Kevin Phillips: Time to give World Cup kids their big chance

Fighting back from 2-0 down against a technical Spain side shows spirit and character, a typically British never-say-die attitude.

But to run out as comfortable winners and score five goals in the end is a massive achievement.

It’s not the first time the under-17s have tasted success at tournament level. Three years ago, when John Peacock was in charge, they won the Euros too.

That group of players went on to win the U20 World Cup earlier this year, and now the U17s have joined them on top of the world to cap off a remarkable summer for our youth teams.

Naturally, thoughts will now turn to how we can turn success in the youth ranks into success for the senior team.

Because like many, I highly doubt Gareth Southgate’s team will be able to emulate the youngsters in Russia next summer.

First and foremost, these young lads need to be playing men’s football for their club teams as often as possible.

The problem many find is that they play regularly for their academy sides but then as soon as they make the step up to the senior squad, they are left on their bench, their minutes are reduced, and they’re challenged to make an impact in cameo appearances at the end of games.

I’ve seen it first hand at Derby County, where I coach. Promising players make a name for themselves in the under-23s, break into the first team squad and then stop playing.

The experience of travelling with the senior side is all well and good, but these boys need to be playing competitive 90-minute matches as often as possible.

Managers will argue that you have to bleed them into the first team, and I understand why many have reservations about throwing youngsters in at the deep end when their jobs are on the line.

I would like to see more of those not getting enough minutes go out on loan to clubs where they will play.

But there should be a limit to how many youngsters you can have on your books.

Too many big Premier League clubs are stockpiling dozens of youngsters in hope, rather than expectation, that one or two might eventually make their first team.

Manchester City and Chelsea have each got about 20 or 30 kids out on loan, which isn’t right.

They employ whole teams of people to manage these loan players, even though a tiny percentage will ever play for the first team.

It’s not healthy for the market, it smells of profiteering, and those young players deserve better.

There should be a rule that limits how many players a club can have under a certain age.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why the kids go to those big clubs. If Man City ring you up they can offer you the world, and as a player, you will probably back yourself to succeed, but more and more of these youngsters need to think about what is best long-term and not just in the immediate future.

It’s so important to get the right advice at a young age, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult because very few agents are going to advise a player to join Northampton Town instead of Chelsea when one is offering peanuts and the other is adding zeros on the end of cheques.

There was no such thing as an agent when I was a kid coming through, you just listened to your parents.

I was at Southampton as an academy player in the ‘80s and back then you lived off your mum and dad’s every word.

These days, it’s completely different. So many ex-players I used to play with are becoming agents now because they realise the money that can be made.

So many transfers these days are in the agent’s interest, rather than the player’s.

It does appear that some are starting to wise up to the problems. Jordan Sancho left Man City in the summer in search of first team football and Nathaniel Chalobah left Chelsea for Watford.

It’s important that trend continues, because it’s the best way to give these promising youngsters a chance of succeeding for the men’s team.

The FA have rightly come under a lot of scrutiny for their off-field management recently, but it seems things are going right on the pitch.

Now, they need help from the clubs and the players themselves.