A FORMER England manager visited Potters Bar to pass tips on to stars of the future.

Terry Venables visited the Furzefield Centre to watch a game of selected footballing proteges.

The youngsters are all part of Protec, which is one of the leading football academies in the UK and is based at Potters Bar.

All the participants El Tel – who is heavily involved with the project – viewed hope to gain a place in this year’s 2010/11 intake. They played against the current Protec under-17s squad.

The ex-Chelsea player, who led England to the semi-finals of Euro 96, crashing out to Germany on penalties, said: “I was greatly impressed by the all round standard of the players.”

A former Barcelona manager, Terry added: “There are clearly players here with a real chance of making it into the professional game, the whole atmosphere was very professional and I was hugely impressed with the attitude of all the boys involved.”

Protec gives young players of county standard, or higher, a chance to go on to develop a career while in full-time education.

Its list of stars produced include Millwall striker Steve Morison, who was banging in the goals at Stevenage Borough last season, and Nile Ranger, who impressed at Southampton and now plays for Newcastle United.

Protec head coach Peter Edwards said: “We want to find the best local boys to get involved with the academy, and we are looking into the Welwyn Hatfield area.

“Since Terry joined up we have seen our applications rise substantially, which is great news.

“But we have to be clear that we are looking for really good footballers to join us, they have to be county standard at least if they want to sign up and develop their game.”