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Young satisfied with form, but international days are almost over
A YEAR after enduring the trauma
of relegation with Charlton,
Luke Young has admitted the
pain of that experience has
made the taste of steering Middlesbrough
to safety that little
bit sweeter.
Young, however, does not feel
Borofs successful battle to stay
out of the bottom three has done
anything for personal ambitions
of playing for England again.
Saturdayfs 2-0 win over
Portsmouth safeguarded Middlesbroughfs
place among the
elite for a further season, although
the right-back admits
that is no reason to feel content.
He was one of five new arrivals
last summer and cites that as
one of the reasons why manager
Gareth Southgate was unable to
deliver consistent results.
But, having emerged from a
ten match slump containing just
one win with Premier League
status intact, Young is confident
next season will herald better
times.
gIt was satisfying to get the result
that kept us up but thatfs as
far as the satisfaction goes,h said
Young. gI had a difficult season
last season with Charlton, fighting
relegation for the majority of
it, so to come here this year and
get off to a poor start was annoying.
gWhen you look at the squad
itfs clear that we should not be
in the position we are in. If anything
we are under-achieving. At
Charlton we over-achieved,
where here itfs more underachievement.
gWe know we have a decent
squad, what we need to do now
is become more consistent. All
the top sides have got that consistency
and thatfs the key word
which needs to improve for next
season. If we can find that
then Ifm sure we would be
looking at a top ten place.h
Along with Tuncay Sanli,
Jonathan Woodgate, Jeremie
Aliadiere, Gary OfNeil and
Mido, Young arrived at
the Riverside with
hopes high of a decent
season.
That, however,
never materialised
and Southgate is
expected to make
further alterations
to his squad after
the final match of
the season at home
to Manchester City on
Sunday.
And while Young
wants to see ranks bolstered,
he also feels
too much tinkering
could have a negative
effect on the way
Boro start the new
campaign in August.
He said: gIf you
look at our starting
11, the team is mainly
made of either
new players or young
players embarking
on their first or second
season in the
Premier League - like
David Wheater and
Andrew Taylor.
gItfs a fairly new
side, I have repeated
that over and over inside
the dressing
room, and hopefully
we will see the fruits
of that next year. We
will have another year under our
belt, we can look forward to a
few new additions, and I would
like to think that would help us.h
On a personal note, while Boro
have been struggling to climb
clear of the drop zone, Young has
been a picture of consistency.
Such has been his good form,
England manager Fabio Capello
should have taken notice ahead
of two summer friendlies with
the USA and Trinidad & Tobago.
But while Capello experiments
to find the solution to who
should play right-back, Young
has resigned himself to the fact
that an England recall is unlikely.
gI donft want to give up but
Ifm getting to the stage now
where Ifm thinking that maybe
itfs not going to happen,h said
Young, who earned the last of
seven caps against Argentina in
November 2005.
gIfm 29 at the start of next season
so I will have to get in now
or it will be never. I have done all
I can do at club level and if itfs
fallen a bit short then itfs fallen
a bit short. But if the call did
come along then I would love to
be there.h
Young, meanwhile, could have
stronger competition for his first
team shirt next season. Former
FA Youth Cup winning captain
Tony McMahon, who has struggled
for the past couple of years
with injuries, has been offered a
new one-year contract.
Boro have signed England
youth central defender Chris
Smalling, 19, from Maidstone
United.
Russia have agreed to allow
fans with Champions
League final tickets entry
to the country without a
visa.
Supporters of Manchester
United and
Chelsea will be able to
use their tickets for the
game in Moscow as a
visa substitute for a
72-hour period between
May 19 and 23.
West Brom manager
Tony Mowbray
hopes his sidefs elevation
back to the
Barclays Premier
League can convince
three of his key players
to stay at the club.
Top scorer Kevin
Phillips, Zoltan
Gera and Martin Albrechtsen
are all out
of contract, but
Mowbray is keen to
keep all three as
they prepare for a
top-flight return.
The Baggies
clinched the Coca-
Cola Championship
title with a 2-0 win at
QPR on Sunday and
Mowbray switched his
attentions to the make
up of his playing squad
for next season.
eeThey will decide
their futures. We will
make them offers we
think are fair in terms of
the balance of the squad
and where we see them in
the squad,ff Mowbray
said.
8:54am Tuesday 6th May 2008
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