By Chris O'Brien
October 29 2004

Former Cardiff City defender Scott Young has gone into football management, taking a player / assistant role at Ton Pentre. The 29-year-old spent over a decade at Ninian Park before being forced into retirement during his testimonial year due to back problems.

Former Cardiff City defender Scott Young has moved into football management, taking a joint player and assistant manager role at ex-League of Wales outfit Ton Pentre. Constant back problems forced Young into back problems, but the centre half attempted to resurrect his career with a move to South Walian rivals Newport County, but further injuries caused him to leave the Conference South club.

"I won’t be able to play every week, but I will do everything I can for Ton," said 29-year-old Young

"There was a lot of training involved with Newport County and that made things difficult while at Ton Pentre, I will also be involved in coaching."

Ton Pentre play in the Welsh League, one below the Welsh Premier. Nicknamed "The Bulldogs", the Rhondda outfit have proved quite successful in recent years winning the southern feeder league on 5 successive occasions between 1998 and 2002 but turned down promotion to the top flight. Attracting decent local support, Pentre have played in Europe participating in the Intertoto Cup in the 90's in a decade which also saw the club finish second in the League of Wales.

Pontypridd-born Young made nearly 350 Bluebirds appearances, spending over a decade at Ninian Park. He helped the club to four promotions and played an integral team in the start for several seasons. 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!

There is no question what Young will be best remembered for though. A late scrambled strike past Nigel Martyn helped Cardiff City to a memorable 2-1 F.A Cup win over Leeds United in January 2002. A strike that denied rivals Bristol Rovers a play-off place in May 2000 is another fond memory for me, as already-relegated Cardiff stole a 1-0 win from the Pirates!

Good luck to Young at Ynys Park.

"Only One Scott Young!"