Ashley Young has repeatedly denied that a bird pooed in his mouth during a Premier League match in 2014, despite a viral video that has been shared for nearly 12 years. The former Manchester United captain, who retired this summer, maintains the incident never occurred and suggests the footage was edited.
The Infamous Incident
On this day in 2014, United opened their Premier League season against Swansea City at Old Trafford. The Red Devils lost 2-1 in Louis van Gaal’s first match in charge, but the game is remembered not for the score but for the moment TV cameras caught a white glob drop from the sky and land in Young’s mouth. While Young passionately shouted at his United team-mates, the white glob fell at the exact time the former Aston Villa midfielder and 39-time England international was speaking.
The clip has been shared on social media for almost 12 years and has generated millions of views. Even Young admitted he has “seen the video about 100 times.”
Young’s Denial
Despite the incriminating evidence, Young still emphatically denies that a bird dropped one in his mouth. “No, it didn’t happen!” Young adamantly denied on United's official club podcast in 2019. “I’ve said this for god knows how long but it got to a point where I was like ‘I need to do an interview to say it didn’t happen’ but I just couldn’t be bothered.”
Young added: “It had gone viral and is still going viral I think now and even my wife and kids turn round and say, ‘Yeah but the bird pooed in your mouth’. No it didn’t. It actually didn’t. And I said at the time, I’m sure the game was on TV, someone must have stopped it, recorded it, done whatever they did and put it together because it never actually happened. I think someone edited it because I know it never happened.”
Attempts to Debunk
The best effort to debunk the incident came after an MUTV director extensively reviewed the footage and attempted to back up Young by claiming a player off camera gobbed and the spit travelled over Young’s shoulder. At the same time, the former United skipper gathered up a sample of his own saliva during a passionate plea to his peers as he ordered them to up their game. The camera angle and timing of the two separate incidents make it seem as though a white substance from the sky planted itself in the winger's open mouth.
Young said: “I’m actually relieved that I’ve got the evidence. I think you can tell it’s not real because I think you can tell, if a bird s*** in my mouth, you’re going to have a reaction. Why is it that it’s just gone, or carry on filming me? There you go. It is what it is, it’s like, fair enough. I know what happened.”
Teammates’ Teasing
Despite his staunch defence, Young’s United team-mates continued to tease him. Luke Shaw revealed to Match of the Day magazine that the rest of the Red Devils toyed with Young by planting a fake bird above his changing room peg. “Ashley Young is the joker in the dressing room,” Shaw admitted. “We still laugh about the time he got bird poo in his mouth against Swansea. If you ask him now, he'll say it wasn't bird poo. In the changing room we hung a fake bird above his place as a joke which he didn't like.”
Even in 2019, Jesse Lingard poked fun at Young after United’s 1-0 win over Leicester, when a pigeon landed on the pitch. Lingard posted a photo with the caption: “Absolute Animal Out There Today. Glad @youngy_18 Stayed Away.”
Twelve years on, Young retired this summer after finishing his career with Ipswich Town following spells at Inter Milan, Aston Villa and Everton. At just 41, Young revealed he needs a hip replacement just weeks after calling time on his career.
