Stuart English is relishing the chance of pitting his wits against Southampton in Friday’s Dale Farm Milk Cup Globe Final in Limavady.
Brentford’s Under-15s take on the so far unbeaten Saints in Friday’s Globe Final with the winner taking home the trophy and a fifth placed finish.
For Stuart, Southampton are a benchmark Academy given their recent successes and the coaching philosophy that they practice.
Despite their recent achievements Stuart is confident that his Bees side can not only beat Southampton but also beat them by putting in a good all-round performance.
“Southampton are really flying at the moment,” said Stuart, speaking to Bees Player after the Under-15s 3-0 win over Rangers in the Semi-Final.
“The number of players who played in their first-team last year who came through their Academy is unbelievable.
“They are the ones to follow.
“They always have good teams throughout the age groups and they coach in, what I think is, the right way.
“They work on the players technically and work on their intelligence and social and psychological corners so it will be a massive test for us tomorrow.
“One of the reasons why this tournament is good is because you do get to play teams from different countries and you get to play big names.
“Southampton are a Category One club so we don’t get to play them all the time.
“It is a big test for us but the boys are not worried, they see it as a challenge and they know they can go and perform.
“I am confident that we can win tomorrow.
“The key is to get the performance and the result as we want both.
“We don’t just want to win and we don’t just want a performance we want to win and we want a top performance.
“It would mean everything to us to win.
“We feel we should have been in the top cup but this cup has worked out well in playing Rangers and a top Premier League club in Southampton.
“It would mean a lot to us to win and we feel we can do it.”
Brentford came to the Milk Cup with hopes of qualifying for the main Cup competition and repeating the success of the 2012 team who won the tournament.
After a 2-0 victory over Watford in their opening game those qualification hopes were dashed after a 3-1 defeat to Queen of the South on Tuesday.
A 4-2 victory over County Down meant a seventh-placed league finish for The Bees and qualification for the Globe competition.
Despite the frustration of the defeat to Queen of the South Stuart said it has still been a really good week at the Milk Cup.
The Academy Head of Coaching thinks his side have played in the right way all week and that is all he could have asked of them.
“It has been a really good week,” said Stuart.
“Every day we have performed at a good level.
“The second day the result wasn’t the result we wanted but I can’t knock the performance from the players.
“They have tried to play the Brentford way, they tried to pass it and play fast attacking football.
“They have done that every day and I can’t complain at all; I am really pleased with the players.
“It is a massive disappointment that we are not in the top cup.
“It has been a massive test for the staff and the players to react to that disappointment and then set the challenge of winning our next three games.
“Our initial challenge was to win every game every day.
“We won the first one but we weren’t able to win the second one, after playing so well but not getting the goal.
“After that we have to re-focus and look to win the next three games but playing the way we want to play, playing good football, and we have so far.
“We have just spoken to the players and the next challenge is to win tomorrow but to win while performing the way we want to, which is a big challenge.”
Brentford qualified for the Globe final after a 3-0 victory over Rangers in front of a crowd of around 600 in central Coleraine.
Playing the Glasgow club in Northern Ireland made The Bees very much the away side but Stuart was pleased with the way the boys handled the pressure.
Stuart believes that Brentford let their football do the talking in the hostile atmosphere and that showed a huge amount of character within the group.
“The coaches spoke to the players today and Anthony Hayes told the players how much Rangers support there would be at the game,” said Stuart.
“He said there would be a big Rangers following here and that there would be a big crowd and they would all be against us, as it was against County Down on Wednesday.
“There was a lot of pressure on the boys.
“As a staff you can hear the abuse you are getting on the sideline and every decision is questioned.
“There was a little glitch at the end of the game today where one of the players seemed to lose their head.
“Other than that the boys have stuck to their guns and let their football do the talking which is the most important thing.
“That shows big character within the group.
“They have a big focus on what they want to achieve and where they want to go and that is the most crucial part for that.”
Friday’s final will be Brentford’s fifth game in five days in what is a unique test for Under-15s footballers.
With so many physical and mental demands placed on the players, keeping them fit and healthy is key.
To aid that Brentford travelled to their base in Bushmills, just outside Coleraine, with two physios, in Lewis Johnson and Rob Sibley, as well as Lead Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach Byron Chowles.
Stuart said that the work they have done with the players during this week, and in the preparation weeks ahead of the tournament, have been a huge factor in keeping the squad in peak condition.
“The physios work has been excellent,” said Stuart.
“We haven’t had any cramp or any real fitness concerns.
“We have had to rest the odd player here and there for slight strains but we haven’t had to rest anyone for fatigue.
“That just shows how important the preparation is.
“The pre-season training before we got out here and the foods we are eating and the rest and recovery work we are giving the players all means that they can perform at the highest level.”
As well as the footballing side of the week at the Milk Cup Stuart sees getting to know the players on a more personal level as another huge benefit of the week.
As the Under-15s train after school a few times a week the contact between players and coaches can be very limited.
However, in the Milk Cup environment, where players and staff mix for 14 hours a day for a week, Stuart thinks the coaches get to see a different side to the players.
Stuart sees this intense week as vital in learning about the players characters and helps the coaches to better understand the mental needs of individual players.
“The best thing about the Milk Cup is that you are here with the players all day every day,” said Stuart.
“You are seeing what their character is like and you are learning everything about them.
“When you have a training session it is an hour and a half or two hours and you only get to see what they are good at plus a little bit of their character before and after the session.
“Here we are spending time with them.
“We are sitting down with our laptops next to the players and having a chat.
“We are having breakfast having a discussion; we are on the coach having a discussion; we go on walks and talk to the players.
“This is where you learn a lot about the players’ character.
“It enables us to see the players who are able to really prepare properly and the players who are really driven to succeed and do everything they can to perform on the pitch.
“It also lets us see the ones who aren’t like that but it enables us to notice that and then go and affect it.
“We can make a plan for the season to try and help a certain player psychologically, or, to help a player be more positive who beats himself up, or ,to help a player mix more socially.”