maybe get into your head and affect your confidence. You can't let that break you. You just have to focus on your training.

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Anderson's progress was swift...

... and he began to train regularly with United's first team...

... making a good impression at the club's Benton training centre in 2020/21

This was a bit surreal for me. I was nervous - you want to look good to the other players, and they want to help you integrate into the team. But it was amazing really. Training with them was all a lot sharper than I was used to but technically, I thought I was doing alright. Going home every day, my family would ask how it went, have a look at the photos and, I guess, be a bit surprised by it all too. I loved every minute of it. I've grown quite a bit since these pictures, to be fair - I look quite small, don't I?

At that stage I honestly felt like I could come into the squad and, if I did well, maybe get a chance to help change things. It was difficult for us as a team as we were fighting relegation, and to chuck a youngster in would be quite tough. But I had to train every day, try and catch an eye, and eventually I got a few opportunities.

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On 9th January 2021, Anderson made his Newcastle United debut as a substitute for Joelinton in at FA Cup third round tie at Arsenal

Coming into this week, there was a bit of press about me potentially making my debut. I saw some of it. But I thought, 'against Arsenal? I don't know if that's likely', so I just trained hard and waited. But then I got the shout along the touchline...

I wasn't too nervous, because there were no fans in the ground because of Covid. The game went to extra time, and I think I had a chance at the end as well. It was just surreal, coming on for your boyhood team and doing my family back at home proud. When people ask, 'how was it?' I always say that you're just so drilled into thinking about the game - you don't want to do badly, you don't want your first touch to be terrible, so you're just concentrating on that. Afterwards, you realise - 'I've just made my debut'. That was my dream as a young kid.

His elevation to the first team fold brought greater scrutiny

This is one from the interview for NUFC TV after that game. I was probably more nervous for that than the game, to be honest! The first few times I had to do these I was thinking, 'oh God, what am I going to say here?' I'd be preparing my answer as the question was being asked and it was difficult, but you get used to it. It's something I still find quite hard, but I feel like I've developed in that area a lot since I first started. I guess I was in the spotlight for the first time then, but I did enjoy it - it's something I want more of.

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In action for the Magpies' under-23s against Norwich City

Back post again! There's a theme developing here - back post headers. I've always been good at heading, but more in terms of defensive heading in the middle of the park. I never really used to play left wing but I remember Neil Winskill telling me that when you play left wing, if you get to the back post at the right time, you'll get six or seven goals a season. When I started playing there, I did my best to do that, and looking at some of these photos, there's a pattern emerging...

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After a few seasons of promise and progress, Anderson joined Bristol Rovers in January 2022 for his first loan spell away from Tyneside

I went in to see the manager, and I basically said that I'd been training with the lads for about two years, and I thought it was time for me to go out and play. I wasn't expecting to go to League Two, but it was probably the best thing I could have done. Once I was there, I looked at it like it was my chance to show the manager back at Newcastle what I could do.

This season built me. I found it quite challenging but I thrived under the pressure. This is against Port Vale, having a bit of a tussle there. I really enjoyed that part of it. There's always a question with Premier League youngsters going into lower divisions about whether they will be wanting to fight, but it's a part of my game which I really like. I focused on the gym - I'd speak to James (Allan, first team sports scientist) and try to work on that, probably three times a week - and tried to become stronger on the pitch.

It ended up being an unforgettable five months, as the Gas went up on the final day on goal difference. Anderson - by then known to Rovers fans as the 'Geordie Maradona' - scored their decisive seventh goal on the final-day thrashing of Scunthorpe

I'll always replay this moment in my head. It comes up on my phone, I see it on the internet a lot - it still comes up on my TikTok! It was a crazy day. I don't think anyone expected it. Everything went right. I don't know if many people will ever have seen anything like that before.

It was 2-0 at half time and we knew we had to score five. I thought we were done. I was fuming. But we came out, got three within about 15 minutes and I thought, 'this is on here'. Then mine went in - another back post header - and it was carnage. Fans were on the pitch, the final whistle got delayed, and we knew just had to not concede - Northampton's game had finished, so we knew if we didn't concede we would be promoted.

I first heard the Geordie Maradona song at Carlisle away. I thought, 'are they saying Geordie?' I was the only Geordie there. 'It must be me - is it me?' It sort of stuck, and came back to Newcastle with me. Ten years ago I was chanting other players' names - Ben Arfa's, Cissé's - with my brothers so it feels quite surreal when I hear it on the pitch.

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With the Premier League season still ongoing, he returned to Newcastle for a few weeks' training before the end of last season

I came back to Newcastle after that game and trained for two weeks. This is the gaffer saying congratulations to me on getting promoted, so everyone was giving me a round of applause. I appreciated the thought. Sometimes when you're away, if you're out of sight, you can be out of mind. But people were taking notice, and it was popping up on a few phones on that final day I think. It's what you want, ultimately - to catch an eye.

I felt more confident in myself when I came back. So many times I'd been told, 'you need experience before you get your chance', so once I went away and got a bit I thought I might be getting closer. I came back with a bit more belief.

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Anderson, far right, warming up at Benfica's Estádio da Luz last summer and, below, in action against the Portuguese side during the pre-season friendly

I went on holiday that summer, had some rest and came back in pre-season just thinking I might be pushing for another loan this season - in the Championship, I guess. I just trained and tried to get myself ready but I must have been doing quite well in the games. It was getting quite late in the window and I wasn't too sure what I would be doing, but they made the decision to keep me here. I didn't think that would happen, so I was just trying to focus on taking my chance when I got it.

This stadium was mint. It's like the Emirates where I made my debut - it was pretty similar. It was great to play some big teams in pre-season and to be part of a great season here has been great. If you told me at the start of the season what it would have been like for me, I would have bitten your hand off. I'm happy with what I've done so far - but you always want more. You never settle for what you have.

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With head coach Eddie Howe after signing a new deal in September 2022

He's huge for me. Everyone knows how he can develop a player. You speak to people even outside the club, and they tell you there's no better manager to be working under - and I agree. I've come on leaps and bounds since he came in and playing for him, with the style of play that he has, suits me. I hope I can stay here and work under him for as long as possible.

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A mural of Anderson in a shop window on Pink Lane in the run-up to February's Carabao Cup final against Manchester United

What's this? Where's that? Is that a barber shop? One of my family told me about this. That's mad really. This is the first time I've properly looked at it. That's cool, that. It's strange seeing your name and face like that in town. Geordies are crazy, aren't they? The feeling in the city leading up to the final was something that we haven't really had before, something I've not seen before. To be part of that was special and I hope there are more of those times to come.

It was odd at the start, going out with my mates for food and people spotting you. At the time you think, 'what the hell?' But you come to expect it, and you just have to make sure you're not doing anything wrong, I guess! You're in the spotlight and I don't mind that. I'm happy to be like that. Being from here, and everyone knowing you - it's a good thing.

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Arriving at Wembley ahead of the final and, below, applauding supporters after the game

The two weeks before this was a bit nervy - it's my first proper season with Newcastle so to get to a Wembley final is quite something. I played in a few of the games on the way there too so it was a special achievement. I got on the pitch as well which I was buzzing about - everyone's dream - although the result didn't go as I wanted.

I think I'm just taking it all in at that point in the second photo. I was gutted about the result, being so close to making history, but just looking out at all the Geordies with their flags on that side of the stadium - it was crazy really. A day of mixed emotions - getting on and playing in a Wembley final, but losing.

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Beating Serge Aurier to a cross at Nottingham Forest in March...

... and watching on as his header beats Keylor Navas...

... before seeing it hit the back of the net

You couldn't write it, could you? I got on at half time, on the left wing, and got my chance to have a decent amount of time to show what I can do. As this ball's coming in, I'm thinking, 'here we go - another back post header!' I saw it hit the back of the net and the away end, right in front of me, erupted. I had goosebumps everywhere. I've always been waiting for that feeling of scoring a goal. And then they only went and disallowed it...

Scenes in the away end before the VAR verdict was delivered

I didn't really know what had happened. I thought I might have been offside, but then when I saw it after... it was a bit of a disaster. In my head, I've still scored that goal! I'm just waiting for the second time now.

With the way it went, I think everyone was gutted for me. When I next hit that net, it's going to be much better - there'll be so much relief. I'm just trying to push on for that moment and when it happens, that will be very nice. You never know what's coming, I guess, and I'm quite like that - I always think, 'might it ever happen?' or 'I'm never going to score here'. But things come that you don't expect.