We’ve had the luxury of getting to the finals without having to qualify but qualification does give you a lot of learning experience.
There’s a lot to be gained from that, the players’ understanding of how to win little mini-tournaments, the important games and managing their bodies through what can be a hectic period.
We’ve tried to recreate that with the games that we’ve played. We haven’t played easy games – Brazil twice in that last international window was a good example of that.
It has been slightly different but we do have this great event to look forward to and we’ll be as ready as we can be – that’s for sure.
That’s what’s exciting about U17s football – it’s their first official experience of UEFA and FIFA tournaments.
You are going a little bit into the unknown but that’s what’s exciting, seeing how they do.
We obviously want to be as successful as we can but we are building for the future and whatever returns we get from the games will be learning experiences that will take us and the players forward.
I hope they thrive off it because what we work really hard at with England teams is giving them a challenging games programme and playing at a UEFA tournament in England; it doesn’t get much more challenging than that at this stage of the boys’ international career.
It’s a privilege and an honour to play in a UEFA finals but to do it in England is something they should be proud to be a part of.
We’re doing a lot of work with the players to make sure they know who they’re representing.
They’re representing their country as a home nation. They’re standing up for youth development in England, from the grassroots game right up to the professional academies.
That can’t be a pressure. That’s something that they’ve got to enjoy and embrace.
They’ve got to live for the moment because the further they get on the international stage, that only increases.
If you think about right at the end – playing for the senior national team – the pressure and the scrutiny is at a maximum, so this is a really important step towards that.
The three grounds we’re playing in during the group stages – Rotherham, Chesterfield and Walsall – are familiar stages for us, really.
In November, we got 9000 against Germany at Rotherham and that’s an amazing attendance, really, for an U17s game.
But I think it’s on the back of where the youth development of the England teams is at the moment. We’ve had some successful times over the last 12 months and we’re trying to build on that, so it would be great if we could even improve on those attendances.
People can see what the team are trying to achieve and get behind the team, and really make it a home advantage, and that would be really helpful.
We’ve really been talking to the players about getting the crowd on side and what they’ll want to see. They want to see a team with a real identity that represents what they believe an England team should stand for.
We want to make the most of being at home and if we can get good crowds through the gates, we’ll make sure we represent them in the best way possible.”
