Scott Young Forced to Retire Early

Young, only 28-years-old, is regarded as a legend by many City fans for his loyal service to the club which have seen him on the books at Ninian Park for 14 seasons. He has worn the Bluebirds shirt in the league, the F.A Cup, the League Cup, Welsh Cup, Premier Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup and experienced some extreme highs and lows during his long spell as a Bluebird. He made over 300 appearances in the City top, and was a regular goalscorer reaching double figures in a season during the 2000/2001 campaign.

"I can't go on like this. Professional football is all I've ever known and it's hard to accept," said Young.

"But I have a young family and I have to get on with my life. You can't be too careful with back injuries."

This season is the City centre-half's testimonial year, but it has not been as many had hoped. Young's testimonial friendly was against Charlton Athletic back in August, but he only played a few minutes at the end at striker due to the injury. City won the very uncompetitive game 2-1, but it wasn't really much of a tribute to Young, with little more than 6,000 home supporters turning up on the Ninian Park terraces.

Pontypridd-born Young will probably be best remembered for his last-gasp goal that won the 2002 third round F.A Cup tie against Premiership leaders Ninian Park, in front of a packed 22,009 supporters at Ninian Park. It is a moment that ranks highly in many City supports lists of football moments, and will undoubtedly be showed on the F.A Cup reel of magic moments for decades to come.

"In a one off game situation, that would be the highlight of my career. But the promotions I've been involved with are up there as well."  said the defender regarding the strike against the Yorkshire outfit.

Young has been involved in four promotions and two relegations, and has singled out the 1998/1999 season as his personal favourite. The Bluebirds, who had finished a lowly 21st in the Third Division the season before, fought back under Frank Burrows to clinch promotion automatically.

"The 1999 promotion was very special, and I have fond memories of that and also the success from recent seasons." added Young.

Personally, my best memory of Young came the following season. As many fans will remember, Bristol Rovers visited Ninian Park on the final day of the season to face a Bluebirds side who had already been relegated. Rovers were in the play-off zone, but needed a result to secure this. Young scored the only goal of the game to send a packed away end of Wurzels home unhappy, a sight to be savoured, and Millwall's win meant the Pirates missed out on the chance of promotion which started their demise!

It's fair to say Young will not be remembered as a player who possessed great talent, speed or superb ability. However, he was a player who always gave a lot of effort to the club and his passion and the fact he was a local lad who supported the club made Young a fan-favourite amongst many supporters. If only some of the current crop of players showed the passion Young did!

His final competitive game for the club was the thrilling 3-3 draw against Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park. A last minute Robert Earnshaw goal got City a point, which had he not scored, the Bluebirds would have ultimately missed the playoffs and stayed down!

Bluebird to the Bone would like to thank Young for his tremendous service to the club, and some great memories during his days as a regular at the heart of the defence. The club have been quick to offer Scott a coaching role with youngsters, so good luck with that, and it will be good to have him still actively involved with City.

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