Luke Young: Skipper focused on Wrexham success after milestone
- Published
Luke Young has featured in 24 matches for Wrexham this season but has made only eight starts
Wrexham captain Luke Young laughs off any suggestion he is approaching legendary status at the club.
Young reached 250 Wrexham appearances as he made only his second start since September at MK Dons on Tuesday.
Young is now among the top 50 Wrexham appearance makers, one spot ahead of all-time leading goalscorer and bona fide club legend Tommy Bamford.
"All I want to do is give the best that I can to help the lads and help myself," said the midfielder, 30.
"And do everything that I can to get this football club up again. That is the ultimate goal.
"However much or however little I have played, or I will play between now and the end of the season, I hope everyone knows that whenever I'm called upon that I will give everything that I can for the club."
Plymouth-born Young played the full 90 minutes against League Two promotion rivals MK Dons, in a stadium that would not be out of place in the Premier League.
The surroundings were very different from his Wrexham debut in August 2018, in a 1-0 win at Dover in the National League.
Since then he has played under six managers, won player of the year and goal of the season twice, and lifted the National League Trophy alongside fellow skipper Ben Tozer last May.
Young is one of only a handful of players in the squad who were at the club before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed their takeover of Wrexham in 2021.
He has averaged over 40 games a season in his almost six years with the club, but has found it difficult to break into the team in Wrexham's first season back in League Two since 2008.
"Of course, everybody wants to play and be a part of a club and be out on that pitch in the starting XI," said Young.
"But you have to look at it realistically. We have got an unbelievable squad, unbelievable players that ultimately, probably, should be playing higher and me obviously coming up through the last six years in the National League and then getting promoted. I'm competing against top, top players in the same position as me."
Following Tuesday's 1-1 draw, Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson confirmed midfielders George Evans and James Jones had "quite serious" injuries. Their absence will mean an opportunity for Young to add to his eight starts in League Two this season.
"You've got to be patient, you've got to bide your time," said Young.
"Playing week in, week out would be lovely but you have got to ready to be called upon because all of a sudden things can change quickly in football."
Young has scored twice this season, while he claimed an assist at MK Dons to earn plaudits from Parkinson.
"It just shows that you never know when you are needed and he is a great example to all players, young players coming into the game," Parkinson said.
"You can get disillusioned when you're not playing sometimes, when you're not on the bench. But when your chance comes, you're ready to take it."