Eric Young (born 25 March 1960) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a defender. As a player he notably played for

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and was part of the clubs victorious

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

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

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with Crystal Palace and has also featured in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Brighton & Hove Albion and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. He began and finished his career in Non-league football with

Southall Southall () is a large suburban town in 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 ...

, Slough Town, Enfield and Egham Town. Born in Singapore, 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 Java ...

for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He was a strong, commanding centre-half,

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d "

Ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

" due to his ever-present brown headband, which he wore during matches to protect scar tissue on his forehead.

Club career

Young started his career at non-league

and then moved to Slough Town where his commanding style was noticed by a number of league clubs; he played for Slough for three seasons. Young was eventually signed by Brighton & Hove Albion in 1982. During the period in non-league football Young continued with his accountancy training. He made his

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

for £70,000 on the eve of the 1987–88 season. He became a fan favourite at

and formed a formidable central defensive partnership with Andy Thorn, playing in the club's famous victory over

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the 1988 FA Cup final. After 99 league appearances and 9 goals for Wimbledon, in 1990 he was sold to Crystal Palace 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 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 Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

in a friendly game at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, 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 renovatio ...

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 Paul John Bodin (born 13 September 1964) is a Welsh former professional footballer and coach who is the coach of the Wales under-21 team. His son, Billy Bodin, is also a professional footballer. A former Chelsea youth team product, he moved ...

. 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 , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

Honours

;Wimbledon *

: 1987–88 Crystal Palace *

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

: 1990–91 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 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 Men's association football defenders Welsh men's footballers English men's footballers Sportspeople from Singapore Wales men's 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