Young: I Am Loving Football Again

Ashley Young has enjoyed a new lease of life under Louis van Gaal, who has transformed him from a winger into one of his prized "multi-functional" players. This is the story of Ash's season in his own words...

From the start of the season we said we wanted to qualify for the Champions League and, in doing that, even though we’re going to have to get through a qualifying round to progress, I think it’s been a successful year for us.

There have been ups and downs and that happens throughout any season, but especially in the second part of the season we came on really strong and showed the true Man United in the way that we can play and go and win games.

It was a great feeling for me scoring the winner against Newcastle in March – it was back to the way United used to win games and we always used to say that we can always get a chance in the last five minutes or in injury time and we did that against Newcastle. I was just delighted the ball fell to my feet and I scored. You could tell by the celebrations just how made up we were and how excited and happy we were to get three points because it’s never an easy place to go.

Working with Louis van Gaal has been a great experience. From pre-season the manager came in and talked about his philosophy and what he wanted to get out of it, the little details in training and just bringing the club on in the way he saw it and how he wanted things to go, it’s been fantastic. And for me to have the opportunity to play under him and work under him day in, day out has been brilliant. He’s a fantastic manager and his track record and what he’s won in the game really speaks for itself.

I’ve played in a few different roles and it has been a new experience for me. You know… left back, I never thought I’d see myself at left-back but I’ve found myself there during games and I’ve enjoyed it – I’ve enjoyed playing football again. As a player you want to play every game and I’m no different.

The manager has called upon me whether it’s been left wing-back, left wing or left-back and I’ve gone out there and given 110% as I always do and I’ve enjoyed the season. As I say, as a footballer you want to be playing regularly and I’ve been able to do that this season.

I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve really enjoyed playing football again. I’ve kicked on and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. We wanted to get ourselves back winning titles and trophies, but it wasn’t meant to be this season. If we can improve on the form we’ve shown this season and take that into next season, then definitely the titles and cups will be coming back.

I don’t think we’re far behind Chelsea at all. Chelsea have won the title this season and they’ve had a fantastic season – they had every right to win a league with the start they had. But the players are not talking about Chelsea, we’re talking about ourselves, the season we had and the season we’re going to have next season as well.

Firstly, next season brings back Champions League football, that’s what the manager, players and staff wanted to bring back. It gives us the opportunity to build upon what we’ve shown this season, hopefully win titles and go and win cups, and we’ve said that next season, like I said before, we’re not far off Chelsea this season, so we want to go out and bring a title back here.

Ashley Young was interviewed for the official Manchester United Season Review 2014/15 DVD, which will be released on 18 June and is available to pre-order now from United Direct (store.manutd.com).