ALEX NEIL insists there's no chance he'll feel intimidated by Norwich City's international stars when he makes his home debut in the dug-out today.
The former Hamilton Accies boss will make his Carrow Road bow today against Cardiff City.
Norwich have a host of international players including Scotland's Russell Martin and Steven Whittaker, former Rangers and Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty and Ireland's Wes Hoolahan.
But the 33-year-old insists he will thrive on the pressure of being Norwich boss.
He said: "They are people at the end of the day. If you speak to them with respect and honesty and let them know up front where you are coming from then generally you get that back.
"I've told the players what our aims are for the rest of the season and you hope they buy into it. If they don't there are going to be problems."
And Neil - who is the second youngest manager in England - insists his age won't be a problem either.
He stated: "I think one of the benefits for me with the age-thing is that I can relate to the players.
"I can relate to how they are feeling, relate to how they are spoken to by a manager, how it feels when they are being told they have been left out, because I have been there myself as a player.
"That is certainly an advantage I do have in dealing with the players and sometimes that allows me to speak to them on their level, and a lot of the time like I said earlier players are receptive to that.
"I'm young for a manager. There is no getting away from that but I have been a professional football player since I was 16, so in terms of the dynamics of football and how a changing room works I am used to that since I have been a lad. I have been coaching for five years.
"I was still playing when I left Hamilton last week. Really when they first came to me two years ago that is where my focus was.
"They asked me to take on the manager's role at the time, they said they felt I was the right person and they respected me and wanted me to do it and looking back I am really, really pleased I did now because it has benefited me."
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