Preface: I was always a fan of Ashley Young since he joined Aston Villa from Watford in January of 2007. Even when his form seemed to dip at times, I continued to have faith in the bright midfielder. However at the beginning of the 2010/11 season, I began to notice a trend of behavior in our former talisman that still to this day leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. The theory/examples I explain in this article are strictly my educated opinion, and in no way do I believe that someone who disagrees with me is wrong. Ashley and his form have been a popular debate between all Villa fans for some time now and this piece is just another opinion in a never ending conversation. However I am confident that my observations have substance to them, and I am sure that some Villa fans out there will be able to relate to my point of view. In the end, I wish Ashley Young nothing but success in his future endeavors.
I remember the first time I heard that Ashley Young had signed for Villa. I had just gotten back home from school, and I went online to do my routine check of sports news. After exploring new stories about my favorite teams, I started browsing through my usual Aston Villa related sites when I came across a headline regarding Young’s transfer to Aston Villa.
Now at this time, by general standards, I was a new fan to football. I had played since I was young, but it took me some time to actually follow a professional European league. When I chose Villa as my team in 2005, I never knew how obsessed with the club I would become. I was hooked, and this routine website check was a process I went through about five times a day.
I’ll admit that early on, I didn’t know much about Ashley. Being a Premier League fan, I knew that he played for Watford, and I remembered him being one of their brighter prospects. But what told me that this could be a big time move for Villa, was his 9 million pound transfer fee. Because of this, and because I was fascinated at this guy having a typical female name, I became an immediate fan of his. The end of the 2006/07 season was a good one, with Villa going unbeaten in their last 11 league games. It was an exciting time to be a Villa fan with the likes of Young, Barry and the newly acquired Carew leading the charge at the end of the season. With a full summer of transfer business, and a fresh season on the horizon, big things were expected from Ashley and to be fair he delivered.
The 2007/08 season was just plain fun. Two wins over the clowns, a 6-0 drubbing of Derby County, and of course, the arrival of Ashley Young as a legitimate threat. His performance in the 5-1 smashing of the scum was truly the best performance I’ve ever seen from anyone in a Villa shirt in the six years that I have been watching. He was absolutely superb from all areas of the pitch. Not only was Young becoming a threat from open play, but he was quietly becoming one of the best dead ball specialists in the Premier League. It seemed as if every cross met the head of John Carew, or Martin Laursen and eventually found the back of the net. I was on a high the entire season as Europe came beckoning.
2008/09 was no different, and in my opinion this is when Ashley became of the best wingers in the league. How could anyone forget his winner against Everton at Goodison? He buried his shot at the death after leaving Joleon Lescott with his pants around his ankles. We snagged 4 points against Arsenal on the season, and were well and truly in the Champions League race until the last month of the season.
The next season, Young knew he was an established player in the league, and his confidence continued to grow. With the arrival of some new players, Villa got to Wembley twice and finished 6th for the third season in a row. It was another good season under Martin O’ Neil, arguably Young’s greatest admirer.
So where did it all go wrong? When did Ashley Young go from hero to villain? (No pun intended) For me, it all started at the beginning of the 2010/11 season when O Neil, the man who brought Young to Villa Park, resigned and left us manager-less right before the start of the season. The entire season was a difficult one to endure as a fan, and I’m sure as a player as well. But more importantly, I started to feel that whatever fire Ashley Young had when he put on the Villa shirt was gone. Was he still a vital member of the squad? Sure of course he was. Someone with that much talent can still have a decent game when he’s only trying half as hard as the others.
Ashley Young became cocky. He became complacent. He became bored. In my opinion, Young was not pleased with some of the players around him, he wasn’t pleased with the new manager, and he wasn’t pleased with Aston Villa. Ashley Young felt as if he had reached as high as he could with this club, and to further his career, he needed to leave for another one. His mind was made up early, and when he put of his new contact talks until “the end of the season”, we all knew where his mind really was.
Young’s performances just plain seemed different. They may not have been terrible, but they just weren’t the same. He would fall down in hope for a foul, rather than carry on and try to make something happen. When I think of the game against the blues in 2007, I think of Ashley running circles around defenders, not dropping in front of them. HE STOPPED POINTING TO THE CREST, AND STARTED POINTING TO HIS NAME. I don’t know if he lost his sense of brotherhood or if he was becoming more full of himself, but Ashley Young stopped concentrating on the club, and started concentrating on his move at the end of the season. He took every single set piece, and sent most of them too long or too short. Our deadly set piece reputation was nonexistent, and his poor deliveries were part of the reason.
Complacency had a major part to do with it. He was in his comfort zone. He was the “the man” of this squad and he had the say on who took the free kicks, the corners, and the penalties; and most of the time it was him. Believe me, I questioned my theory about Ashley’s complacency from day one, but what started to confirm it for me were his performances with England. Ashley Young’s position in the England team was the exact opposite from his in the Villa team. Ashley had to fight for his place, he had to impress the manager, and he had to deliver on the pitch if he wanted hope of being selected for the national squad again. You can compare this to when he first came to Villa. He had to earn his place in the team, and with great performances, he did. Is this why he played so well for England? I believe it is. He had a fire lit within him when he played with his country, because he was not “the man” there, and he had a point to prove. But even after great England performances, Young would return to Villa and go back to uninspiring performances and cocky attitude.
After the conclusion of a very underwhelming season for Young and for Aston Villa, Ashley expectedly left us for Manchester United. I was disappointed with him at first, but looking back at it now, it was time he went and attempted to conquer a new challenge. And he is off to a fine start. Ashley Young is playing well for United, and he looks like the player who flourished at Villa Park under Martin O Neil. His two goals against Arsenal were both world class, and a flashback to his prime Aston Villa days. He looks like a top player and the question is: why now? Why is he playing like this now instead of doing it last season with Aston Villa? Because he can’t afford to be complacent at Manchester United. He can’t afford to be cocky at Manchester United. He needs to once again earn his place in the side and establish himself as a first team selection week in and week out. Just like with the national team, Ashley Young is playing with a new fire lit inside of him, and the simple answer as to why, is because he is no longer an Aston Villa player.
Ashley Young will go down as one of the better wingers to grace the Aston Villa team, and his fantastic performances with the squad will forever be remember by this writer. His fine play helped us to three consecutive 6th place finishes, but his complacency altered the opinions of many Villa fans about him as a player and as a person. After first being upset, he leaves with my full support, and I continue to hope he does well in his career. With the success that Manchester United continually has, it seems as if his days of boredom are over. Ashley has the chance to go on and become one of the essential pieces to the 2014 England World Cup squad, and don’t be surprised if he does just that. Even when he looked his worst, and when his attitude declined, Ashley Young always had these game changing performances in him. He just needed to take off the Aston Villa shirt for good.
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