Potential football stars of the future were inspired by visit from former West Ham and England legend Sir Trevor Brooking last week.

One of the most elegant midfielders of his era, Sir Trevor watched the current crop of youngsters being put through their paces during a coaching session at Bohemians Youth Football Club in Belton.  The visit was organised by the club - one of the biggest in the Norfolk and Suffolk Youth League - that has gone from strength to strength in the three years it has been running.

Currently director of football development at the Football Association, Sir Trevor said it was important to forge links between junior clubs and schools. “Clubs like Bohemians are running a number of sides, but schools may not be, even if there are a number of youngsters keen on the sport. We hope to get coaches going in to do sessions in schools and channel them towards the better junior clubs to give an opportunity to play in games. I used to come home from school and meet up with a group of other boys to play football, and we picked up skills through that. Bohemians have not been going that long, but have got a lot of teams and are basing their success on quality coaches. These days mums and dads are not happy leaving their children unattended, so we have to structure it now so they have opportunities like this to practice between matches.”

More than two decades after hanging up his boots Sir Trevor said he was confident that players from his time would be able to cope with the demands of top flight football today. “Any decent player from my era would comfortably make the transition into the modern game.  They have got to be fit and the game is quicker, but if you have got a good skill base you will survive. The skill level required at the top level is a high one and a lot of Premiership sides at the moment are getting 60pc of their starting 11 from overseas. In my role at the FA we have got to try to make sure they select more English youngsters into their academies. But they are in the game of getting the best and we have got to accept that we are not producing enough good English players.

Sir Trevor recalled highlights from his playing career during a speech at a dinner also organised by Bohemians Youth FC at the Ocean Room in Gorleston. He described scoring the only goal in the Hammers' 1-0 FA Cup final victory against Arsenal in 1980, signing for the Upton Park club as a teenager and making his England debut. All-time Norwich City great Bryan Gunn joined Sir Trevor for the night which raised money for his cancer appeal and Bohemians Football Club.

Club chairman Garry Cooper said: “Although Sir Trevor is from a previous generation of players, the youngsters were as excited to see him as David Beckham. It took a lot of hard work organising the visit, but it went very well and we are really pleased with the outcome.