Hunter's new breed

Now it’s the turn of the next generation, as the experienced England coach’s U19s prepare to head to Northern Ireland for the European Championship and Monday’s crunch opener with France.

It will certainly be a tough challenge against a side with no shortage of Gallic flair, but with England unbeaten all season long Martin is confident that this squad can compete with the best.

In an exclusive interview with TheFA.com he began by telling us how his current crop of England starlets compare with squads of yesteryear.

"I’ve been very fortunate to work with some very talented players," he reflected. "I mean the first squad I worked with had Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry, people like that.

"This is the same, it’s very talented. Many have actually made their debuts at first team level in the Premiership or in the Coca Cola Championship, so they are good players in their own right.

"There are only a few lads here who’ve not played ten internationals – a lot of them are experienced so they know the seriousness of the task ahead of them."

It certainly will be a major task, especially considering France's wins against traditional powerhouses of youth football Spain and Portugal in the qualifying tournament. So what is Martin expecting from them?

"Well France will be tough," he confirms. "We had them watched in their qualification tournament - they came out of the proverbial group of death with Portugal, Spain and Israel.

"But all three games are different and we’ll get tested fully in each. France will play their normal attractive, attacking style of play, whilst Armenia we know will be more rigid - they’ll play with man markers and a sweeper.

"The Norwegians pose different problems. They’re very tall and athletic and tend to play on the counter attack, so it’s three great opportunities for our players to learn."

And what did he make of TheFA.com’s observation regarding the resurgence of wingers in the English game? (See link below)

"We base our style of play on playing with wide players," the England coach agreed. "We’ve got James Morrison, Lee Holmes and Ryan Smith, so in terms of the make-up of the squad we’ve got three out and out wide players, which is terrific from a coach's point of view.

"However, we still play the 4-3-3 system, which the players enjoy and we’ve been very successful with.

"Whichever system we play we hope to do very well in this Championship, but these are the best players in Europe so we know it will be difficult."

The competition starts on 18 July and will be covered extensively here on TheFA.com.

England U19 Squad, UEFA European U19 Championship, July 2005