Eric Young (born 25 March 1960) is a former Wales international footballer who played as a defender. As a player he notably played for Wimbledon and was part of the clubs victorious

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winning team in 1988, he later went on to play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and has also featured in the Football League for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He gained 21 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. He was a strong, commanding

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d "

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

" due to his ever-present brown headband, which he wore during matches to protect scar tissue on his forehead. He finished his career in Non-league football with

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

and Egham Town

Club career

Young started his career at non-league

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

and then moved to

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

where his commanding style was noticed by a number of league clubs; he played for Slough for three seasons. Young was eventually signed by

in 1982. During the period in non-league football Young continued with his accountancy training. He made his Football League debut in the first match of the 1982–83 season and went on to make 126 league appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals before transferring to Wimbledon for £70,000 on the eve of the 1987–88 season. He became a fan favourite at Wimbledon and formed a formidable central defensive partnership with Andy Thorn, playing in the club's famous victory over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in the

1988 FA Cup Final The 1988 FA Cup Final was the 107th final of the FA Cup. It took place on Saturday, 14 May 1988 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wimbledon and Liverpool, the dominant English club side of the 1980s and newly crowned league champio ...

. After 99 league appearances and 9 goals for Wimbledon, in 1990 he was sold to

for £850,000 (at the time a huge transfer fee for a 30-year-old). At Palace he continued his consistently reliable form, and the club had already signed Thorn in 1989 which meant the resumption of their defensive partnership that had proved so successful at Wimbledon. Young was a mainstay in the team that finished third in the old first division (now the

) and kept his place in the side until a falling out with manager Alan Smith at the beginning of the 1994–95 season saw him dropped until the final five matches of that campaign. After 161 league appearances and 15 goals for Palace, he then joined

on a free transfer. He spent two seasons at Wolves before completing his professional career, briefly returning to Palace in 1997 without playing a senior game, but then continued to play non-league football for another four seasons whilst also qualifying as a chartered accountant, before finally hanging up his boots at the age of 41 at Egham Town.

International career

As a British citizen who was born abroad – in Singapore –

FIFA eligibility rules As the governing body of association football, FIFA is responsible for maintaining and implementing the rules that determine whether an association football player is eligible to represent a particular country in officially recognised internatio ...

at the time of Young's first international selection entitled him to represent any of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom at international level. He opted for

, despite having no specific family connection to that country. He made his international début for Wales, aged 30, versus Costa Rica in a friendly game at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...

in 1990, alongside fellow débutantes

Gary Speed Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...

and Paul Bodin. Despite his comparatively late start, Young won a total of 21 caps for Wales.

Personal life

He is now working as an accountant in a construction based company in

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

Honours

;Wimbledon *

: 1987–88 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1993–94 First Division

References

External links

* *
Eric Young
Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Eric 1960 births Living people Association football defenders Welsh footballers English footballers Sportspeople from Singapore Wales international footballers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Southall F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players Egham Town F.C. players FA Cup Final players