Town boss Mick McCarthy was delighted to be the one to give midfielders Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam the news that they’d been named in the England U19s squad and says he believes they are as good as Mark Kennedy and Ben Thatcher were when they came through the youth ranks during his time as manager at Millwall.
Downes, 18, and Nydam, 17, were selected in the squad for next month’s friendlies with Poland and Germany earlier today and it was McCarthy who informed them of their call-ups.
"That’s brilliant,” the Town boss said when asked about their inclusion. "I told them this morning over breakfast and they didn’t know. ‘Have we?’ they said.
"I said, ‘Well you have now, I’m not so sure I should be telling you’, because it was embargoed apparently, although I’m sure it’s not embargoed from the players. Anyway, if I’m in trouble, I’m in trouble. Bothered.
"They were thrilled. If they’ve got two better players than those two, then they’ve got some good players.”
McCarthy says Nydam, who previously won one cap with the U18s, Downes, who hasn’t previously been capped at any level, and the rest of the youngsters involved in the Carabao Cup tie at Crystal Palace on Tuesday took it easy in training this morning.
"They’ve not trained today with the first team who didn’t play and the remainder, the subs,” he said.
"The ones that played have had a bit of recovery, a bit of head tennis and there were some weary legs amongst them, believe me.”
Did he have to temper his management style at all given the young squad on Tuesday? "They were all old enough to hear me swear, I think. I think there’s a bit of a misconception about me and how I manage.
"They see me on the sidelines and, yes, I kick every ball and I shout and, by the way, if they don’t do it right I tell them, I growl at them.
"But I’m the first one to put my arm around them and congratulate them and tell them they’ve done well. And console them if it’s going wrong because I’ve made enough mistakes in my life, so it’s kind of nice when somebody understands and says that’s OK.
"But you can’t keep doing that and I’ve no problem with coaching and managing kids. My style suits them fine.”
He says the youngsters will all have a bit of a spring in their step following having matched Premier League Palace for the first 75 minutes on Tuesday and feels the call-ups will add to Nydam and Downes's confidence.
"I would hope they have and I’m not going to knock anybody for having that,” McCarthy added.
"Personally, I remember progressing and getting a cap with Ireland and I went away to the Kirin Cup in 1846 or whenever it was and I was playing at Manchester City.
"I remember how much better I felt about myself when I came back and I didn’t lack confidence from being an 18-year-old.
"But I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m playing in there with Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton and Mark Lawrenson and I’m in this team, I’m playing international football’. And I’d actually done all right in the internationals.
"That gave me a good lift and I was 24 at the time, so at 17 and 18, for them to get in the team and play, it will do them some good.
"I think I said after the game, what I don’t want to see is them going back to that, ‘We’re in the U23s and it’s nice and…’. No, they’ve got to want to get in the team now. I’m hoping it will inspire them to look at the first team and think they want to get in.
"Not, ‘I’ll never get in’ but ‘I’ve had a game, I want to get in’. They all did well but some of them particularly did well, I thought.”
McCarthy says the progress of the youngsters ought to keep the senior players on their toes.
"You always hope so,” he reflected. "I don’t think our lads rest on their laurels and think they’ve no chance of losing their places.
"I think they might look around at the rest of the squad when the other lads come back, when Emyr comes back, Tom Adeyemi comes back.
"I just think they all look at it and think when we’ve got everybody fit we’ve a pretty good squad of players and so they’re all having to be right on it because they don’t want to lose their spot.
"And of we can add to that thinking there are some young ‘uns who can [play in the first team].
"Let me tell you, Tom Adeyemi, Luke Hyam, Teddy Bishop, all the midfield players, must all be thinking, ‘If I drop my guard at all then Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam will be getting in’.
"And I would have thought Myles Kenlock and Jonas, looking at Tristan playing at left-back, I’ve no doubt he can play there. They have to do it for their own good. But they have to do it for their own good but they don’t want to lose their spot.”
Nydam was probably better known to fans than Downes last season having been name-checked by Blues legend Kieron Dyer in particular on a number of occasions and having been in and around the England U17s and U18s squad.
However, McCarthy says Downes has been making an impression on him for the last couple of seasons: "It was apparent what a good player he was 18 months ago, 12 months ago certainly when he came and trained with us.
"But coming in for this pre-season, he got off the flight one day, came in and did his fitness test.
"You always think if somebody’s just come back off a flight [they might not be at their best, but] he blew everybody away. That’s the attitude he came came back with.”
How far can the duo go in the game? "Bearing in mind we live and work in Ipswich, they go a long way every other week! I don’t know, don’t ask me to do that.”
However, quizzed how they compare to former Blues Kennedy and Thatcher, who came through at Millwall during his early days as a manager and went on to be Premier League regulars over many years as well as internationals with Ireland and Wales respectively, he went a little further.
He added: "The two just coming through, Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam, if I said they’re as good as Mark Kennedy and Ben Thatcher that’s praise indeed, because those two boys were really good players, and both have been here as well, ironically.
"But they are as good as them, in my view. And those two have gone on to be top players with top clubs.”
McCarthy says he finds bringing young players through very rewarding: "I think it gives everybody a bit of satisfaction at the club. It also enthuses people when you get kids in, I think.
"The most famous quote is, ‘You never win owt with kids’ and Man United’s team came in and it enthused the club.
"And I think Flynn and Tristan have had that effect as well really, in terms of everybody looking at them and thinking, ‘Wow, they’re good players’.
"And it’s great, everybody loves to see them, see young players [coming in] and enjoying it as much and having a bit of personality, they’re good kids.”
In addition to Nydam and Downes receiving their England call-ups and the other young players breaking into the senior side, first-year scholar Dylan Crowe, a full-back, played for the England U17s earlier in the week and schoolboy striker Zak Brown netted on his debut for the U16s as they beat Turkey 2-1 yesterday.
McCarthy says the club's academy has had a fine first month of the campaign and they should be proud of what's been achieved.
"I’m sure they are glowing and feeling it’s going well,” he said. "It’s a bit like the first team, when you’ve had a few results you’ve kind of got a nice glow about you and you’ve got a nice confidence about you, but you’re not walking around with a big smile on your face, suddenly gleaming at everybody as everybody knows and is thinking, ‘Aren’t you doing well! Smart arse.’
"That’s not the case but it’s a nice feeling that actually people are progressing and you can see the success and you can see the development and the progress.
"And I think that’s what it’s got to be for the academy. They can all give themselves a pat on the back.
"Titus Bramble and Ben Pugh who went with the U15s and beat Celtic at the final of the Hibernia Cup, that’s great.
"It’s lovely because we all know in football there’s a lot of brickbats, there are a lot of slaps, there’s a lot of criticism and so when people have done well.
"It doesn’t mean to say all those people have been doing that come round and start patting the lads in the academy on the back but it’s a nice feeling for them and for the club when it’s happening.”