Ryan Ashford was on schoolboy terms at QPR before being tempted to join the Bath-based Southampton School of Excellence. While appreciating he had joined a “family club” he also reckoned it was “a tough club to be at” as managers came and went. He felt his stock rose when David Jones was succeeded by Glenn Hoddle, who gave him his first start in a Worthington cup-tie.

But 20 minutes into the game, an injury to his Achilles tendon ended his Southampton career,

he would recover and sign pro under Hoddle, but subsequent managers could find no room for him, either as a left-back or left-sided midfielder. He signed for Torquay in time to get a couple of games, scoring on his full debut. But he was among the players released in that summer of 2002 when the ITV digital agreement collapsed. After a season with Weymouth, he returned to live in Shirrell Heath, near Southampton and in 2019 was a Sales Director for a Global Internet Service Provider called Cogent Communications, commuting to Canary Wharf.