Top 79 Quotes & Sayings by Ashley Young

I had the brain for football, but I didn't have the height. So I started using my brain to overcome those weaknesses and discovered football isn't just about size or power: it's about what's up there. That was the making of me.

People saying I dive doesn't affect me at all. Not one bit.

I had three brothers: one older, two younger.

As you get older, you start to read the game more, and as your brain starts working more, and as you get a good footballing brain, your legs start slowing down!

I was 11 years old and was racially abused on the pitch. It was obviously disappointing to hear it at such a young age.

All I can do is keep playing as well as I can for United.

I've played at a European Championship; to represent your country at a World Cup is every boy's dream, and for me, it would definitely be a dream come true.

Everything that moved, I was kicking it. You can ask my mum and dad. A stone, a can, whatever.

If I've gone to get a takeaway, and I get chips... I like to match up the chips in length. That is actually quite weird. Obviously, if I've got chips, I pick them out in twos. That's a weird thing as well. You know, if they're not the same length, well, I go hunting for the same length in chips.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been a massive influence on me.

It is always disappointing to obviously concede.

My dad worked in the IT industry, although I haven't got a clue what he did. He always tells me but it just goes over my head.

It's just determination, working hard, and keeping my feet on the ground in training and keep on proving people wrong.

When Martin O'Neill spent £9m on me to take me to Villa, it was a massive boost.

I'll relish playing at Wembley in a major cup final. It's a great achievement for me, and it's why I became a footballer, because I want to win medals.

I'm just the same as everyone - I can remember, growing up, watching the World Cup.

If you are in the team, there is always going to be someone biting away at your heels trying to get in.

I've been a versatile player since I started playing football.

I think age is just a number - if you are young enough, you are old enough - as long as you are good enough, age shouldn't come into it.

I've come through it and seen people in football that are sharks. They are ones to stay away from.

As I've got older, the nerves aren't there anymore; they just left one day when I was at Watford. I only feel excitement now, whatever the game.

I enjoy having a challenge.

If I do well for my club, I will get recognition.

Players have to adapt nowadays, and if you have a good football brain, if you can read the game, you can manage it.

I've been watching 'Power.' I've been hooked on it.

I like to spend time on freekicks after training.

Kids ask me about what they should do to make it, and I tell them, 'Just get your head down and work, work, work.'

It's about taking the game to the opposition, always believing in yourself.

We've got to rediscover the Manchester United way of playing, and I don't think many teams enjoy their nights at Old Trafford when we're on song.

I am one of those players who has many scars up and down my legs from being kicked, but I know I have a job to do, and beating my opponent is my goal.

I had to go to see the careers woman at school, and when she asked me what I wanted to do after school, I told her flat: 'I want to be a professional footballer.' I can remember her being silent for a few seconds, just looking at me.

I love playing football, and that's all I'm going to do.

There's no better feeling than coming off the pitch knowing you've won the game.

I'm not one of those players who talks about things off the field. It's about what trophies and titles and cups you've won.

I'm a born winner.

Of course I have aspirations and ambitions to play for my country.

I've always had to fight. Throughout my life, it's been a fight to get to where I am now.

When you lose a game, there's obviously disappointment, and you want a game straight away.

A lot of youngsters in the game think they've made it before they've done anything. But at United, they're given that winning mentality and an ethos of always trying to improve.

I'm a versatile player, can play in numerous positions, and I have a good football brain, even if it is getting older.

To play at Wembley for my country is just incredible.

When you play for Manchester United, the pressure's on every week.

You want to be in touch with the fans. The fans want to get to know your personality and character.

There are a lot of players competing for that wide attacking role, and if I'm brutally honest, if you aren't playing regularly, you can't get picked. I found that out, missing out on the World Cup.

I'm still operating as a wide player, and I'm still free to express myself, try to get one-v-one and get past someone, and there's no better feeling than getting over a great cross and someone scoring.

I follow tennis, and I actually went to Wimbledon during the summer, and it was nice to get a day off during pre-season to watch it. Basketball as well - I don't have a team; it's just a casual interest - especially when the play-offs come around and the intensity rises.

I'm enjoying playing football, and as a footballer, that's what you want to do, and that is exactly what I've been doing.

I'm confident in my own ability, and if I'm called upon to play on the right, the left, or as the main striker, then I can play there.

Things can be dissected too much. It's football. Go and play.

Once you look back on your career when it's over, you can say, 'This is what I achieved,' or, 'This is what I'm driving.'

If I'm asked to play a certain position, I'll do it 100 per cent.

It's never easy in the Champions League, but you never know what can happen.

I've always said that when you pull on an England shirt, it's a proud moment, and it's an honour to play for and represent your country.

I wouldn't say I've changed at all. A lot of people will keep saying I'm a different person, especially when I go across those white lines. I think it's just the hunger and desire and passion I've got for the game.

I can play in six different positions where managers can trust me. It must give them food for thought knowing I can do a job in different positions.

I've had the same hunger, the same desire to win, since I started kicking a football when I was five years old.

There's a lot said now about younger players: that it's just about the cars and houses. I'm from the old school - it's about what you've achieved in the game.

I was at Watford and got a knock-back when I was 16 and didn't get a YTS contract. They said I could find another club or go in and train three times a week after school. I'd been there since I was 10, so I got my head down and proved them wrong. Within a year, they had signed me up, and I haven't looked back.

I'm not a cheat. I'm not a diver.

I want to play every game.