Alan Curbishley’s sale pitch was perfect.
“You know what you need, Luke? You need to play 38 games a season at right-back – I can give you that.”
Luke Young walked away from that meeting with the Charlton Athletic manager in 2001 with his mind made up. A week after his 22nd birthday, he had completed a £3million transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.
Harlow-born Young had played 77 times for Spurs and made his debut under George Graham in a 2-1 loss to West Ham United in November 1998. He averaged 25 matches per season for the north London club.
But Young admits he was receptive to Curbishley’s approach, partly down to feeling under-appreciated by Tottenham.
“When I got into the side at 19, it was kind of new and a bit of a bonus,” he told South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition. “I played about the same amount the following season but it was always out of position – left-back, centre-back and sometimes even midfield.
Luke Young playing for Charlton in 2005/Picture: Keith Gillard
“Stephen Carr was playing right-back and he was one of the best in the league. It was going to be difficult for me to get a game in my favoured position.
“Around that time I was getting offered new deals by Tottenham, but they were way, way lower than what was normal for a squad player. If they had rewarded me with something even half-decent perhaps I wouldn’t have left – but it was just quite derogatory. I was doing a similar job to other people, also playing half the games, but not getting paid even a fifth of what they were on.
“I came through really late at Tottenham due to my determination, training really hard and catching up the rest of the boys. I ended up overtaking a lot of them. I was never a child star at 10, 11, 12 or 13, for sure.
“Everyone probably knows when you come through the ranks at a club, you don’t really get rewarded unless you are a superstar. So I was a little bit disillusioned.
“I had a really good relationship with George Graham, who gave me my debut, but he had left.
“I went and met Curbs at his brother’s house in Little Venice. It was probably a bit of a tap-up, back then it was going on everywhere.
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