Young At Heart

by David Cockcroft

A terrace favourite at Filbert Street in the early 1980s has reignited his strong connection with the Leicester City fans over the last season.

Former Foxes striker Alan Young has been co-commentating at the Walkers Stadium alongside local broadcast journalist Ian Stringer, and his frank, honest assessments of what goes on at the Championship promotion chasers has been hugely popular with the fans.

The positive response Young has been receiving this season is richly deserved and his appointment at BBC Radio Leicester has been a successful one. “Ian Stringer tells me the ratings have increased this year, its fantastic” relays the fan favourite.

The Scotsman’s passion for both the game and the club he commentates on pours through in everything he says during 90 minutes of a Leicester City match and his strong connection with the fans who listen to him each week is a relationship he cherishes.

“We’re live all over the world. Czech Republic, Australia, Los Angeles, Canada, it’s unbelievable. I have a Facebook site and a fan posted a comment on it that had just got back from Afghanistan asking if I could sort him out some tickets. You chancer I thought but I’ll see what I can do. The support and comments I’ve had have been brilliant.”

The former old-fashioned number nine certainly achieves the honest and straight talking commentary style he aims for and one Leicester City player in particular has found himself being scrutinized by Young a lot more than others because of it.

Nigerian striker Yakubu may well share the positional resemblance of Alan Young on a football pitch but his lethargic appearance couldn’t be further away from that of the man who commentates on him.

It is this façade of the Everton front man that has frustrated many Leicester fans all season, including Young.

“At Everton he played in a system where he did most of his work in and around the oppositions 18 yard box and he was relatively effective. It’s different in this division my friend. In this league you need your strikers to run into the channels, to work hard without the ball and he doesn’t look fit enough to do it.”

These flaws are ones that Young, who had such high standards of fitness and work rate when playing at Leicester himself, can’t accept. The big striker that Jock Wallace brought to Filbert Street all those years ago was one thing if not anything else – a one hundred percenter.

“When you warm up you’re preparing yourself for combat,” the Scot explains. “Jock used to say to us if you can’t run you can’t play. Fitness is such a huge, huge thing in football.”

Young can’t help but reminisce with his words and with a warm chuckle he transports himself back to the 1979/1980 season where he had joined Leicester City from Oldham.

“In my first game at home to Watford we won 2-0 and I scored both goals. I felt so fit and strong and when you feel like that you want to impose it on others. I had Steve Sims marking me that day so when they won a corner I’d shout to him: ‘Simmsy you lazy bastard, come on I’ll race you back!”

The straight talking Scotsman is one of the most likeable people in football and the Leicester City fans that find themselves unable to make games have Young as a more than adequate consolation to help keep them informed of what’s going on.

The straight talking ex-pro will continue in his broadcasting role next season and Leicester fans will be hoping Alan Young has a little bit more to shout about as another promotion campaign kicks off in August.

Interview by David Cockcroft, June 2011. A regular contributor to Just Football, follow him on Twitter @DavidJCockcroft.

English Championship, Football League, Interviews, Leicester City