Toby Collyer, Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro spent time with Manchester United Foundation’s partner school pupils at Old Trafford as they joined in with a series of special life skills workshops.

Young people who are enrolled on the Foundation’s Premier League Inspires programme were invited to M16 for the day to hone their interview technique, hospitality skills and savviness for all things media – with the unexpected surprise of the Reds for company.

Premier League Inspires is a personal development programme which uses the power of football to inspire young people aged 11-18 to reach their full potential.

The participants, from a range of Foundation partner schools, took part in media activities such as a mock press conference – enacting the roles of a player, manager and press officer – and practised commentating on some fine recent United strikes, while also looking at appropriate attire for a job interview.

The activity took place as part of a feature shown on Match Of The Day’s Sunday morning repeat show last weekend (Sunday 13 April).

Ayden Heaven, supporting a Foundation event for the first time, said: “I feel like this is a good motivation for the kids and it can help them in the future. It helps the kids have a plan so they can choose what they want to do in life.”

Toby Collyer added: “No matter what job you go into, you need to be able to communicate well, you need to be able to know people, how they’re different and how they react differently. The kids have all been great, learning new skills and picking up tips, and that’s the most important thing when you come to events like this.”

One of the pupils, Excellence, from Co-op Academy North Manchester, caught our eye as an enthusiastic commentator. He said: “I enjoyed meeting the players, of course, but also the activities we did. Toby and Ayden were taking part in the activities, they very nice and very friendly, they were helping us. I always wanted to be a commentator; I enjoy it. I’ve learnt about communication skills and positive attitudes as well.”

Ryan Monk, Life Skills Co-ordinator for the Foundation, explained the value of the activity for the young people: “Today is reward for the young people to learn about careers at Manchester United and beyond.

“We’re always looking at developing soft skills – confidence, communication, teamwork and leadership. The young people go back to their skills feeling inspired and motivated and hopefully they can transfer that back into the classroom and beyond.”