With the 2017/18 Premier League North fixtures released for Derby County’s Under-18s less than 24 hours ago, Justin Walker has offered his thoughts on what he believes to be a very exciting start for his side.
The Rams will kick-off their Under-18 Premier League North campaign on Friday 11th August 2017 and will do so at 1pm against Liverpool at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby.
Following on from Liverpool, Derby then face a stern start to the season and will be pitting their wits respectively against Everton, Sunderland and Manchester United.
After hearing the news about the release of this season’s fixtures, Walker was keen to offer his thoughts and he spoke to RamsTV.
Derby's professional development phase coach said: “It’s always exciting when the fixtures for the season are released.
“It is a very exciting start for us and I'm sure it will be a brilliant game against Liverpool.
“Obviously there will be a lot of interest with it being Steven Gerrard’s first game in charge of their Under-18s, but we’re just focusing on ourselves and preparing the players as we would for the start of any other season.”
Whilst the release of fixtures is a date to inevitably look for to, for Walker, it is something that he doesn’t necessarily look into too deeply.
He added: “You are going to play teams twice every season so it doesn’t really matter where they fall, it’s irrelevant to us.
“We just try to look after ourselves and are looking for our own individuals to progress with every game that they play; that’s all we can focus on really.”
Ahead of the new campaign, whilst challenges are always inevitable, Walker believes that the change to the 2017/18 Under-18 competition structure is something that makes this season particularly exciting.
The new campaign sees the league say goodbye to the Merit Group games which are played at the end of the season to allow the introduction of a new knock-out competition – the Premier League Cup – of which Derby have already registered their interest.
On the new league format, Walker explained: “I think the league and the games programme this year is so exciting for the players.
“With the merit group going and the new cup competition coming into play, I think it is a step in the right direction as it keeps things competitive throughout the season.
“The players need to win and I think that mentality needs to be embedded across all youth football because ultimately winning is a crucial part in becoming a professional footballer.”