Gary Neville believes Manchester United's class of 2004 deserve to be applauded.
At 29, the England full-back was the oldest player in the team last night when Dinamo Bucharest were defeated in a Champions League qualifier.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson decided to give some of the club's bright young sparks their head and the policy paid dividends with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate victory.
Jonathan Spector and Chris Eagles, both only 18, were in the starting line-up as was Cristiano Ronaldo, who is a year older.
Darren Fletcher (20), John O'Shea (23) and Eric Djemba-Djemba (23) also made the team while Kieran Richardson (19) and David Bellion (21) came off the bench.
Neville was thrilled with the way his young team-mates responded in front of a 61,000 crowd.
"Ronaldo was fantastic," he said. "He is an absolute mountain of a man now. He is six foot two and is massive.
"Jonathan Spector has looked good all the way through pre-season and Chris Eagles looks like he wants to be a Manchester United player. He loves to be out on that stage.
Anxious
"It was one of the youngest teams you'll ever see in a competitive game for United and they are anxious and want to do well. I thought they all did well.
"When we scored the goal it allowed the young players to get more space and time and show a bit of their stuff."
Ferguson has shown he is prepared to give English kids a chance - Eagles was born in Hemel Hempstead while Richardson was raised in London.
Neville said: "Over the last couple of years the lads who were once seen as the young ones are now the old lads.
"To be the oldest player shows the way the club is going. They want to bring in young talented players, ones through the ranks and ones they want to sign as well."
Bellion found the target for the second successive game - he scored against Norwich - after two goals from '7million striker Alan Smith.
Pleased
Neville said: "It was a job well done. We passed it well, moved the ball around well but probably didn't create as many chances as we would have liked in the first half.
"But the goal in the second settled everything for us. We started to play some decent football after that and create some chances.
"Dinamo are the type of team as we realised in the first leg that if you get a goal against them their heads can start to go a little bit and that happened."
Spector could retain his place at the back against Blackburn on Saturday with United short of options in that area.
Club captain Roy Keane is out for three weeks with two cracked ribs while Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand remain sidelined through injury and suspension.
Striker Louis Saha is pushing for a return to the side after recovering from a knee injury.
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What a difference a day makes! A game in which our second-string players showed they really could be good enough after all (even Kleberson & Djemba-Djemba), combined with the bid for Rooney, has surely put a smile on the face of even the most pessimistic of United fans?
I watched the lad Jones play against Celtic in Philadelphia and was very impressed with him! A left footed player with vision and a great touch - reminded me of Chippy Brady (I was going to say Ashley Grimes).
as i said yesterday, alias smith your view from the moon must be highly questionable if you seriously believe that you can form a view on any player after last nights match. altrincham would have given the rumanians a good game - they were pathetic amongst the top 5 worst teams we've ever played in european competitions. your heroes - kleberson and djemba djemba - were peripheral at best and anonymous at worst. if they can't shine against that lot then there's no hope. i prefer to listen to the views of a former united player from the 80's with whom i spent a couple of hours after the match in a local hostelry near the ground. his views are in accord with mine. kleberson djemba and bellion wouldn't have got in the reserve team in those days - despite the lack of success - and it's an insult to players of that time - let alone the 90's and today - that they are even considered today. rooney will be good signing but surely we're in grater need of a class/competitive midfield player.
Alias Smith, we at last find something we both agree with! I`m doing the lotto this Sat pal, want to share the ticket!!!!!!
Yes I must agree that the young lads did us proud out there the other night. If we can sign Rooney (which I think we will) then MUFC will possess some of the best young players in europe. Howard, Brown, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Spector, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Kleberson, Miller, Smith, Rooney. Maybe a Duff would finish the team but until then we still look pretty good for the next 10 years or so!!!
jones? wtf, my bad but who is he?
I can't wait to watch Ronaldo play on Saturday... I think he is going to be amazing this season!!!
I'm also crossing fingers that Kleberson is the central midfield player we have all been waiting for... He has the potential!
Sorry danny but even a negative posting like yours can't put a downer on my optimism at the moment!
Danny, good god man, talk about doom and gloom - a lot of us are concerned about the team at present but you go way too far. To suggest that the young players wouldn't have got into our AWFUL 80s team is, frankly, absurd. Kleberson has had 11 starts so far - give the kid a break. DD has also looked pretty good in all four starts this season - as most knowledgable critics have agreed. Your type of pessimism is as dangerous in terms of derailing our team as anything else currently going on.
Danny, SE London - ???
Danny, SE Landan, David Jones, skipper of the youth cup winning team last year! Very promising young lad that will get a handful of games this year with the first team (easy games like the League Cup and City), when SAF wants to rest the regulars.
You have heard of Liam Brady and Ashley Grimes though! Right?