Birmingham City v Liverpool Youth Cup clash: I’m hungry for action says Mitch McPike

Apr 11 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

He said: “I was playing for Shenley Radford, where James got spotted and went to Blues. I joined Albion and was there for a year or two. Blues came in for me, and I had a lot of meetings with [then Academy heads] Stewart Hall and Richard Stevens.

“The way they were to me personally, the fact that Blues are a good club with their facilities and my brother was there, meant I joined them. Also, it helped that we live two minutes away from the training ground, that made it a lot easier as well.”

McPike, a busy midfield whose spectacular long-distance shooting has to be respected, has travelled with the first team this season as 17th man and was on the bench, alongside another recent Academy graduate Ashley Sammons, for the Wolves FA Cup tie.

At Gillingham and Forest Green Rovers in pre-season he came on as a substitute.

The England under-17 international said: “It was a bit surreal. I was there watching Lee Carsley, a bit like a fan would, and the next thing I was on the pitch playing alongside him.

“Being around the first team in those games opened my eyes a bit and did me good. And being involved in the Wolves game certainly made me want more of that.”