74 Neil Ashworth

Position : Right back

Played : 1984-5 to 1985-6 (reserves only in latter season)

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Neil was one half of Dale's second YTS pair (after Reid and McCluskie) and was elevated to the first team for the final game of the season away at Aldershot. The result was a 5-0 thrashing (after which I'm told Vic Halom withheld the post-match sandwiches saying "After that performance you bastards can starve ! "}

The only time I saw him was against Burnley in the Manx Cup in 1985 when he was withdrawn for his own sanity at 0-4 . At fault for every goal, Halom said "Neil Ashworth is going to be a super player but I think nerves got the better of him on the night". Super or not he didn't get another chance.

He moved to Castleton Gabriels. According to his profile on linkedin.com he also played for Tranmere and Sunderland but it certainly wasn't the first team in either case. He also claims to have played in Australia and New Zealand. He later worked for Guide Dogs For The Blind in Ireland and is now an on line entrepreneur who generates "passive residual income online" whatever that means.