Birmingham City skipper Paul Robinson hoping to use his experience to unearth the next Demarai Gray
Veteran defender is in a player-coach role with Blues and hoping to pass two decades of knowledge on to next generation
BIRMINGHAM skipper Paul Robinson is using his experience to help the Blues unearth the next Demarai Gray.
The veteran defender, 38, is still going strong on the field and wants to extend his playing career for at least another year.
But he already has one eye on a future career in management and having passed his A badge is working with the club's academy.
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City have a strong youth system with Leicester flier Gray, 20, the shining light of recent years.
The England Under-21s star signed for the Foxes in 2016 after impressing with the Blues.
But Robinson hopes Gianfranco Zola can restore Birmingham's former glory so future youngsters stick around.
He told SunSport: "There’s a good group in each of the age groups there’s some good players so hopefully the kids will get their chance for the future.
"The main individuals will deelop more when they’re playing with the first team.
"I think the most important thing for the kids when they’re growing up is that they’re enjoying it. They need to love playing for the club, be dedicated to the club and know what it means.
"We don’t want to get to that point [selling Gray] any more - we want to be developing players so they play for this club for a long time and help the club to go forward.
"Times have changed now we’ve got new owners and they want. But to make it happen these kids need to get a chance in the first team once they get to a certain age."
Robinson is available for Friday night's showdown with Leeds after successfully appealing a red card he picked up in the win over Wolves.
And with an incredible 750 games under his belt in a pro career stretching back to 1996, he has plenty of knowledge to share with the next generation.
He added: "Coaching and then into management is the road I’d like to go down eventually.
"Sharing my experiences over the years would be great for me, I’m learning a lot here at the club working with the youngsters as well tying to help them improve as players.
"I'm teaching them about social media - trying to stay away from that as much as they can because that can be an annoying thing at such a young age where they should just be enjoying their football and trying to play as much as possible."
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Robinson's determination to stay in football once he hangs up his boots has been well documented.
But he admits there were times when his love for the Beautiful Game has waned.
He said: "You do get low points because you work with some players who can't be bothered with football and they drag you down.
"You're like 'hold on a minute this is what you get paid to do'. It’s a job that I love doing and when I see others that don’t I think 'why are you in the sport?'
"There have been times where I thought I can’t be bothered because of them people but then I thought no this is a sport that I d love and I enjoy helping people – especially the youngsters.
"You have to keep going so the one thing I wanna do after is go into coaching and management."
In the past, punch-ups were often the go-to method of solving dressing-room disputes.
But Robinson has seen the game develop over the course of his career.
On the issue dealing with problem players, he explained: "Of course you’ve got to tell them what you demand of them but in a nice way.
"If you say too much they crumble so you’ve got to be right with the way you say it and it’s all about helping and developing now.
"The old era where you used to get pinned against he wall and punches were thrown in the dressing room is all gone. Now it’s about communication."
72 children’s football clubs across England and Wales have been rewarded with new strips thanks to the national Kit for Kids competition by Wickes, the Official DIY Partner of the EFL