Ashton joined Norwich City from Crewe Alexandra for a fee of £3 million in January 2005, breaking the club's transfer record previously held by the £1 million deal that brought Jon Newsome to Norwich City from Leeds United in 1994, although this record was later broken by the £3.5m transfer of Robert Earnshaw to Carrow Road from West Bromwich Albion. Additionally, Crewe inserted a 20% sell-on clause, meaning that the South Cheshire club would receive 20 percent of any profit if Norwich sold the striker to another club.