‘Max Will Have Learned An Awful Lot From His Debut’

Gary Rowett said that Max Bird can be proud of his performance after making his senior Derby County debut in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup match at Barnsley.

The 16-year-old midfielder started – alongside the returning George Thorne – in the middle of the park and played 80 minutes before going off to be replaced Callum Guy, who also came on for his debut.

Prior to those two, Kellan Gordon was also handed his senior debut in the Rams’ First Round tie with Grimsby Town last month.

Rowett, the Derby boss, has been keen to take at the clubs young and upcoming players since the first day he joined the club and told RamsTV that the only way you can find out whether they are good enough to play first team football is by being brave enough to chuck them in at the deep end.

In Bird’s case, the 43-year-old has echoed the thoughts of George Thorne and says the midfielder never looked out of place against Barnsley.

Rowett said: “In our opening eight games this season we have had three debuts from our Academy.

“Of course, we want to win games of football, we want to compete at the right at the end of the Championship, but we also want to have a look at these younger players.

“Max Bird is one of those players and when we get the opportunity we have to use it to bring some of these younger players through.

“The only way you can do that is by chucking them in and seeing how they fare. I spoke to the coaching staff on Monday and asked at what age did they make their debuts as players and most of them said 17.

“Somebody has been brave enough to give us chances as young players and we all went on to have decent careers.

“With someone like Max, we know he has done really well. He showed some good composure for a 16-year-old, but he would have learnt an awful lot as well about the intensity of the game and how quick the first-team game is. Nevertheless, he can be proud of his first performance.”