IAN Woan trusts a spot of shoulder-rubbing with an international manager will help his own efforts to bring through the stars of tomorrow.

And as for the young players who have been handed their senior bow ahead of the 2006/07 campaign, Woan is confident each and every one of them is capable of stepping up to the plate.

Woan, has spent the last few days being put through his paces on a UEFA coaching course in Cheltenham, with his fellow students including Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton, Steve Claridge, Jason Dodd and Bristol City's Alex Russell.

However, it's proved to be a painful experience for Town's youth team manager.

He said: "It's been useful and you get to meet up with a few familiar faces as well.

"There's quite a few presentations, video sessions and the like but you also do work out on the pitch. I managed to pull a thigh muscle unfortunately.

"It's an opportunity to listen to different approaches and maybe add things to your own locker, so to speak."

The trick is to then pass that information on to players and in Woan's case that means turning young hopefuls into first team challengers.

With Ashan Holgate, Ben Wells, Leigh Henry, David Stroud, Andy Caton and Lukas Jutkiewicz all expected to be part of Iffy Onuora's first team squad next season, Woan is extremely happy to see so many youngsters get this far, albeit acknowledging that they haven't made it' yet.

He said: "Myself and the rest of the coaching staff are delighted that these lads have made the step up.

"I think all of them will have an impact. Kids at that age won't have any hang ups about what division they're playing in."

And it seems Woan is a coach who doesn't believe he can only be effective barking instructions from the dug out.

He will be 39 later this year but has still officially to hang up his boots.

Woan is still registered to play at reserve level, made the odd fleeting appearance last season, and may well keep those options open for 2006-7.

He said: "I still love being out there and from a coaching perspective, I think you learn even more about players when you're on the pitch with them, you can observe things about their game and be there to offer advice and to talk things through with them in a game situation."