Ashley Sestanovich

Ashley Sestanovich

Personal information
Full name	Ashley Shane Sestanovich
Date of birth	18 September 1981 (1981-09-18)
Place of birth	Lambeth, England
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position	Midfield
Youth career
	Millwall
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999-2000	Manchester City	0	(0)
2000-2001	Royal Antwerp	0	(0)
2001	FC Metz	0	(0)
2001-2002	Mullingar Town	?	(?)
2002-2003	Hampton & Richmond Borough	16	(4)
2003-2005	Sheffield United	2	(0)
2003-2004	→ Scarborough (loan)	7	(2)
2004-2005	→ Grimsby Town (loan)	22	(2)
2005	Chester City	7	(0)
2005	Dundee	0	(0)
2005	Gravesend & Northfleet	0	(0)
2005-2006	Farnborough Town	28	(7)
2006	Grays Athletic	0	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 January 2007. † Appearances (Goals).

Ashley Shane Sestanovich (born 18 September 1981 in Lambeth) is an English former professional footballer of Croatian and Grenadian descent. In 2006 he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to rob, and in April 2007 was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Previous clubs

Sestanovich has played for many teams in his career and had short spells with Manchester City and Millwall before moving to Belgium where he had a short spell with Royal Antwerp. He then ended up in France where he had trials with Metz.

After this, Ireland called and Sestanovich found himself as part of a bizarre 'Dream Team' attempt to get League of Ireland status for Mullingar Town, a small team who operated from the County Westmeath capital town Mullingar but Mullingar Town failed in their League of Ireland bid despite Moore's millions .

Sestanovich dipped his toes in non-League football, when he signed for Isthmian League club Hampton & Richmond in the Summer of 2002. From there, he was scouted and sold to Sheffield United, (despite considerable interest from other teams such as Stockport County).

Sheffield United considered that it was in his and their best interests to loan Ashley out to other clubs to gain some experience. He went on a successful loan spell to non-League Scarborough, helping them reach the Fourth Round of the FA Cup where they narrowly lost to Chelsea 1–0 in a televised game. In all he played 12 games (league and cup) and scored three goals. He returned to Sheffield United and played two games in April 2004, before his second loan spell at the then cash-strapped Grimsby Town (for 2004–05 season). This was ended prematurely due to, amongst other things, Sestanovich refusing to act as a substitute and leaving the ground before a match had started, verbally abusing a referee (for which he was given a four game ban) and getting sent off 4 minutes after coming on as a substitute in a later match. After a successful spell at Farnborough Town, he was sold to Grays Athletic in June 2006, but his contract was terminated after he was arrested. Grays were ordered by The FA to pay Sestanovich five months outstanding wages for while he was on remand.

Thierry Henry body double

Perhaps his most famous moment prior to the armed robbery charge came when he stood in for Thierry Henry during filming for a Nike advert in Rome. The boyhood Arsenal fan told the BBC at the time: "I met Thierry Henry when I was filming an advert for a Nike commercial in Rome and I played the part of his body double. I met all the players - the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Luis Enrique were all there. Sylvain Wiltord, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry were there from Arsenal and it was great to see them face-to-face - but I would like to meet them on the pitch at some point."

Ashley Sestanovich also acted as Thierry Henry's body double for a series of TV adverts for Renault cars.

Awards

Sestanovich was voted "Player Of The Round" for his display against Port Vale (where he scored the winner for Scarborough) in the second Round Proper of the FA Cup. As a result, he was included in the first ever "Team Of The FA Cup" for the 2003–04 season, with, amongst other players, Lee Trundle.