Source: Daily_Mail
PIERS MORGAN: Ashton's a good guy, he doesn’t deserve such a cruel fate
I have written a lot about greedy, mercenary, selfish, pampered, disloyal, ignorant professional footballers in this column. And much of it is undeniable.[LNB] Many of them are. But, just occasionally, I read a story about a player that snaps my eyelids back and makes me reassess my jaundiced view.[LNB]Last goodbye: Dean Aston was one of football's good guys[LNB] Dean Ashton is 26 and, until recently, was one of the fastest-improving strikers in the Premier League, earning him a well-deserved place in the England squad.[LNB]Now it's all over. Gone. Kaput. He'll never play top-flight football again. In fact, it looks as though he may never even be able to run again.[LNB]One hard, training-field tackle damaged his ankle so badly that his career is finished. And with that devastating blow goes all the glory, fame, riches and fabulous success that comes with being an England star.[LNB]Ashton will get a big pay-out from compensation and insurance. So he's not going to go hungry. But as he said yesterday: 'It's not about money, it's about your dreams. I can't think about the future. I've tried but it annoys and hurts me too much.'[LNB]The harsh reality is that Ashton's future work prospects are pretty bleak. Like most footballers, he has only ever kicked a ball around since a very early age, so has no other trade to fall back on.[LNB]He might find coaching or managerial work. But there's a long queue for that from ex-pros and he may find the psychological ordeal of watching, not playing, too hard to endure, given the reason he's had to retire so young.[LNB] He hasn't got much potential as a commentator the TV networksonly care about really big names. And he wasn't quite there yet. Solife's going to be a struggle for Dean Ashton. [LNB]Not, I'msure he'd be the first to admit, the kind of struggle that our soldiersface if they come home severely wounded from the battlefield. Or thestruggle of those thousands of people currently on the breadline who'velost their jobs in the recession and can't afford new shoes for theirkids.[LNB]Injury hell: Ashton's comeback was thwarted[LNB]But he will struggle all the same. Emotionally, I suspect, more than anything else. And it's not as if he's the kind of ghastly, self-obsessed, pumped-up Premier League goon (you know who you are, El-Hadji Diouf . . .) who might deserve such a miserable end to his career.[LNB]By all accounts, Ashton's one of the genuinely good guys of the game. A decent, working-class lad who has never forgotten his roots, never taken anything for granted and believes he's very lucky to have lived his dream of being a footballer.[LNB]Of his injury, he says: 'There is a bit of bitterness and I think, 'Why me?' But I always think it could be worse. There is always someone worse off than yourself, so you just have to be glad that you're healthy and you know you'll get through it.'[LNB]As I say, a decent guy. But, within a few months, Dean Ashton will be forgotten. Not in a pitiless way, just because that's what happens to footballers who retire if they're not household names.[LNB]And when his former England colleagues walk out for their first World Cup match against the United States, in a match that will be watched by billions, Dean Ashton will be sat at home watching on TV like the rest of us. [LNB]Wondering what might have been. And my hard (when it comes to footballers) heart breaks for him.[LNB]Don't you know it's rude to stare, Sol?A few weeks ago I branded Sol Campbell 'the most selfish man in Britain' after he walked out of Notts County because he didn't seem to fancy the quality of the dressing rooms.[LNB]Last Wednesday, at 2pm, I was walking down the Earl's Court Road in Kensington when a black 4x4 drove slowly past.[LNB]The driver stuck his head unusually far out of the window and gave me the most menacing, evil stare since Hannibal Lecter decided it was time to get serious with Agent Starling.[LNB]It was Sol Campbell. And he wasn't happy. By now, his car had pulled up at traffic lights and so he continued to stare - his eyes boring into mine with pure venom seeping from each socket.[LNB] Selfish? Sol Campbell walked out on Notts County after just a few months[LNB] It's at times like this that I wish I could pretend I stood up courageously to the conviction of my opinions and stared back with equal menace.[LNB]But Sol's bigger than me, my security detail was back in Hollywood (don't laugh, I do actually have one for America's Got Talent...) and, let's face it, the world wouldn't exactly mourn my departure from life like an Elvis or Diana.[LNB]So I hastily pulled out my phone, stopped by a medical centre (just in case) and pretended to be talking. Sol's car remained stationary for at least another minute and, every time I looked up, he was still staring.[LNB]And I continued to avoid his ferocious glare. As all fearless, outspoken columnists tend to do when confronted with the victims of their poisonous pens.[LNB]He was obviously incensed by what I'd written. And perhaps I was a bit hard on him. I mean, Hugh Grant's surely more selfish than Sol Campbell, and so is Heather Mills. But Sol's definitely the most selfish footballer in Britain.[LNB]I was wrong when I previously wrote about his 'dead' eyes, though. They're very much alive. It's me that's going to be dead if he ever gets hold of me.[LNB]Tiger's even greater than we thoughtTaking a break: Woods has announced a spell away from the golf course[LNB] As the Tiger Woods scandal descends into extraordinary new depths of cataclysmic abomination, I am rapidly cementing my view that he must be the greatest sportsman of all time.[LNB]I mean, consider the facts. We already thought he was the greatest golfer ever. [LNB]But we assumed that was because he spent every second of his spare time practising, driving himself to new heights of excellence through an unusual determination and work ethic.[LNB]Now we've discovered that he's actually been spending every second of his time having all-night sex-a-thons with endless Vegas strippers.[LNB]So we must, therefore, draw the inevitable conclusion that he is even more naturally gifted than we thought. Tiger, you're the greatest.[LNB]Capello's worth double the moneyEyebrows have been raised at the revelation that England boss Fabio Capello will be the highest paid manager at the World Cup finals in South Africa, with a salary of £6,098,606.[LNB]To which my response, given the outstanding job he has done in galvanizing our ragbag crew of prima donna footballers into a seriously competitive, disciplined, potential trophy-winning outfit, is this: Double it.[LNB]Get your facts right OwaisOwais Shah has been bleating away about being dropped from the England one-day [LNB]Unhappy times: Shah says he deserves to be in the one-day side[LNB] cricket set-up, claiming wrongly, it turned out that he's statistically the best batsman we have.[LNB]What Shah failed to dwell on was his hopeless fielding, persistent cramp brought on by lack of fitness, general idiocy (witness him injuring Joe Denly with that scything tackle in an outfield kickabout) and the disastrous running-between-the wicket skills of a hyperactive pitbull on ecstasy. [LNB]Like Ravi Bopara, Shah is a fantastically-gifted batsman but seems to lack the unquantifiable 'ticker' required to perform at the highest level.[LNB]Jonathan Trott will never be as fluent a stroke-player as those two but mentally he's in a different league. And that's why the selectors were so right to pick him for the Ashes decider in the summer. And to keep picking him over Shah and Bopara now.[LNB] Sven to stay at Notts County after Peter Trembling completes takeoverYou losers! Benitez's stunning blast at Souness and KlinsmannUnited boss Sir Alex Ferguson reveals: I've got £60m to spend in JanuarySunderland and Hull on alert: Kazim-Richards up for sale after sex marathon[LNB] Explore more:People:Piers Morgan, Heather Mills, Dean Ashton, Ravi Bopara, Fabio Capello, Sol Campbell, Hugh GrantPlaces:South Africa, United Kingdom, America
