Top 50 Ashley Young Quotes

Players have to adapt nowadays, and if you have a good football brain, if you can read the game, you can manage it.

My dad worked in the IT industry, although I haven’t got a clue what he did. He always tells me but it just goes over my head.

I’m a born winner.

It’s never easy in the Champions League, but you never know what can happen.

If I’m asked to play a certain position, I’ll do it 100 per cent.

Different managers play different systems, and you’ve got to be able to play in different positions.

I’ve been a versatile player since I started playing football.

If you are in the team, there is always going to be someone biting away at your heels trying to get in.

I had to go to see the careers woman at school, and when she asked me what I wanted to do after school, I told her flat: ‘I want to be a professional footballer.’ I can remember her being silent for a few seconds, just looking at me.

I’m still operating as a wide player, and I’m still free to express myself, try to get one-v-one and get past someone, and there’s no better feeling than getting over a great cross and someone scoring.

As you get older, you start to read the game more, and as your brain starts working more, and as you get a good footballing brain, your legs start slowing down!

I’ve always wanted to represent my country. It’s an honour to do so, and whenever I get that chance, I’ll keep doing it.

If I do well for my club, I will get recognition.

I had three brothers: one older, two younger.

There’s a lot said now about younger players: that it’s just about the cars and houses. I’m from the old school – it’s about what you’ve achieved in the game.

You want to be in touch with the fans. The fans want to get to know your personality and character.

You don’t enter a competition not to win it.

I’ve come through it and seen people in football that are sharks. They are ones to stay away from.

Once you look back on your career when it’s over, you can say, ‘This is what I achieved,’ or, ‘This is what I’m driving.’

A lot’s been said about me playing for three different managers.

I’ve always said that when you pull on an England shirt, it’s a proud moment, and it’s an honour to play for and represent your country.

I’m not a cheat. I’m not a diver.

I just want to do well in every game that I’m picked to play.

I follow tennis, and I actually went to Wimbledon during the summer, and it was nice to get a day off during pre-season to watch it. Basketball as well – I don’t have a team; it’s just a casual interest – especially when the play-offs come around and the intensity rises.

It’s up to me to use my brain, be clever, find the pockets of space, and get on the ball.

I’ve always said, when you join a club like United, it’s a tough place to play at. But if you play and train and give 100%, then get your opportunity – I’ve always said you always get your opportunity there.

I’ve shown I am deserving to be in the England squad, but I don’t just want a place in the squad; I want to be in the team.

I like to spend time on freekicks after training.

To play at Wembley for my country is just incredible.

If I’ve gone to get a takeaway, and I get chips… I like to match up the chips in length. That is actually quite weird. Obviously, if I’ve got chips, I pick them out in twos. That’s a weird thing as well. You know, if they’re not the same length, well, I go hunting for the same length in chips.

It is always disappointing to obviously concede.

I want to play every game.

As I’ve got older, the nerves aren’t there anymore; they just left one day when I was at Watford. I only feel excitement now, whatever the game.

I can play in six different positions where managers can trust me. It must give them food for thought knowing I can do a job in different positions.

Everyone has got to be prepared and ready to play when the manager calls on you.

I was at Watford and got a knock-back when I was 16 and didn’t get a YTS contract. They said I could find another club or go in and train three times a week after school. I’d been there since I was 10, so I got my head down and proved them wrong. Within a year, they had signed me up, and I haven’t looked back.

I’ve always had to fight. Throughout my life, it’s been a fight to get to where I am now.

As players, we have to concentrate with what happens on the pitch, not off it.

I’m enjoying playing football, and as a footballer, that’s what you want to do, and that is exactly what I’ve been doing.

I love playing football, and that’s all I’m going to do.

I’ve been watching ‘Power.’ I’ve been hooked on it.

All I can do is keep playing as well as I can for United.

I wouldn’t say I’ve changed at all. A lot of people will keep saying I’m a different person, especially when I go across those white lines. I think it’s just the hunger and desire and passion I’ve got for the game.

There are a lot of players competing for that wide attacking role, and if I’m brutally honest, if you aren’t playing regularly, you can’t get picked. I found that out, missing out on the World Cup.

When you lose a game, there’s obviously disappointment, and you want a game straight away.

I think age is just a number – if you are young enough, you are old enough – as long as you are good enough, age shouldn’t come into it.

People saying I dive doesn’t affect me at all. Not one bit.

We’ve got to rediscover the Manchester United way of playing, and I don’t think many teams enjoy their nights at Old Trafford when we’re on song.

Kids ask me about what they should do to make it, and I tell them, ‘Just get your head down and work, work, work.’

I’m just concentrating on my football. I’m not thinking about the length of my contract.