by Mark Denham
As one of the senior professionals at Cardiff City, Mark Kennedy acts as an on and off-field mentor to a lot of the Bluebirds' younger stars.
Whilst the youngsters are full of praise for Sparky's influence and support, the Irishman is quick to put the focus back on them and highlight the great strides they've made this year.
"All of them have been brilliant" said Kennedy ahead of Sunday's game with Watford.
"I'm really pleased for Darcy [Blake] in particular who has been an absolute credit to himself this year. He's been outstanding since he's come back (from a loan spell at Plymouth Argyle) and has proven what a versatile and useful player he is by the fact he's played centre-midfield, centre-half and full-back.
"Adam [Matthews] is a young lad, who's been thrown right in at the deep end, but he's in this team on merit and the way he's carried himself has been outstanding. There's huge pressure on Adam because he is such a talent, but he takes it all in his stride.
"Aaron Wildig is another who is such a good player; he hasn't been fazed by anybody or anything and is such a good player on the ball, so comfortable. Josh and young Jon Meades have made great strides this year too of course."
And Sparky is confident that more will soon be rolling off Neal Ardley's Academy conveyor belt and into Dave Jones' first-team plans.
"Macca [Stephen McPhail] and I trained with the youth team a couple of weeks ago whilst we were coming back from injury and it was fantastic to see the talent that we have coming through. That's credit to Ards and his staff for the jobs they're doing."
To read the full exclusive interview with Sparky, plus all the regular content and features, be sure to pick up a copy of our match-day programme ahead of Sunday's home game with Watford.
