The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Rising star.
United boss urging young players to follow example set by rising star
Dundee United’s young striker Louis Appere has been hailed as a shining example to any budding first-team player stuck at home during the coronavirus crisis.
Dundee United’s rising star Louis Appere should be seen as an inspiration to younger players struggling to deal with football’s shutdown.
That is the view of Tangerines boss Robbie Neilson, who highlighted Appere as a shining example to any budding first-team player stuck at home during the coronavirus crisis.
The Perth-born player, whose 21st birthday last month was spent on lockdown, had hoped to be a newlycapped Scotland under-21 international with a promotion party at Tannadice to look forward to.
Instead, he has been placed on the government’s furlough scheme along with his team-mates as the Championship leaders try to come to terms with their new reality.
However, Neilson feels Appere can still influence others from his living room because of what he did achieve before the shutters came down on Scottish football.
He transformed himself between last season and this and others should now use the enforced break as wisely as he did the previous year.
The United manager, who is outwith furlough but working from home himself, said: “Louis is a great example of a young player who went away over the summer, worked really hard, looked after himself and then, when he came back, he took his opportunity.
“I always say to all the young players when we sit down to chat to them individually at the end of each season that the break is an opportunity for them.
“That is because there are always one or two players who will go away, work extremely hard and everything comes together for them.
“In the close season, we can be training at United with 40 to 50 players because we mix up the squads to start with.
“Then we go and play some matches, maybe two in a day or back-to-back,” added Neilson.
“That means you need players and that there are opportunities for the younger ones.
“Louis took his opportunity because when he came back to training he was flying and ahead of everyone else.
“In the first couple of bounce games we had in the sessions he was taking people on, was really positive and showing his pace and power.
“Right away, we thought: ‘This is a guy who deserves his chance.’
“We then put him into pre-season games and he did great again.
“He then kicked on and, within three or four months, he was scoring in the Dundee derby for us.
“Now he has been called up to the Scotland under-21 squad so, even during this period when we are not playing, these young guys should be looking after themselves so that when we do start playing again they can take their opportunity like Louis did.”
Neilson reflected on how the situation unfolded for him and his players just as they were building up to their fixture at Cappielow on March 14.
“We were preparing for the Morton game on the Friday and everything was normal,” he said.
“We then heard a couple of players talking about games getting cancelled and things like that.
“It was just the uncertainty of it all and we didn’t really know what was going on.
“The game was off so we then brought the boys back in on the Monday, trained that day and the following one but then sent the players away home.
“All of a sudden there was the lockdown the following week and that was the right decision.
“The uncertainty is the hardest part of this. We just don’t know when we are going to come back
“If we did we could put some programmes together but we don’t know.”
Neilson’s own job has, obviously, changed completely but he is still chatting constantly to his players on the phone or via social media.
He said: “It is obviously totally different for me.
“Usually, day to day, you are speaking to the staff and interacting with everybody at the training ground, in the dining room or on the pitch.
“We have now escalated the communication with them, having chats and trying to ensure they are happy and dealing with any issues they might flag up.
“We have gone from being in an environment where we have 50 or so people interacting to everyone having to stay in the house.”
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Louis took his opportunity because when he came back to training he was flying and ahead of everyone else.
ROBBIE NEILSON