COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal has challenged the club's young guns to emulate the achievements of "trailblazer" Alex Gilbey.

Home-grown hero Gilbey, who progressed through the U's youth system and made over 120 appearances, is now preparing for Championship football after joining newly-promoted Wigan Athletic in June.

He became one of the club's most prized assets last season, catching the eye with some strong performances in a struggling side.

And McGreal believes the club's current crop of youngsters should look at Gilbey as an example of what can be achieved if they knuckle down and grab their opportunity at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

“Alex has given that extra bit of incentive to young players coming to the club, or already within our academy, to try and emulate his achievements," said McGreal, who also used the example of George Moncur, who joined Championship side Barnsley in June.

“He’s a bit of a trailblazer for us and it was great to hear that chant 'he’s one of our own' sung around the stadium.

“I know Sammie Szmodics, for example, is a good friend of Alex’s.

"Now he’ll be looking to do the same and be the next one to step up.

“It’s unfortunate that we’ve been relegated while those two boys (Gilbey and Moncur) have been playing for our first team but they’ve earned their moves to the Championship.

“We’re in the football business – we’ve gone down and they’ve deserved to move on.

"But it’s a carrot for the rest of the boys to want to play at a higher level, hopefully with us at Colchester.

“We’ve got hungry lads who are 21, 22 and 23 years old who want to kick on again with their career and it’s great for us as a club.

“I think it gives us another chink to our armour in that these boys have jumped two divisions to the Championship and that’s got to be another carrot for boys who come to our club.

"I think that’s why we have attracted names from the Scottish Premier League and clubs like Birmingham City."

Colchester begin their League Two campaign at Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Then then head from one end of the country to the other for a Capital One Cup tie at Brighton next Tuesday, followed by the first home game against Cambridge United on August 12.

“We haven’t been in this league for a number of years," added McGreal.

“We’re finding our feet. I’m a new manager coming in and we have a new squad.

“We have a system of play that we like to play and we have a philosophy at the club.

“But throughout the season we may need a Plan A, Plan B or Plan C.

“That’s what pre-season games are for and with the amount of boys that we’ve got, we’ve got more or less two bodies to fill each position so there’s no reason why we can’t tweak one or two positions and move things around."