FOREVER YOUNG
In the good old days when pitches consisted purely of mud, shorts were short and facial hair on footballers was ubiquitous, players had to eke out every single second of a career. Each new contract got thirtysomethings a step closer to becoming a pub landlord, every penny mattering in an era where players were not made for life. Medical support and fitness routines were not what they could have been; making it into your fifth decade as a professional was quite difficult with a barrelled chest and self-healing injuries. Often it was only the goalkeepers able to reach their 40s with the hope of carrying on, as John Burridge and Kevin Poole will tell you.
Ashley Young, however, has no excuse. Not only is he an outfield player who has been making millions per season for around the past 20 years but he still wants to carry on playing the sport. Football Daily assumes he was probably able to put down the cash on the Dog and Partridge during his Watford days, where he made his professional debut in 2003, the week when Where Is The Love? by the Black Eyed Peas was top of the hit parade. Since then he has been managed by Sean Dyche but still loves football and wants to continue at Ipswich, where he’s signed a one-year deal, aged 40. “Ashley has had a fantastic career and his achievements speak for themselves,” parped head coach Kieran McKenna, 39. “He has maintained an extremely high level of professionalism and competitiveness throughout his career and he is still playing at a very good level. We feel his leadership and experience will be valuable to the group this season and he is very hungry to contribute on and off the pitch.”
Portman Road is used to old-timers watching the sunset go down in East Anglia. John Wark finished his career at Ipswich at the end of his third spell with the club. The Escape to Victory star was 39 at the time but he looked roughly 25 years older than Young, who, rather sickeningly, does not seem to have aged at all since his teenage years, which might explain why he wants to continue being in the public eye. And who could forget Mick Burns’s appearances for the Tractor Boys at the ripe old age of 43 years 219 days, when playing against Gateshead in January 1952?
Fellow wing wizard Stanley Matthews carried on until he was 50, having admittedly lost some of his best years to a world war, which might explain why he wanted to keep going. Young has also suffered, missing the odd month or two to knee, ankle and groin knack but the winger-turned-full-back has a dream to chase down and surpass his heroes Graham Alexander and Tony Ford. The duo spent the majority of their careers in the historic county of Lancashire, at Preston and Rochdale, rather than Manchester United and Everton. Alexander made 833 league appearances before calling time at 40, while Ford made 98 more, eventually hanging up his boots at 42. Young is currently on 563, so requires roughly another 10 seasons to catch them up and equal Matthews for the truest test of longevity. Then, hopefully, he can take over the running of legendary north London drinker The Faltering Full-back.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“So for the girls, this time, as a friend and a fellow footballer, I want them to just go and enjoy this final – they play incredible football and they deserve to be there. As a human being I just want them to go out and just enjoy the game of football” – Keira Walsh with some very admirable sentiments ahead of the Euro 2025 final. Spain’s 2023 World Cup win was, of course, overshadowed by the actions of Luis Rubiales in the aftermath.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“Re: Maurice Mandale’s letter [Wednesday’s edition]. My old Sunday league team once went on an end-of-season tour to Madrid, but the opposition for our second game failed to turn up. With temperatures in the mid-30s and an inviting bar only a sliced goal-kick away, we did what any self-respecting English team abroad would do, and played a game among ourselves. We picked the sides using the time-honoured ‘dads v lads’ formula, with the younger half of the squad facing off against the older. Imagine our delight when we found the dividing line fell in the 20-minute window between the births of the twin brothers on the team” – Andy Korman.
“Re: the North [letters passim]. Everyone knows it starts at The Neck and ends in the Land of Always Winter. In the middle of it lies Winterfell, where Sean Bean lives” – George RR Mar Jane Beer.
“Re: Ken Muir’s letter. I lived in South Kensington and I can safely say that it is in west London. I’m also a West Ham fan, and that is in east London. So, yeah” – Steve Hibbert.
“In Oxford there is a South Parade, which is north of the city’s North Parade. Hope this settles the matter” – Dan Levy (not that one).
“May I be one of at least 1,057 correspondents to point to the existence of the town North in South Carolina” – Jason Steger (and no others).
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Andy Korman. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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