I KNOW I mentioned the England under-21s last week as they were getting ready to face Portugal in the quarter-final of the European Championships.

Since then, they will have been very happy as they have managed to get to the final after beating Portugal and Israel in the knockout stages since.

Well done to the head coach Lee Carsley and I wish them all the best of luck in the final, where they will take on Spain this evening.

They haven’t even conceded a goal so far in the tournament and are playing some truly wonderful football. I’m sure all of their clubs will be excited about the players involved.

Whilst I was coach of the England under-21s, I was only able to attend things like Toulon when invited if I wasn’t away with the England first team at the same time.

I remember one occasion where we actually won the Toulon tournament, which we were invited to play in, and I thought beforehand that you are not really going with a view to winning it.

You have a fairly big squad of young players who are on the cusp of the first team and the idea of playing the tournament is really to see who is ready.

Among the players I coached at that level were Steve McManaman and Darren Anderton, who ended up getting 67 senior caps between the two of them.

The enjoyment throughout the squad was very high and it will always be a very happy memory for all the players, whenever I meet them they will bring it up again.

To finish up as winners is always a good thing for professionals, so that’s why I’d have been hoping our lads can get it done today regardless.

But this is a serious youth tournament and it’s the first time we’ve reached it since 2009, with our last success coming in 1984!

It’s a very different setup over with England now as I’m sure Lee, although he would be more than capable, does not work alongside Gareth Southgate with the seniors in the same way.

Southgate is flying out to Georgia for the final to watch the lads, though, and I don’t doubt that he will look to give what advice he can to the current under-21 coaches though.

They have not needed anything more so far though and I think Gareth will be much more focussed on watching the players and enjoying the football than anything else.

Another thing I was looking at is that former Saints manager Mauricio Pochettino said he thinks Chelsea is England’s greatest team of the last 10 to 15 years.

Fair enough to him, it’s his opinion, but that’s only going to make the opposition want to beat his Blues even more!

Speaking of managers, Steven Gerrard was always a player I admired. Having met him on a few occasions you would not know he was playing football for Liverpool and fighting for titles.

He showed great respect whenever he met seniors or staff members around the game and in the FA. That always impressed me.

Now, to see him become the first English player or manager to join the Saudi Pro League is an interesting move and I will be following that with keen eyes.

It could well open the door to others like him going out there and it will be intriguing to see how British players finish there as he’ll certainly be looking at signing a few.