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Lewis Cass (born 27 February 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League One club Port Vale.

Lewis Cass

Cass playing for Port Vale (August 2022)
Personal information
Full name	Lewis Graham Cass[1]
Date of birth	(2000-02-27) 27 February 2000 (age 22)[2]
Place of birth	North Shields, England[2]
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[3]
Position(s)	Defender
Club information
Current team	Port Vale
Number	2
Youth career
20??–2012	North Shields Juniors
2012–2020	Newcastle United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–2022	Newcastle United	0	(0)
2020–2021	→ Hartlepool United (loan)	34	(0)
2021–2022	→ Port Vale (loan)	19	(0)
2022–	Port Vale	11	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:00, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Cass was with Newcastle United from 2012 to 2022. He spent the 2020–21 season on loan at Hartlepool United, who won promotion out of the National League via the play-offs. He spent the first half of the 2021–22 season on loan at Port Vale, before joining the club permanently in July 2022.

Career

Newcastle United

Cass joined the Academy at Newcastle United from North Shields Juniors at the age of 12.[4] He was named on the "Magpies" Premier League bench for the first time on the final day of the 2018–19 season at Fulham, in what was Rafael Benítez’s final game as manager.[5][6] He was next named on the bench by new manager Steve Bruce in an FA Cup tie with Rochdale in January 2020.[6]

On 1 October 2020, Cass joined National League club Hartlepool United on loan for the 2020–21 season.[7] He made his first-team debut two days later as "Pools" recorded a 2–1 win over Aldershot Town.[8] He played primarily on the right-hand side of a three-man defence at Hartlepool.[5] He signed a new contract with Newcastle in January, keeping him tied to St James' Park until 2022.[9] On 9 March, he was sent off 24 minutes into a 1–1 draw at Altrincham.[10] He made a total of 37 appearances throughout the campaign, helping Hartlepool to qualify for the play-off quarter-finals in fourth-place.[3] Hartlepool went on to secure promotion out of the play-offs, though Cass was not in the matchday squad for the final as he was recovering from a hamstring injury.[11][4] Hartlepool manager Dave Challinor tried to bring back Cass to Victoria Park on loan for the following season but was unable to do so due to competition from other clubs.[12]

Port Vale

On 12 July 2021, Newcastle United loan manager Shola Ameobi sanctioned a season-long loan move to League Two side Port Vale.[13] He was signed by manager Darrell Clarke to compete with James Gibbons at right-back and to provide cover at centre-back.[14] He made his debut for the "Valiants" on 10 August, coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for Dan Jones in a 2–1 defeat to Newcastle's Tyne–Wear derby rivals Sunderland in an EFL Cup first round fixture at Vale Park.[15] He scored his first goal in professional football in a 5–1 victory over Accrington Stanley in an FA Cup first round match on 6 November.[16] He impressed in his 27 appearances for the "Valiants", playing on the right of the back three or at wing-back, and received interest from other lower league clubs in the January transfer window before his season was cut short after he tore his ankle ligaments in training on 27 January.[17][18] During his recovery time he provided scouting reports for Port Vale acting manager Andy Crosby in the North East.[19] Port Vale went on to win promotion out of the play-offs in May, and Cass said that "I hate watching this on TV, I would rather be a part of it".[20]

On 11 June 2022, Port Vale announced that Cass would join the club on a contract of undisclosed length from 1 July; David Flitcroft, the club's director of football, stated that "I spoke to Darrell [Clarke], Andy [Crosby] and Dean [Whitehead] and the way they all spoke about him you could see they admired him... it was a collective decision".[21] He started four of the opening five league games of the 2022–23 season, before dropping out of the team to accommodate Will Forrester.[22]

Style of play

Cass is a defender who can play at right-back or centre-back.[5]

Career statistics

As of match played 5 November 2022

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		EFL Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Newcastle United	2018–19[3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2019–20[3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2020–21[3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2021–22[3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Newcastle United U21	2018–19[3]	—	—		—		—		2[lower-alpha 1]	0	2	0
	2019–20[3]	—	—		—		—		3[lower-alpha 1]	0	3	0
	2020–21[3]	—	—		—		—		2[lower-alpha 1]	0	2	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	7	0
Hartlepool United (loan)	2020–21[3]	National League	34	0	2	0	—		1[lower-alpha 2]	0	37	0
Port Vale (loan)	2021–22[23]	League Two	19	0	3	1	1	0	4[lower-alpha 1]	0	27	1
Port Vale	2022–23[24]	League Two	11	0	1	0	0	0	3[lower-alpha 1]	0	15	0
	Total		30	0	4	1	1	0	7	0	42	1
Career total			64	0	6	1	1	0	15	0	86	1

References

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