Thomas Anthony John Youngs (born 31 August 1979) is an

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football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and a former

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Tom Youngs was first scouted by Cambridge United's academy as a youngster, although he had not been interested in the game until he was eight years old. He played for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Leyton Orient,

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

, and other clubs. As a Cambridge player, Youngs was the club's top scorer for two consecutive seasons, 2000 to 2002, netting in 26 goals. In 2011, while playing for Mildenhall Town, Youngs was forced to retire from active play following a serious

hip In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

injury that he suffered during a game against

Wisbech Town Wisbech Town Football Club is a football club based near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Fenland Stadium. History Although a Wisbech Town existed in the 1890s, the current club was estab ...

, which Mildenhall went on to win 9–0. He remained with the club as assistant manager.

Personal life

At school, Youngs got

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s in

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, and

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. While an active footballer, he obtained a degree in

Sports Journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the ...

from Staffordshire University.Ex-Cambridge United striker on his battle with multiple sclerosis
by Craig Lewis & Phil Shepka,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 23 March 2017 Reportedly, his scholarly achievements inspired the chant, "Tom Youngs has got A Levels," while he was with Cambridge. In 2015, Youngs was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. In 2016, his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

was published.Youngs, Tom. ''What Dreams are (Not Quite) Made of: No Fame, No Fortune, Just Football ... and Multiple Sclerosis''; Vertical Editions; 6 August 2016; Tom is married to Chelle Youngs and they have two daughters, Orla and Hannah.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Youngs, Tom English men's footballers 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Bury St Edmunds Cambridge United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Bury F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players Mildenhall Town F.C. players Norwich United F.C. players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Suffolk

Career

Personal life

See also

References