I WAS out with the Wales U21s in Luxembourg for our second qualifier for the European Championships last night and on Wednesday, we all sat down to watch the senior team beat Cyprus.

Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest game but certainly, the result was unbelievable and it really is a great time for Welsh football at the moment.

We’re now just a point or possibly three away from qualifying for a major championships and it’s unbelievable when you go back 18 months when Chris Coleman took over as manager at a real dark time following the tragic loss of Gary Speed.

Gary’s death was felt by everyone but I know Chris a little bit because he was a team-mate of mine at Crystal Palace in the 90s and he took over at a really delicate time for Welsh football but since then, he’s proven that he’s the right man for the role.

We’re not a big nation population-wise or football-wise but on Sunday, we could get the job done against Israel and that would be fantastic.

After leaving Swindon, I did some work with the U17s because I wasn’t doing anything at that time and I moved on to the do a bit with the U19s and the U21s.

When I joined Port Vale, part of the agreement for me coming was that I could work alongside Geraint Williams as a part-time coach with the U21s.

So we’re part of that set-up and if the senior side can get to next year’s European Championships, some of the players we’re working with now could have a chance of being selected for Chris’ squad – someone like Harry Wilson, who’s a lad from Liverpool, has already had a senior cap.

I think the young lads know that if they’re performing, Chris will pick them, just like Jordan Williams from Swindon.

Internationals are now affecting us in League One and I think it’s part of the knock-on effect from higher levels.

Players need to be playing regular league football and if they can’t do it in the Championship, then they come down to League One.

Port Vale’s game against Millwall today has been called off because of their international commitments and it’s a welcome break for us because we’ve been playing Saturday-Tuesday all season so far and I think players have picked up injuries as a result of that.

I would think that Swindon have suffered too because of the amount of games but they’ve still got to play Crewe and will be missing a few players.