While the wintry weather closes in and frozen pitches result in the cancellation of Academy and reserve fixtures, for some of our youngsters a break in sunnier climes is just around the corner.

While their club colleagues shiver on Tyneside, England duo Ross Gardner and Lewis Guy jet out with the national U18 squad for the Merdien Cup tournament in late January, held this year in Egypt.

England kick off their cup campaign in Port Said on January 25^th against Burkina Faso, and then play Mali, Egypt and Nigeria, the winners being decided on scorelines in those games, rather than on a knockout basis.

Meanwhile, Newcastle’s Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Brennan is also packing his bags as he links up with his U20 counterparts in the United Arab Emirates.

Ireland are taking part in a four team friendly tournament along with the hosts, Korea and France, which gives them the chance to sample conditions in the location that will host the World Youth Championships from March 25^th to April 16^th.

England will join the Irish at those Championships, along with exotic opponents such as Panama and Uzbekistan, and more familiar foes such as Spain, USA and the Germans. Who plays who will become clearer after the draw, scheduled for January 29^th.

Both Michael Chopra and Richard Offiong featured for the England U20 side in recent games, but at the time of writing it’s not confirmed whether either will be at the finals. Brennan however looks likely to be on the Irish plane and toon fans should be able to keep track of events, with Eurosport preparing to cover the event.

Slightly closer to home, a number of our youngsters have a foreign trip of sorts lined up, when reserve coach Tommy Craig returns to his native Glasgow on January 18^th to face Rangers. The friendly match is being staged at Ibrox Park between U21 representatives of the two clubs and with the Scottish Premier League currently on a seasonal break, should attract a healthy attendance of soccer-starved scots and exiled toon fans.

Included in that Newcastle side should be midfielder Bradley Orr, who has just put pen to paper on a professional contract that keeps him at United until 2004. The 20-year-old Liverpudlian has come through the ranks to become a regular performer at reserve level, and made four starts last season.

He’s already exceeded that number this season, and weighed in with goals in victories away to Blackburn and more recently, over Manchester United at Old Trafford.  That game was picked up on by Skysports and other media outlets as it marked the return of Roy Keane in a red shirt, but a 3-2 victory for Newcastle meant that all the goals, including  A Cort double and Bradley’s blast were televised nationwide.

Turning to the current U17 and U19 sides, and poor weather caused the postponement of the opening games of 2003 against the mackems, leaving the lads hopeful of action in an away double-header at Sheffield Wednesday on January 18^th.

In the weeks leading up to the Christmas break, the U17s stretched their unbeaten run to 9 games. Following a hard-fought draw with the mackems, wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Derby on Tyneside were recorded along with a draw at Bolton and victory at Leeds despite some rough treatment from the home side.

However, they ended up losing a remarkable final match of the year at Blackburn, where the home side eventually ran out 6-4 winners. Three goals down in the first quarter, Newcastle rallied but still looked down and out when Rovers scored again to make it 4-1 after the break. A great effort in the closing stages pulled the scores back to 5-4 in favour of Blackburn, but the clinching sixth goal came in the final minutes as the Magpies searched for an equaliser.

The U19s also had a solitary blemish on their good record in the final fixtures of 2002, with a 2-0 loss at Leeds. Apart from that though they continued their scoring habit, registering four against Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn and going one better in a 5-1 romp at Barnsley in their final game.

As ever, former toon trainees keep turning up with other clubs, and in recent weeks Oliver Cowie has been at Blyth Spartans, while Jonny Mann in the attack for Unibond side Bishop Auckland and scoring in a recent game at Matlock Town.

Midfielder Stuart Green finally left United in a deal said to be worth £150,000 plus a hefty sell-on clause, as he made his loan move to Hull City a permanent one, while on-loan Richard Offiong found himself on the wrong end of an FA Cup upset when part of the Darlington side who tumbled out at home to Farnborough in the third round.

Over at Carlisle meanwhile, the Third Division strugglers have taken striker Jamie Burt on loan from Chesterfield, and cheered on by his brother and fellow ex-mag David (plus former toon team mate Jamie McClen) New Years Day saw Jamie make a scoring debut in a 2-1 loss at Hartlepool.