Luke Young (footballer, born 1979)

Luke Young

Young lining up for Aston Villa in 2008
Personal information
Full name Luke Paul Young
Date of birth (1979-07-19) 19 July 1979
Place of birth Harlow, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Playing position Full back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1997–2001 Tottenham Hotspur 58 (0)
2001–2007 Charlton Athletic 187 (4)
2007–2008 Middlesbrough 35 (1)
2008–2011 Aston Villa 75 (2)
2011–2014 Queens Park Rangers 24 (2)
Total 379 (9)
National team
1998 England U18 5 (0)
1999–2002 England U21 16 (1)
2005 England 7 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:47, 8 April 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

Luke Paul Young (born 19 July 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a defender.

He began his career at Tottenham Hotspur in 1997, before moving to Charlton Athletic in 2001, where he spent six seasons. He then had stints at Middlesbrough and Aston Villa before moving to Queens Park Rangers in 2011. He played 379 career league matches, all but one of them in the Premier League.

Young represented the England national team on seven occasions in 2005.

Early life

Young was born in Harlow, Essex, and has an older brother, Neil Young, who was also a professional footballer and most notably played for Bournemouth. During Neil's testimonial match, he captained the Bournemouth team and brother Luke captained the opponents Charlton Athletic. The final score was a 5–2 win for Charlton.[2]

Luke's 17-year-old half-brother, Andre Young, was found dead on 12 August 2009 whilst on holiday in Malia, Crete after sustaining head injuries. Young said at the time: "He was a tremendous and talented person and a diligent student and this is such a waste of a promising life."[3] In November 2011, British authorities recorded an open verdict on the cause of death.[4]

Luke's youngest brother, Jake Young, played for West Ham United's academy as a midfielder.[5]

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

Young started his career at Tottenham Hotspur. George Graham gave him his debut on 28 November 1998, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–1 loss at West Ham, alongside Sol Campbell in the centre of defence. He hit a 25-yard volley which was saved by Shaka Hislop.[6] Young made appearances in the season's Football League Cup, but was an unused substitute for the final at Wembley Stadium, which Tottenham won 1–0 against Leicester City on 21 March 1999.[7] He was also present in the team's run through the rounds of the FA Cup, in which they lost after extra time to Newcastle United in the semi-finals.[8] He totalled 76 appearances in all competitions for the North London side across three seasons.

Charlton Athletic

Young transferred to Charlton on 25 July 2001, on a four-year contract for an initial fee of £3 million, adding £250,000 at the end of each of the first four seasons in which Charlton remained in the Premier League.[9] He made his debut on 18 August, in a 2–1 home loss to Everton.[10] In his first season at The Valley, he played alongside Mark Fish, Jorge Costa and Jonathan Fortune in a defence whose last names combined to 'Young Fish Cost a Fortune'.[11]

On 25 August 2004, Young scored the first goal of his career, assisted by Dennis Rommedahl to conclude a 3–0 home win over Aston Villa;[12] he followed this on 18 September when he exploited an error by goalkeeper Maik Taylor to open a 1–1 draw at Birmingham City.[13] In the spring of 2005 he was voted player of the year by the Charlton fans.

Before Alan Curbishley left Charlton, Young had handed in a transfer request, since he and Curbishley had not got on. After Curbishley left, Young withdrew his transfer request, but after Iain Dowie was appointed manager he reinstated it, citing the club not offering him a new contract even though he only had a year left on his existing contract. The following day, Young was offered a new three-year deal at The Valley.[14] On 19 July 2006, Young signed a new four-year contract at Charlton.[15] However, Charlton had a very poor Premiership season, and went through three managers: Iain Dowie, Les Reed, and Alan Pardew (who had been dismissed by West Ham). Charlton finished 19th and were relegated to the Championship. Young requested a transfer, which was accepted. He was then linked with Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, and Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough

Young (left) playing for Middlesbrough.

Young was signed by Middlesbrough for a fee of £2.5 million on a four-year deal in July 2007.[16] He made his debut for Middlesbrough against Newcastle.

His first goal for Middlesbrough, a long-distance drive into the top corner, came against his former club, Tottenham Hotspur, at The Riverside in a Premier League match on 3 November 2007, with the match ending in a 1–1 draw.[17]

Aston Villa

On 7 August 2008, Aston Villa completed the signing of Young in a deal that could reach £6 million,[18] on a three-year contract. Young made his Aston Villa debut in their opening day Premier League fixture against Manchester City, which they won 4–2 thanks to a hat-trick by Gabriel Agbonlahor and a goal from John Carew. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 home victory over Blackburn Rovers, finding the net from close range on the second attempt, an important equaliser on the stroke of half-time.[19] After some solid performances at right-back in the early part of the 2008-09 season, Young became a fans' favourite amongst the Villa supporters. A long-term injury to first choice left-back Wilfred Bouma, meant that Young switched to the left side of defence to cover Bouma's absence during the 2008–09 season.

In the 2009-10 season, Young did not play as much first team football as he did in the previous season, this was partly because of Martin O'Neill preferring to play Carlos Cuéllar at right back. Because of this, Young was subject to transfer speculation at the end of the season. In July 2010, Liverpool and Villa agreed a fee of £2.5 million for Young, but Young turned down the offer.[20] He later revealed why he turned down the chance to move to Liverpool, saying he "had more chance of getting in the first team at Villa than I did getting in the first team at Liverpool" and "I just had the underlying feeling that I was going there as kind of a back-up for left back and right back".[21]

Young was a regular in the starting line-up at the beginning of the 2010-11 season and scored his second goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Everton on 29 August 2010.

Queens Park Rangers

On 27 August 2011, Young joined Queens Park Rangers on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 November in QPR's 3–2 win against Stoke City, but went on to suffer an injury later in the same match.[22]

After featuring regularly in the R's defence in his first season, his second season saw a change, with Mark Hughes freezing him out of the Premier League squad for the 2012-2013 season.[23] With Hughes' dismissal in November 2012, new manager Harry Redknapp suggested that Young may still have a future at the club.[24] However, he failed to recover from an injury in time to be included in the 25-man-squad submitted on 1 February 2013, raising doubts about his future.[25]

Young made his first league appearance for QPR for almost two years against Blackburn Rovers on 8 April 2014.[26] He was released by QPR at the end of the 2013–14 season.[27]

International career

Young's first call up to the England team came at the end of the 2004–05 season. His first game for England was on 28 May 2005, when he came on as a substitute against the United States with 14 minutes to play. His first full appearance in an England shirt came on 3 September 2005, when he played the full 90 minutes in the World Cup qualifying game against Wales, which England won 1–0. However, due to injury, Young failed to make the final England squad for the 2006 World Cup. On 21 March 2007, Steve McClaren drafted Young into the England team for the qualifiers against Israel and Andorra because of injuries to squad members.

In total Young played for his country seven times, his final cap coming against Argentina in November 2005. He was called up by both Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, but he did not play for either manager. His final appearance in an England squad was for the friendly against Spain in February 2009.[28]

On 11 November 2009, it emerged that Young had, in February 2009, made his unavailability for future international duties known to The Football Association on personal grounds. This retirement from international football was made public when Young rejected an offer to reverse his decision following the injury of Glen Johnson before a match against Brazil.[29]

Career statistics

Club

As of 22 August 2014[30]
Club statistics League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Club Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tottenham Hotspur1997–98000000—00
1998–991505020—220
1999–2000200201030260
2000–012304010—280
Total 5801104030760
Charlton Athletic2001–023401030—380
2002–033202000—340
2003–042400010—250
2004–053623020—412
2005–063213030—381
2006–072910030—321
Total 187490120—2084
Middlesbrough2007–083515020—421
Total 3515020—421
Aston Villa2008–09341200070431
2009–10160301000200
2010–11231001000241
2011–12200000—20
Total 752502070892
Queens Park Rangers2011–122323000—262
2012–13000000—00
2013–14100000—10
Total 2423000—272
Career total 37993302001004429

International

England national team
YearAppsGoals
200570
Total70

Honours

Club

Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa

Individual

Charlton Athletic Fans' Player of the Year: 2004-05

References

  1. ↑ http://www.premierleague.com/page/PlayerProfile/0,,12306~6039,00.html Premier League Player Profile Accessed 10 March 2011
  2. ↑ A.F.C. Bournemouth official website. 16 July 2005 http://www.afcb.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10324~686844,00.html. Retrieved 26 May 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ "Footballer's brother found dead". BBC Essex. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  4. ↑ "Open verdict on Uttlesford teenager who died on holiday in Crete". Herts & Essex Observer. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Exclusive: Saffron Walden sign QPR defender’s brother". Saffron Walden Reporter. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Cox, Gerry (28 November 1998). "Sinclair's twin strikes put Hammers second". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "WORTHINGTON CUP FINAL ( at Wembley Stadium )". Spurs Oddysey. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Shearer puts Newcastle in final". BBC Sport. 11 April 1999. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Young checks in at Charlton". BBC Sport. 2001-07-25. Retrieved 2001-07-25.
  10. ↑ "Everton edge out Charlton". BBC Sport. 18 August 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Davies, Hunter (2 April 2007). "You've got to laugh". New Statesman. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Charlton 3-0 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Birmingham 1-1 Charlton". BBC Sport. 18 September 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Charlton offer Young fresh deal". BBC Sport. 2006-06-02. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
  15. ↑ "Young signs new Charlton contract". BBC Sport. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
  16. ↑ "Young makes Middlesbrough switch". BBC Sport. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  17. ↑ Lyon, Sam (3 November 2007). "Middlesbrough 1–1 Tottenham". BBC. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  18. ↑ "Gibson: Why We Agreed To £6m Deal". Middlesbrough F.C. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  19. ↑ McIntyre, David (29 October 2008). "Aston Villa 3–2 Blackburn". BBC. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  20. ↑ James, Stuart (29 July 2010). "Liverpool fail to complete the signing of Aston Villa's Luke Young". London: The Guardian.
  21. ↑ "Why Luke Young snubbed Liverpool". Express and Star. 5 October 2010.
  22. ↑ "Exclusive: Young Pens Deal". Queens Park Rangers. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  23. ↑ http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/queens-park-rangers-force-out-1279025
  24. ↑ http://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/boss-hints-young-may-have-qpr-future
  25. ↑ "QPR player's career threatened by injury". Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle (Trinity Mirror Southern). 1 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  26. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26829932
  27. ↑ "QPR: Andrew Johnson and Aaron Hughes head summer clear-out". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  28. ↑
  29. ↑ "Luke Young rejects England chance to focus on Aston Villa". The Guardian (London). 11 November 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  30. ↑ "Luke Young Career Stats". Soccerbase. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

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