Aston Villa: Ashley Young recalls the football hardman who gave him confidence - albeit sketchily
Oct 11 2010 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail
EVER wondered who made Villa star Ashley Young so supremely self-assured?
Well, it wasn’t a pragmatic Englishman, Ray Lewington or Aidy Boothroyd, who instilled his confidence with a no-nonsense approach at Watford.
It wasn’t enigmatic Irishman Martin O’Neill, who inspired his confidence in claret and blue by describing him as “world class” and like Lionel Messi.
It wasn’t even respected Scotsman Kevin MacDonald or studious Frenchman Gerard Houllier, who recently restored his confidence at Villa by playing him as a central striker.
Or authoritarian Italian Fabio Capello, who boosted his confidence with kind words about his last few England cameos.
No, apparently, it was aggressive Australian and notorious former Wolves hardman Kevin Muscat, whose chilling threat first kicked the confidence into the young Young.
“I remember his first words to me,’’ said Young, ‘‘were ‘Don’t go past me or I will break your legs’.
‘‘From that day, the nerves left me and I concentrated on playing. I went on and I scored. I didn’t say anything to him at the end.”
As luck would have it, the then Millwall full-back’s violent warning to Young, during the pre-match warm-up of his Watford debut at Vicarage Road on September 13 2003, proved to be nothing more than hollow words.
Because, true to form, Muscat had already been sent off for stamping on another Hornets player by the time Young came on as a 76th-minute substitute.
However, Young traces back the self-belief, which has seen him ascend to the England national team, to that scare story in the rough and tumble of the Championship more than seven years ago.
He recalled the ‘Muscat moment’ at a press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley, when he is expected to make his first competitive start for the Three Lions.
Given that Young’s career debut goal capped an exciting cameo and rounded off a 3-1 win for Watford – and given the meteoric rise he has undergone in the ensuing years – it is understandable why the 25-year-old recalls the character-building exchange so vividly.
And it was a cautionary tale because since then there have been a whole host of defenders trying to stop him by fair means or foul.
