King of the Castle

St. Albans City v Hitchin Town
FA Youth Cup Sponsored by E.ON
First Round Qualifying
7.30pm, Wednesday 23 September 2009
Clarence Park, St. Albans FC
Watch highlights on TheFA.com on Thursday morning!

Steve Castle has already played on a winning side at Wembley - but he won't bore his St Albans kids with stories of yesteryear.

Now in charge of both the first and youth teams at Clarence Park, Castle spends most of his time at the local college running a football and education course for several of his players.

After hanging up his boots following an impressive playing career, Castle has turned his attention to management and has made an encouraging start with City.

"I've really enjoyed it because we've done well and also the schemes we're running with the local college is really rewarding," said Castle.

"It's been really important for a lot of the kids because they arrive with a lot of attitude and then leave as much nicer people on the whole.

"There's a lot of job satisfaction there and it's nice to see so many of them progress into the first team and do well for themselves.

"I just make sure I'm there to help them through but I'm not going to go and bore them of tales of how I played in the big matches - they won't even remember.

"It's not about what I did, it's all about them and how I can help them develop."

Castle began his own career with Leyton Orient in 1982 as an apprentice before going on to score 66 goals during a nine-year spell at Brisbane Road.

A goalscoring midfield player, he enjoyed great success in east London before going on to play at a higher level with Plymouth and Birmingham City, with who he reached a League Cup semi-final.

But it was at Peterborough where Castle got to see the potential of youth with Posh boasting the likes of Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington, who would eventually go on to play in the Premier League.

Those two young stars were part of the Peterborough side which won promotion through the League Two Play-offs at Wembley following a 1-0 win over Darlington back in 2002.

"I was at Peterborough when we had so many young players coming through and a lot of them like Matt and Simon went on to better things," he added.

"They had a fantastic youth team and did really well in the Cup so hopefully my boys can do the same."

Castle is now hoping his boys can see off Hitchin Town in their FA Youth Cup First Qualifying tie on Wednesday night.

"It will be a really tough game against Hitchin because both teams know each other very well," Castle said.

"We beat them 2-1 in the league last week when we nicked it but this will be a completely different game and it won't be affected by the last result.

"They are a good team and we'll have to be at our best if we're going to go through."