Dec
13
Dean Ashton Retires From Football
Filed Under Players | Leave a Comment
Former England and West Ham striker Dean Ashton has sadly put an end to his playing career, after more than a year of struggling to recover from an injury. He broke his ankle in training for England from a Shawn-Right Phillips tackle back in 2006, and the damage never fully healed. The former Norwich and Crewe Alexandra man signed for West Ham in the same year, and although he tried a number of times to come back, at the end he was unable to overcome his injury. Recently, he has admitted that he may never be able to even run again, let alone play football.
It is a massive blow both for West Ham and England, as he was a truly rising star that I have no doubts would have been a top player both for the national team and in the Premiership, and everything I have read suggests he was a nice guy as well. Anyone who has watched him play remembers he was truly a “striker’s striker” – fast paced, sharp on the turn and with the ability to shoot from everywhere.
Rumors are his agent wanted to take legal action against Shawn-Right Phillips, but thankfully they didn’t take it that far. There is no reason to believe that the tackle was intentionally malicious, and as unfortunate as they are, these type of things happen in sports. We’re not talking about what Roy Keane did to Alf-Inge Haaland, after all.
Hopefully one day we can see him in football management.