Factoid: Camp, Walton & Blackstock all in Football League's Squad vs Italian League

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A Little over a year ago: Camp, Walton, Blackstock, all with their old clubs were in the Football League Under-21 Squad to play the Italian squad. Some of the other players in the squad have moved on up; others have moved on down.


FOOTBALL LEAGUE Magazine - APRIL 2006

Football League

The Football League Under-21 Squad
Goalkeepers
Lee Camp...........................................(Derby County)
Scott Flinders .............................................(Barnsley)
Defenders
Luke Chambers .........................(Northampton Town)
Simon Francis.................................(Sheffield United)
Wes Morgan ...............................(Nottingham Forest)
Sam Tillen ..................................................(Brentford)
Scott Wiseman............................................(Hull City)
Midfielders
Chris Eagles.................................................(Watford)
Tom Soares .......................................(Crystal Palace)
Simon Walton......................................(Leeds United)
John Welsh .................................................(Hull City)
Greg Halford................................(Colchester United)
Strikers
Dexter Blackstock...............................(Southampton)
Leroy Lita.....................................................(Reading)
Izale McLeod............................(Milton Keynes Dons)
Ashley Young ...............................................(Watford)
Billy Paynter ................................................(Hull City)

The Football League is looking to repeat its recent Under-21
fixture against the Italian League next season in what it hopes willbecome an annual contest. The
two Leagues met at Hull City’s KC Stadium last month, for the
first time since 1998, with The Football League triumphing 1-0.
The match is viewed as the pinnacle of The Football League’s
successful Youth Development
programme and of the seventeen
players used eleven came from
Championship clubs, five from
League 1 and one from League 2,
giving team manager and England
Under-21 boss Peter Taylor the
opportunity to cast his eye over
the best young players in The Football League.

The League’s Chief Operating
Officer Andy Williamson
commented ‘The match was a
great success and showed just
how much young talent there is
in The Football League. Our clubs
are contributing a great deal to
the development of young players
for the national team and this
match gives those players
a chance to impress and earn
themselves a future in
representative football.’

The game itself, played against
players from Italy’s Serie B, was
settled by a header from
Southampton’s Dexter Blackstock
in the 68th minute and was played
in front of an appreciative crowd
of 6,265 with children under the
age of seven admitted free as part
of The League’s ‘Fans of the
Future’ initiative.

Following the game Taylor
commented ‘It’s been a very
positive night. This inter-League
game is a very good fixture. It gives
players a chance to impress and,
for myself as the England Under-21
manager, it gives me the
opportunity to look more closely
at players.
‘To beat Italy you have to work
hard and that’s exactly what we did.
Lots of pluses came out of the game
and a lot of players have done
themselves no harm whatsoever - all
of them have the potential to play for
the England Under-21’s.’

True to his word, in the week
following the game, Taylor
selected five players from his
Football League team - including
for the first time MK Dons’ Izale
McLeod - in his squad for the U21
international against Norway at
Reading, which England went on
to win 3-1.