Ashley Young must embrace the hate at Manchester United

The Red Devils winger won't be a popular man next season for away fans after his penalty miss.

What is it about England, major tournaments, and Manchester United players returning to be vilified?

David Beckham in 1998, Phil Neville in 2000, and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2006. Could Ashley Young be about to be added to that list?

Overall the winger had a terrible tournament. Nothing he tried came off, not for want of trying, but it just didn't click into place for him.

In qualifying and friendlies Young had been England's best and most productive outlet, so there were high hopes for him going into Euro 2012.

After four games he leaves without a goal or assist, and just a penalty miss to his name.

Young really needed a good tournament to rebuild his name in the eyes of the average fan, after an end to the season which saw him castigated in all quarters for diving.

Going down after the slightest touch is a trait associated with foreign players so when an Englishman did it at such a high profile club as United, against QPR and former club Villa, the press were quick to seize on it.

Return a national hero and supporters from opposing teams might have been able to forgive him those transgressions. But after a dismal tournament capped by his penalty miss he will remain an unpopular figure.

He wasn't the only England player to miss, but Ashley Cole could barely have become more unpopular any way, and he is well used to dealing with the abuse.

Young is at the right place not to let the flak affect him. Past aforementioned experiences with Beckham and Ronaldo - more high profile - have seen United and their fans rally round the players, who both went onto enjoy title winning seasons, Beckham with the treble in 1998/99 and Ronaldo with the league in 2006/07.

A desire of both players to get their head down and let their football do the talking and prove people wrong surely made that no coincidence.

Young needs to embrace the hate, the criticism and oncoming boos from away fans, and turn them into his inspiration.

If he can do this and ram the boos down supporters throats by scoring and creating more goals than ever next season and propel United to silverware - this could just be the making of him as a Manchester United player.

Dan Coombs

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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.

As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.

He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.