 Young lining up forAston Villa in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luke Paul Young[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1979-07-19)19 July 1979 (age 46)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Harlow, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| 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) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998 | England U18 | 5 | (0) |
| 1999–2002 | England U21 | 16 | (1) |
| 2005 | England | 7 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Luke Paul Young (born 19 July 1979) is an English former professionalfootballer who played as adefender.
Young began his career atTottenham Hotspur in 1997, before moving toCharlton Athletic in 2001, where he spent six seasons. He then had stints atMiddlesbrough andAston Villa before moving toQueens Park Rangers in 2011. He played 379 career league matches, and all but one of them in thePremier League. Young represented theEngland national team on seven occasions in 2005.
Young was born inHarlow, Essex,[1] and has an older brother,Neil Young, who was also a professional footballer and most notably played forAFC Bournemouth.[citation needed] During Neil'stestimonial match, he captained the Bournemouth team and brother Luke captained the opponentsCharlton 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 inMalia, 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 anopen verdict on the cause of death.[4]
Luke's youngest brother, Jake Young, played forWest Ham United's academy as a midfielder.[5]
Young started his career withTottenham Hotspur's youth system and signed a professional contract on 3 July 1997.[1]George Graham gave him his first-team debut on 28 November 1998, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–1 loss at West Ham, alongsideSol Campbell in the centre of defence. He hit a 25-yard volley which was saved byShaka Hislop.[6] Young made appearances in the1998–99 League Cup, but was an unused substitute for thefinal atWembley Stadium, which Tottenham won 1–0 againstLeicester City on 21 March 1999.[7][8] He was also present in the team's run through the rounds of theFA Cup, in which they lost after extra time toNewcastle United in the semi-finals.[9]
Young transferred to Charlton Athletic on 25 July 2001 on a four-year contract for an initial £3 million fee, adding £250,000 at the end of each of the first four seasons in which Charlton remained in thePremier League.[10] He made his debut on 18 August 2001, in a 2–1 home loss toEverton.[11] In his first season atthe Valley, he played alongsideMark Fish,Jorge Costa andJonathan Fortune in a defence whose last names combined to 'Young Fish Cost a Fortune'.[12]
On 25 August 2004, Young scored the first goal of his career, assisted byDennis Rommedahl to conclude a 3–0 home win overAston Villa.[13] He followed this on 18 September 2004 when he exploited an error by goalkeeperMaik Taylor to open a 1–1 draw atBirmingham City.[14] In the spring of 2005, he was votedPlayer of the Year by the Charlton fans.[15]
BeforeAlan Curbishley left Charlton, Young had handed in a transfer request, since he and Curbishley had not got on.[citation needed] After Curbishley left, Young withdrew his transfer request, but afterIain 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.[citation needed] On 2 June 2006, Young was offered a new three-year deal at the Valley.[16] On 19 July 2006, Young signed a new four-year contract at Charlton.[17] However, Charlton finished 19th in the Premier League in the2006–07 season, and were relegated into theChampionship.[citation needed] Young requested a transfer, which was accepted.[citation needed]
Young was signed by Premier League clubMiddlesbrough for a £2.5 million fee on a four-year contract in July 2007.[18] He made his debut for Middlesbrough against Newcastle.[citation needed] His first goal for Middlesbrough, a long-distance drive into the top corner, came against his former club Tottenham at theRiverside Stadium in a Premier League match on 3 November 2007, with the match ending in a 1–1 draw.[19]
On 7 August 2008, Aston Villa signed Young for a fee that could reach £6 million,[20] on a three-year contract.[citation needed] Young made his Villa debut in their opening day Premier League fixture againstManchester City, which they won 4–2.[citation needed] He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 home victory overBlackburn Rovers, finding the net from close range on the second attempt, an important equaliser on the stroke of half-time.[21] After some solid performances at right back in the early part of2008–09, Young became a fans' favourite amongst the Villa supporters.[citation needed] A long-term injury to first-choice left backWilfred Bouma meant that Young switched to the left side of defence to cover Bouma's absence during 2008–09.[citation needed]
In2009–10, Young did not play as much first-team football as he did in the previous season, which was partly becauseMartin O'Neill preferred to playCarlos Cuéllar at right back.[citation needed] In July 2010,Liverpool and Villa agreed a fee of £2.5 million for Young, but he turned down the offer.[22] 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".[23]
Young was a regular in the starting line-up at the beginning of2010–11 and scored his second goal for the club in a 1–0 win over Everton on 29 August 2010.[citation needed]
On 27 August 2011, Young joined Premier League clubQueens Park Rangers on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.[24] 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.[citation needed]
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 2012–13 season.[25] With Hughes' dismissal in November 2012, new managerHarry Redknapp suggested that Young may still have a future at the club.[26] 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.[27]
Young made his first league appearance for QPR for almost two years against Blackburn on 8 April 2014.[28] He was released by QPR at the end of2013–14.[29]
In May 2005, Young was called up for the first time to theEngland team for their tour of the United States, after the injury withdrawal ofGary Neville.[30] He made his debut on 28 May against theUnited States inChicago, as a substitute forAndy Johnson with 14 minutes to play of the 2–1 win.[31] Due to another Neville injury, his first full appearance in an England shirt came on 3 September 2005, when he played the full 90 minutes in theWorld Cup qualifying match againstWales, which England won 1–0.[32]
Young was put on standby forSven-Göran Eriksson's 2006 World Cup squad, but withdrew with an ankle injury and was replaced byMichael Dawson.[33] On 21 March 2007,Steve McClaren drafted Young into the England team for the qualifiers againstIsrael andAndorra because of injuries toMicah Richards andJonathan Woodgate.[34]
In total Young played for his country seven times, his final cap coming againstArgentina in November 2005. He was also called up byFabio Capello, but he did not play for him either. His final appearance in an England squad was for the friendly againstSpain in February 2009.[35]
On 11 November 2009, it emerged that Young had, in February 2009, made his unavailability for future international duties known toThe 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 ofGlen Johnson before a match againstBrazil.[36]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 1998–99[7] | Premier League | 15 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 22 | 0 | |
| 1999–2000[37] | Premier League | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| 2000–01[38] | Premier League | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 28 | 0 | ||
| Total | 58 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 76 | 0 | ||
| Charlton Athletic | 2001–02[39] | Premier League | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | |
| 2002–03[40] | Premier League | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04[41] | Premier League | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05[42] | Premier League | 36 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 41 | 2 | ||
| 2005–06[43] | Premier League | 32 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 38 | 1 | ||
| 2006–07[44] | Premier League | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 32 | 1 | ||
| Total | 187 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 0 | — | 208 | 4 | |||
| Middlesbrough | 2007–08[45] | Premier League | 35 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 42 | 1 | |
| Aston Villa | 2008–09[46] | Premier League | 34 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7[a] | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| 2009–10[47] | Premier League | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| 2010–11[48] | Premier League | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | |
| 2011–12[49] | Premier League | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 75 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 89 | 2 | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 2011–12[49] | Premier League | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 26 | 2 | ||
| 2012–13[50] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14[51] | Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 24 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 379 | 9 | 33 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 442 | 9 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England[52] | 2005 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | 7 | 0 | |
Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa
Individual
