So Dean Ashton has retired. Although the announcement doesn’t come from the man himself, so why am I still suspicious about it? Probably because of all the speculation over so many months, and perhaps because I don’t really want to believe it.
I remember Ashton at Crewe. I used to write a ‘top targets’ article every Summer with what I thought was the best players that I’d seen to buy. Ashton was top of my list twice. Pardew once told a fans forum that he’d looked at Ashton but felt he was too slow for the Premiership. A few months later he bought him for £7.25m.
Ashton just had that x-factor as a footballer – sometimes he was absolutely dominant, others he seemed mercurial, but he was always a danger. He was great in the air near the box, but I felt we always overused that feature of his game. I always felt he was best dropping off the front and getting the ball at his feet – he had a lovely calmness and sureness of touch, and he reminded me more of a Sheringham than the classic centre forwards with which he was always compared.
I’ve no doubt he’s probably gone through a few years of absolute mental hell trying to get fit. To go from the verge of becoming an England hero to nowhere must be among the worst forms of personal torture. It’s that anguish that I’m really sorry about.
I sense he’ll be a West Ham hero though, despite his short career at the club. There’s just something magical about describing a player who burned brightly, but whose ability was like a thing of legend even now, something that you got a fleeting glimpse of if you were lucky.
No particlaurly comment, just good to see you back in action with the new version of the site. Your probably right about ashton, a great shame and probably a hero for what could have been, although he did help us to the cup final. Our best achievement and closest to sucess in recent times.