Chaplow Called upto England U21's

By The Longsider
February 14 2004

Richard Chaplow will now be playing for the England u-21 squad after being called up in news to be confirmed to the public in a few minutes, and will now be in the squad that plays next week.

The youngster will now be playing the Netherlands in Hull for the under 21 side on Tuesday night. The game is a 25,000 sell out and will be live on Sky at 8pm.

Rumours of this call up have been around for a few days and were fuelled by Phil Bird suggesting a major announcment was due at 7pm today. Many though it could have been a signing or investor, but this was that news.

Chaplow was originally called up to the under 19 squad to play the Netherlands a few weeks ago.

But David Platt has been a regular fixture at Turf Moor to watch the youngster and has obviously been impressed. Chaplow's rise has been one of the big pluses of the season for the clarets, and marks a potential rebuilding of the club's youth policy that historically was so great. Not since Trevor Steven have we produced a fully fledged England International!

Chaplow signed professional contracts at the club in September and now has the rewards for some quite stunning midfield performances. Certainly any part in the U21 squad will boost his confidence and experience and is good for the player and the club.

Equally this shows the value of a good youth policy, something Turftalker will be writing on in due course.

We would like to congratulate Richard and wish him all the best.