Left-back Tyrone Mings made an immediate impact on Blues boss Mick McCarthy when he first saw him in action and continues to impress the Town manager. The 20-year-old replaces the suspended Aaron Cresswell in the Blues defence at Blackpool this afternoon.
Mings, who dropped into non-league following his release by Southampton’s academy, had been playing alongside Russell Osman’s son Toby at Chippenham Town when he was invited to Playford Road to play in an U21 friendly.
McCarthy made his decision to sign him within minutes of catching him in action: "I was walking over with [then-Town U18s coach] Russell Osman and Russell deserves a bit of credit for bringing him in because he’d heard about him down there.
"We walked through the gap and it had just kicked off. He went and won a header, then he went flying into a tackle, then he passed the ball on the inside, then he came on his right foot and dropped it down the line and that was all in the time we were walking across to the pitch.
"One of the tackles he went into he absolutely creased the guy. That’ll do for me, that! Not just that, but the four things that he’d done while we were walking around the pitch.
"I remember taking him off after 70 minutes, he’d been hurt in a tackle. He was ultra-competitive because he wanted to impress and he went and kicked through somebody and it hurt him.
"So, I took him off and as he came off he was growling. I hadn’t met him then and I said ‘Ty, I’m taking you off because I want to sign you, so you don’t get injured, so you don’t get hurt’. And he finally stopped growling at me! He’s a good kid.
"He obviously made an impression on me then and he’s continued to do so because he’s a bright, intelligent young fella, who loves his football and he’s a proper competitor. Let’s hope he plays well now I’ve talked him up!”
The Blues boss added, with a smile: "An even better story was that he was released [by Southampton] because he was too small!
"I did enlighten him, I said they must have thought you were s–t mate! That’s the usual one when you release players; ‘You’re too small’. How the hell is he too small? He’s 6ft 4 or something, he towers above you!”
Could the Bath-born player secure himself a more regular place in the side during Aaron Cresswell’s two-game absence?
"Let him play and we’ll see,” the Blues boss said. "If we beat Blackpool and beat Leicester with Mings in the team, I’d be hard pushed to do anything, wouldn’t I?
"But the other side of that is that you play your best players. We’ll wait and see. Let’s hope he plays well and we win and it gives me a real problem. That’s what I’d like.”