About Dean Ashton
Dean Ashton (born 24 November 1983) is an English former professional footballer. He made over 240 appearances as a forward in the Football League and Premier League for Crewe Alexandra, Norwich City and West Ham United, and was capped by England. He was highly praised as a talented centre forward, but had a career frustrated by injury. He retired on 11 December 2009, aged 26, after failing to recover from a long-term ankle injury sustained during international duty with England. He signed scholarship forms as a 16-year-old in 2000 before making his first-team debut on 28 October as an 83rd-minute substitute in Crewe's 1–0 win at Gillingham and became one of the youngest players to represent the club.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.