Mick McCarthy was full of praise for 18-year-old Teddy Bishop after Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Millwall and joked that he wouldn’t have played him if he hadn’t signed his new contract earlier in the week.

The Cambridge-born academy product, who was making his home debut against the Lions, put pen to paper on a new deal until June 2016 with an option for a further season.

“He’s a proper footballer, isn’t he?” McCarthy said. “I have to say, I got him to sign his contract on Thursday and if he hadn’t have done he wouldn’t have played. I wouldn’t have risked that!

“We’ve got young players and let me tell you, all the scouts come and watch, all the warning signals have gone up.

“They’ve seen him play once and he was just as good today, he glides past people, so I needed him tied down before he was going [to play again].

“I think we’re pretty good at picking out good players. He had a lot of injuries last season and even after playing at Derby he didn’t train then for about a week or 10 days because of a sore knee.

“It’s the usual one, ‘are we protecting a youngster?’. No, we want him to play but don’t ruin him as well. We had a great substitute with Luke Hyam coming on.”

He added: “I’m being slightly disingenuous with that, I may well still have played him but he was a cert once he’d signed it. There’s a difference."

McCarthy admitted that it had been difficult to leave Hyam out of his starting XI - “He’s been a stalwart in the team” - and also Tommy Smith, which he explained was because he had specific requirements from his backline.

“Very much so,” he continued. “I wanted Tyrone Mings at left-back and I wanted a rampaging right-back as well.

“I also wanted a right-footed centre-back and a left-footed centre-back, so one of the centre-backs was going to have to drop out and unfortunately for Tommy it was him.

“But he got on the pitch. It’s my decision, sometimes you can’t even give rhyme or reason for it, except it’s what I want to do.”

He agreed that the side looked more balanced that has generally been the case as a result: “Of course, but it’s been hard to upset a back four which has been as good as ours has.”

Meanwhile, Town's U21s are in action away at Charlton's Sparrows Lane training ground this afternoon (KO 2pm).

Photo: Action Images

bluefeast added 06:17 - Sep 15 Teddy has to be worth 5 million right now. He is a really class act ,well done Teddy for getting yourself to this position with all the distractions youngsters face between during their teens.
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Jimmy86 added 06:43 - Sep 15 Teddy bishop was absoloutely outstanding on saturday, was so refreshingto see a midfielder recieve the ball and then look forwards every time as the first option. Deserved his standing ovation and its brilliant we have tied him down to a longer deal as the lad looks a special talent, a proper player. Hope he keeps his place tues night
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76blue added 07:47 - Sep 15 He makes FORWED passes. Dream come true.
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Mark added 07:59 - Sep 15 I thought Teddy was excellent and showed some pieces of skill that really were top class. It's early days and we shouldn't get carried away, but I see no reason why he couldn't become a better player than Jonny Williams. Williams will be 21 next month, but Bishop has only just turned 18. Suddenly we've gone from complaining about a threadbare squad to having to leave the likes of Smith and Hyam out of the starting 11! With Ambrose joining and the likes of Hunt and Stewart returning from injury, we now have lots of options.

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PJH added 08:04 - Sep 15 In my view the short term signing of Jonny Williams is now unnecessary, even if it was possible.I do not think that he and Bishop could play in the same team and three months of Williams would be holding Bishop back.
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TimmyH added 08:17 - Sep 15 Stands out from the rest of the midfield doesn't he Mick.
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Wickets added 08:30 - Sep 15 Teddy Bash the Bishop he's one of our own!!!
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bedsitfc added 08:45 - Sep 15 Can't see him starting Tuesday as he needs to be eased into regular first team matches that come thick and fast. Yes he is good enough but a young lad like him is still growing and thrusting him into every game to soon could finish his career to early I. E Michael Owen
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bluelodgeblue added 08:47 - Sep 15 Super Ted!!!!
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 08:50 - Sep 15 Mark - Spot on. In fact I would go a bit further and point out that while people were moaning in the summer about the lack of signings following the Cresswell sale, they seemed to assume MM didn't know what he was doing. He will have had an idea about Bishop coming through from last season, and also that he planned to use the Cresswell money to offer contracts to key current players. Also you and PJH are right about not needing Williams now. For me, until January I would say we just need Dids to sign a new contract and we are there squad-wise.

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bedsitfc added 08:52 - Sep 15 Mark. Looks good don't it all these options. I think we will start to see better style from us soon, as we now have players that can create and pass with pace. Stewart is someone I am looking forward to seeing ok don't always have the best end product but he gets supporters onto their feet.
2

PJH added 09:43 - Sep 15 I agree with bedsitfc that it would not be a bad thing if Bishop did not start tuesday-he has as yet not played a full 90 minutes for the first team and now that most seem to agree that we have options pushing him too hard could have an adverse effect..Ambrose hopefully in the 18 tomorrow. Although I am very new to contributing to this site it seems that if some people cannot think of anything negative to say,they say nothing.

2

Steve70 added 09:56 - Sep 15 No need for Williams - His one of our own !!!
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ArnieM added 10:17 - Sep 15 "I want rampaging LB and RB"......like I said Town are starting to get it down and oass it about in neat little triangular play. That doesn't mesn we wont ever do the long pass forward. Stage II of Town revival is under way. Exviting times ahead.
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Kirbmeister added 10:31 - Sep 15 Amazing how quickly things change in football - after the Norwich game I didn't see one remotely positive comment, now after a win I haven't seem seen a negative one. Remember that folks if we don't do well tomorrow. I said it last season, see where we are at Xmas and remember MM does know what he's doing after all.
2

muccletonjoe added 10:37 - Sep 15 Great to see that we have players like hyam and smith to bring on as subs
1

Lightningboy added 10:40 - Sep 15 No amount of money can replace the satisfaction of seeing your own kids coming through into the first team. I'd find it soul-destroying having to spend hundreds of millions like Man utd,Man city & Chelsea just to buy themselves success. No matter how much of a struggle it is at times supporting ITFC I wouldn't swap it for any of the above..they're completely soul-less.

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BrettenhamBlue added 12:04 - Sep 15 We have a world-class player in Bishop. Deserved his standing ovation...just wish he had played against Norwich. They really couldn't have handled him. He reminds me of Pavel Nedved in his hey-day, he is that good. According to reports from the training ground, McDonnell is just as good. Can't wait to see Ambrose rip teams apart also....
1

paulthebluealien added 14:22 - Sep 15 Keep it up Teddy, he could be a very special player indeed.
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Europablue added 17:05 - Sep 15 Totally agree Kirbmeister. The result really seems to be thing that affects people's moods/impressions of the matches. I heard that we weren't so bad against Norwich and the amount of negative comments on here made me wonder how long it would be before McCarthy was going to be in fear for his job. Then that Millwall game, which was pretty poor from us for 44 minutes (aside from Teddy Bishop flouting and backwards and sideways passing regulations (he may well have received a fine from the club :))). I can definitely forgive the odd time where Bishop lost the ball when maybe he could have passed it or done better, but was not impressed with a couple of instances in the second half where he seemed to have dived. Anyway, he may be a rough diamond, but I think he's the kind of player most people would be happy to see in the game. The back four were a little more balanced with players looking to be more in their favoured positions. It's a shame Bru couldn't have kept his place in the side, as it would have been nice to see him in action, but I guess that was a tactical choice rather than based on performance.

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Razor added 18:40 - Sep 15 TB is a quality player and actually passes the ball forward to a blue shirt.Would like to see Henshall play tomorrow and let us really go for it, a win would put us right in the mix.Lets not forget Tyrone Mings---an awesome game on Saturday, once he learns to cross accurately will giive us so much---Smurf and Dids must be licking their lips!!
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Razor added 18:40 - Sep 15 TB is a quality player and actually passes the ball forward to a blue shirt.Would like to see Henshall play tomorrow and let us really go for it, a win would put us right in the mix.Lets not forget Tyrone Mings---an awesome game on Saturday, once he learns to cross accurately will giive us so much---Smurf and Dids must be licking their lips!!
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battyblue added 05:32 - Sep 16 All positive from me on this one well done Teddy and the management.
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