How new Man City £116m golden boy Elliot Anderson’s ex-team-mate is in jail for brutal MURDER of stranger

DREAMING of footballing stardom, two ­promising youngsters pose for their academy’s team photo. But while one will kick off the new season aiming for Premier League glory with Manchester City, the other will be in a prison cell. Elliot Anderson played at the World Cup and joined Manchester City in a record deal Credit: Getty Killer Ireland led away in cuffs from North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in 2019 – he was later jailed for at least 15 years Credit: PA The different paths taken by England and City midfielder Elliot Anderson and his former teammate Ewan Ireland could not be starker. Elliot starred for England in this year’s World Cup, when the Three Lions came within a ­whisker of their first final for 60 years, and also secured a £116million transfer to the Etihad. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! Ireland, meanwhile, could only follow the tournament on TV in the prison wing where he is serving life for the ­brutal ­murder of a random stranger. Yet this newly-discovered team photo of the pair from 2010 — when they were both aged around nine and playing for Newcastle United’s ­academy team — shows how it might all have been so ­different for Ireland. Those familiar with the North East’s youth football scene say he could even have eclipsed Elliot’s achievements. He was considered a better prospect, and so promising that he was compared to the young Paul Gascoigne. One scout said: “It’s bewildering when you look at the way things worked out for two lads who were incredibly ­talented. You have to wonder how things went so wrong for Ewan. “He was a cracking player, one of the best from that cohort, but he went in the wrong direction while Elliot got stuck in, worked hard and let his natural talent flourish. Most read in Sport “Elliot was a great kid, a leader even from an early age, and it was no surprise to anyone that he succeeded in the game. “He deserves every bit of the adulation he’s now getting and he was worth his place in any side at the World Cup. “But Ewan could have been there alongside him. “He had the talent but lost his way so badly, and ultimately what he did was unforgivable. He ruined his own life as well.” A football coach who worked with Ireland as a youngster added: “He was compared to Gazza, he was incredible. Everyone in the football community knew of Ewan Ireland because he was outstanding. “It’s such a waste. He was the best player at the Newcastle United Academy. “I can remember watching him and thinking, ‘This is the best kid I have ever seen’. “He was unbelievable when he had a football at his feet, but he had a lot of problems off the pitch.” Future murderer Ireland, left, next to a young Anderson, who now plays for England, at youth academy in Newcastle Credit: supplied Off the railes Ireland as a youngster Credit: Refer to Caption As Elliot’s star rose thanks to his dogged determination to make it at the top level, Ireland drifted into a life of crime. He was released by the academy around 2015 for disruptive behaviour and was excluded from his school shortly after. He was also kicked out of a local football club for taking a knife to training and clocked up a series of convictions, including chasing his own mother with a knife and throwing ammonia in a girl’s face. On August 14, 2019, he crossed paths with solicitor Peter Duncan as the dad walked through Newcastle city centre on his way to catch a bus home after work. CCTV footage showing Ireland stealing the screwdriver he used to stab Peter Duncan Tragic dad-of-two Peter died after being stabbed on his way home from work by Ireland Credit: PA Ireland — 17 at the time — was armed with a 12-inch flathead screwdriver he had stolen from Poundland moments earlier in readiness for an arranged fight. When Peter, 52, accidentally brushed past him as they walked through a shopping centre doorway, the teen erupted in fury and stabbed him in the chest. The judge, who gave Ireland, of Westerhope, Newcastle, life with a minimum term of 15 years after he admitted murder, said: “Peter Duncan was a hard-working solicitor with a loving family. You ended his life and you brought lifelong misery and grief to others.” The earliest that Ireland can apply for parole is 2034, when Elliot, 23, is likely to once again be starring for England in a World Cup, this time in Saudi Arabia. Ireland shamed his family with his horrific crime, but Elliot ­continues to be a huge source of pride to his. Close-knit, hard-working and sports-mad, they have followed his career closely as he moved from Newcastle to Forest and on to City to play alongside stars such as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden. While Ireland was once compared to Gazza, Elliot enjoyed similar compliments, suggesting he was heading for greatness. In 2022, when he was 19 and still at Newcastle, he was sent out on loan to then-League Two side ­Bristol Rovers. Elliot is driven to succeed by memory of his late mum Helen Credit: http://www.instagram.com/elliotandersonn/ Elliot with his lawyer girlfriend Olivia Kate Parvia at Nottingham Forest Credit: PA He drew comparisons to Argentine legend Diego Maradona and the label stuck, with fans starting to call him the Geordie Maradona. And as he kicks off the season on Sunday at home to Bournemouth, ready to make headlines in his own right, he will be spurred on by the spirit of his late mum Helen, just as he was at this ­summer’s World Cup. She died aged 54 in April after a long illness. During the tournament, Elliot said: “It’s been tough. It helps me to get on the pitch and free my mind. “My football over the past six months was bringing my mum happiness and getting her through what she was going through. “Everything I do, I have to do it for her now.” Sporting talent runs in the family — he has two older brothers, boxer Wil, who appeared on TV’s Love Island, and Louis, also a footballer. His grandfather on his mum’s side, Geoff Allen, played for ­Newcastle United in the 1960s while his dad Iain, 53, who runs a drilling company, was a decent non-league striker when he was younger. Teacher Jonathan Roys, 56, who taught Elliot English and extracurricular PE and was a coach at his first club, Wallsend Boys, remembers what a promising ­talent he was. He said: “We had a bet on him playing for England. “He was just on a ­different game. You see some good players there at eight and nine. He was exceptional.” Elliot has continued to be exceptional at every stage of his career and is set to continue bringing joy to millions of City and England fans for years to come. Meanwhile, all his former teammate has done is bring endless heartache to an innocent man’s family and friends.