5. Jon Ashton
born nuneaton | 04/10/1982
previous clubs leicester city, oxford united, rushden & diamonds, grays athletic
joined january 2009
contract details 30/6/2010-30/6/2013
debut woking | h | 24/02/2009 | won 1-0
Ashton joined Stevenage in the January transfer window, moving from Blue Square Premier rivals Grays Athletic. Considered by many as the best defender in the league, he rejected moves into the football league to join Graham Westley’s side. He moved to Broadhall Way after Luke Oliver moved to League 2 side Wycombe Wanderers.
Boro swooped for Ashton as he can play across the backline and the manager had worked with him previously at Rushden. He proved to be a vital aquisition as Boro challenged for promotion to League 2. Ashton began his career as a trainee at Leicester City before a switch to Oxford United. After 3 years and 91 appearances at the Kassam Stadium, Ashton moved on to join relegated Rushden & Diamonds, but only spent the one season at Nene Park before moving again, this time to Grays.
Ashton’s Boro career started off slowly, but he came into his own in the 2009/2010 season. After getting fully fit, he built up a successful partnership with Mark Roberts and that was very important as Stevenage went on to win the Conference title. Stevenage broke the Conference record for the highest amount of clean sheets and Ashton deserves some credit for being apart of that.
With Boro now in the football league, the club will be calling on his experience to deal with the step up in class. It’s a task that Ashton has taken in his stride. He was voted the Stevenage player of the season for the 2010/2011 season.
