Academy coach Jason Dozzell says this weekend’s U17 tournament in Belgium will be a useful experience for the Blues youngsters. The squad left Suffolk early this morning for the competition which is being hosted by KSC Lokeren on Saturday and Sunday.
The Town youngsters will take on the hosts and other Belgian sides KAA Gent, KV Mechelen, RAEC Mons, K Sint-Truidense VV in their group matches, which will be played over two 20-minute halves, with place play-off games on the final afternoon.
Also taking part in the tournament are Club Brugge, KVC Westerlo, Beerschot AC, OH Leuven and Sporting de Charleroi from Belgium and FC Déifferdeng 03 from Luxembourg.
Dozzell, whose son Andre is in the squad, recalls a successful similar European campaign when he was a youngster: "When I was in the youth team under Peter Trevivian we went over to France and played Barcelona, Porto and Glasgow Rangers in a tournament and we went and won it!
"I don’t know how we won it but we did. We drew 0-0 with Barcelona but they absolutely destroyed us. We ended up getting through and played Porto in the final. It was such a good tournament.”
The 45-year-old, who is joined in Belgium by fellow coaches Russell Osman and Gerard Nash, says the Blues youngsters will learn a lot from playing continental sides: "You watch kids’ football here nowadays and it’s 100mph.
"The European teams know how to slow it down and how to quicken it up and I think that’s what they will experience in the next couple of days. It’ll be good for their education.”
Dozzell, who more regularly coaches Town's U12s, says the mood is very positive at Playford Road at present: "There’s a feelgood factor there at the moment and it’s no coincidence that that comes after Bryan Klug has come back.”
The squad includes current first-year scholars, including Byron Lawrence (pictured), who made his first-team debut at the end of 2011/12, this summer’s new intake like Matthew Clarke and Northern Irish striker Jonathan Smith, and schoolboys such as Dozzell junior and Sam Ford, who scored both goals in the recent U15 academy showcase game against Spurs.
The young Blues start the competition with a match against RAEC Mons on Saturday morning.
U17s: Jacob Marsden, Sam McDermid, Josh Emmanuel, Joe Robinson, George Fowler, Travis Cole, Matthew Clarke, Chris Smith, Ed Ellis, Jack Willbye, Kundai Benyu, Josh Fagbohan, George Clarke Andre Dozzell, Byron Lawrence, Ted Bishop, Jonathan Smith, Sam Ford.