Subject: Dean Ashton

So sad that a player of his ability and age has had to retire so young. I truly believe he would have been up front for England now had he not had that severe injury. Could hold the ball up, lay it off, could head, hit with both feet and had pace too.....he basically had it all as a forward. :(

Yeah, it is a great shame.

Happens every now and then to a high quality player, i guess at least he did manage to represent england once after having been in every england team prior to that but he was definitely in the Shearer mould

You hit the nail on the head he was in the Shearer mould but also had a touch of Sherringham in him too as he had good vision and touch. Really could have been a fantastic striker for England, maybe up front with Rooney had he been in top condition the perfect pairing?

Looks like Norwich sold him for 7.5 million at the right time. A genuinely nice bloke from what people have told me of him though.

Its such a shame isn't it. Then thugs like Joey Barton waste their talent.......

Really awful, I'd rather have Ashton than the ork Rooney in my squad

Rooneys a class player, Ashton was a goalscorer though and given Heskeys goalscoring record it really is a shame for England as well as West Ham imo.

Is this your completely unbiased opinion of Ashton or just your general view? ;-) seriously though, he was a great player, but we'll never know his true potential. Should he be used in the same sentence as Shearer? No.

My totally unbiased view is that when he first came to us he looked an extremely class player, he was more similar to Sherringham in most fans opinions than a Shearer as he had vision and great touch. He was a mix of both I feel.

Then he had the bad injury that we all know now ended his career, when he tried to come back that one season in which he did play he was never the same player unfortunately. We all hoped it was a matter of getting match fit, but alas it was not to be.

Could he have been a partner for Rooney in the WC, an Ashton as he used to be would have been on the plane as his partner at the start of qualification imo. He was a goalscorer and thats a rare commodity in the England team these days.
(edited)

when norwich beat man utd 2-0, there was an absolutely immense goal created by ashton, beatiful cross field ball which mckenzie (now a reserve at charlton) put away with consumate ease. if ashton could make mckenzie look good, then he was a lot more than just a goalscorer.