Newcastle’s Jacobs take the biscuit

When Jacob Ramsey joined Newcastle United last August, it brought to an end an 18-year association with his boyhood club Aston Villa and so, naturally, he was keen to retain some familiarity.

Ben Parkinson was asked to move from number 41 to 40 to accommodate the midfielder, who had kept that number as he rose through the ranks at Villa Park – Parkinson joined Falkirk in the current window and now wears 27 for them – while Ramsey also retained the naming style he had had in Birmingham.

With Ramsey’s younger brother Aaron also at Villa, the siblings carried the first initial of their forenames on their backs.

Jacob continued to do that even after Aaron’s permanent departure for Burnley in 2023 – and opted to do the same at his new club.

However, there was an irony of sorts in that, while Newcastle don’t have another Ramsey (they do have goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale), they do have another Jacob, who shares his surname with a team-mate but doesn’t have his first initial on his shirt.

When the Toon signed Irish full-back Alex Murphy from Galway United in 2022, winger Jacob Murphy had been at the club five years. He continued to have ‘Murphy’ on his back while the new arrival had, and still has, ‘A. Murphy’.

Fittingly, the Murphys’ approach mirrors that of the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 World Cup: Robbie Keane had ‘R. Keane’ on his shirt as he scored three goals in five games while Roy Keane simply had his surname, though the midfielder was an unused substitute throughout (👀).

And what of Aaron Ramsey, Jacob’s brother?

Well, he was first sent out on loan to Cheltenham Town in 2022 and only had ‘Ramsey’ on his shirt but went with ‘A. Ramsey’ in subsequent spells at Norwich City and Middlesbrough as well as after his permanent departure to Burnley.

He is currently on loan at Leicester City and continues the practice – we are still holding out hope that he may get to play with the ‘other’, Welsh, Aaron Ramsey, just to see how that one would be tackled.