An in-depth look into our latest recruit, Ashley Nadesan.
A familiar face has returned to Gander Green Lane, with Ashley Nadesan making the permanent switch to Sutton following his release from Gilllingham, and has gone full circle with a permanent return to Surrey after almost ten years away from his home county.
Hailing from Redhill, Nadesan, who goes by Naders, began his footballing journey in the Combined Counties League with Horley Town, leading their youth side in both league and cup during the 2012/13 season where he primarily played at centre back, before soon making the transition into a forward. His development hadn’t gone unnoticed, and he graduated to the first team at Horley where he soon became a regular starter in 2013/14.
After two seasons of consistent and impressive performances, Nadesan began to receive attention from higher up the football pyramid, coming to the notice of professional clubs towards the end of the 2014/15 season having scored a total of 99 goals for Horley in all competitions across his previous two seasons. Despite this, Nadesan remained with the Clarets, and continued to perform at an impressive level, ending the 2015/16 season as the Combined Counties top scorer with 45 goals in the Premier Division, having finished runner-up the previous season.
It was time with Horley that saw him receive comparisons with Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy, who was described by Knaphill manager Keith Hill as similar to the former England striker due to “the way he plays, his ability and how he reads the game. He obviously scores goals and he’s very quick and combines speed with agility.” Horley will have had no doubt that their star man and prized asset would be destined for greater things with Chairman Mark Sale commenting on the sky being the limit for the young striker, and having made his name locally with some pretty obscene goalscoring exploits at The New Defence, he was soon picked up by Fleetwood Town, giving him the opportunity to jump up four divisions in the English pyramid.
His first year at Highbury Stadium saw senior game time become fairly scarce, being named on the bench three times in all competitions during the 2016/17 campaign, and otherwise playing primarily for the club’s development squad. However, he was soon rewarded for his hard work at youth level when he made his professional debut in a 2-0 win over AFC Wimbledon at the start of the following season, and went on to make four appearances in all competitions during 2017/18 where he continued to adapt from part-time football to full-time football.
His development saw him become physically stronger and start to look more and more like a fully-fledged professional footballer, but game time proved to remain limited for the 22-year old, and saw him move on loan to League Two side Carlisle United for regular opportunities as he looked to prove himself midway through the season, having scored regularly for Fleetwood’s Under-23’s.
It was with the Blues where he made his former club proud and started his first Football League match, playing 75 minutes in a 2-0 win over Chesterfield which saw him notch an assist, contributing to Kelvin Etuhu’s opening goal, before scoring his first professional goals a week later – the equaliser against Barnet in the 70th minute that set the Cumbrians on their way to a late turnaround, with future U Richie Bennett giving the Blues the lead before Nadesan put the cherry on top of a 3-1 win at The Hive when he flicked on Jamie Devitt’s free kick. Ashley subsequently went on to appear 15 times during his stint at Brunton Park, scoring three goals, and returned to the club on loan again the following summer, now under the leadership of John Sheridan.
Despite the change in management, Nadesan remained a permanent fixture in Cumbria, playing a further 28 times in all competitions for the club and notching an impressive 15 goal contributions to boot, before being recalled by his parent club who will have been alerted to his fine form in the fourth tier.
As a result, it wasn’t long before he finally broke out at Fleetwood, starting his first match in a 2-2 draw with Oxford United and even contributed an assist for Paddy Madden’s goal that put the Cod Army 2-0 ahead. Having begun 2019 by getting 77 minutes under his belt – the most he had played for Fleetwood’s first team thus far – this saw him he finally remain a regular figure in the Fisherman team, and he ended the campaign with 20 appearances to his name, even scoring his first goal with the winner in a 1-0 victory over Burton Albion.
Despite gaining a foothold of Fleetwood’s number nine spot for the second half of the season, Nadesan’s time in Lancashire soon came to an end, with the then 24-year old opting to return closer to home after three years in the North of England. Consequently, a move to Crawley Town saw him make the move to West Sussex, 15 minutes south of former club Horley, and sparked a memorable four-year spell for the forward at the Broadfield Stadium.
While he missed much of his first pre-season with the Red Devils due to an ankle injury, Nadesan made his Crawley debut in a 3-2 EFL Cup win over Walsall in which he scored and contributed an assist, before having to bide his time for regular opportunities after making just six starts during the first half of the season. However, the turn of the year allowed him to make his New Year’s resolutions come true, scoring his first goal for the club in their final match of 2019 in a 1–1 draw with Grimsby Town, and he subsequently started every match for the rest of the season, ending it with seven goals and six assists in 31 appearances.
Having become a key part of the team under John Yems, Nadesan subsequently remained a central and regular part of the team during the rest of his time with Crawley, going on to appear 167 times for the club, and notably scored the second goal of the Red Devils’ famous FA Cup victory over Leeds United, with Yems’ side going on to beat Marcelo Bielsa’s Premier League outfit 3-0 in front of the TV cameras.
Despite an extremely successful part of his career, all good things must come to an end eventually, and while Scott Lindsey came in to the club midway through the 2022/23 campaign to narrowly guide them away from relegation, this signalled the end of Nadesan’s four-year spell in Sussex, who made the move to League Two rivals Gillingham for an undisclosed fee.
While Ashley had so far established himself as a reliable frontman at fourth tier level, his time at the Priestfield Stadium was unable to unearth his previous form, and he subsequently scored just three times despite being featuring frequently under Neil Harris and later Stephen Clemence. His struggles for form thus saw his time in Kent brought to a premature close, but it was a stint with the U’s that restored his love for the game, with a loan move to Gander Green Lane being confirmed ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
A bold decision indeed to drop into the National League after spending so long as a key part of League Two teams, Ashley was without a doubt a marquee signing for Steve Morison, who brought him in as Sutton’s 16th signing of the summer, as well as being the oldest player to come into a side that was under a clear rebuild following relegation the previous season.
Morison’s faith was subsequently rewarded, with Nadesan playing nearly every minute and racking up a total of 50 appearances in all competitions. This included eight goals and eight assists, kicking things off in his second game with the fifth goal of a memorable 5-0 win over Altrincham, and followed it up with notable winners against Ebbsfleet United, Southend United and Rochdale AFC, as well as a Goal of the Season nomination with a spectacular volley against AFC Fylde.
A key part of the team indeed, Ashley featured primarily on the right flank but showed his versatility to play either as a lone striker or alongside top scorer Will Davies as well, and the return of a firm fans’ favourite to SM1 following his release from Gillingham last month will no doubt bolster the U’s ranks heading into the new campaign.
