Charlie Austin inspiring the underdog six years after ex-bricklayer played for Poole Town
From the lower echelons of non-league football to England recognition in less than six years, Charlie Austin's meteoric rise provides inspiration for anyone battling against the odds.
Already boasting 17 goals in his maiden Premier League campaign, the QPR striker could make his Three Lions bow when England visit the Republic of Ireland next weekend.
Working full-time as a bricklayer, Austin was pocketing around £90 per game for Poole Town in May 2009 when Wayne Rooney led Man United out for consecutive Champions League finals.
Rubbing shoulders with Rooney for England will feel like a far cry from the Dorset playing field that Poole shared with Oakdale Junior School. It was rare for more than a few hundred spectators to gather there and support Austin in the Wessex League Premier division.
[Read: Charlie Austin named in England squad](http://QPR and Leicester strikers named in England squad)
“We trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays then played on the Saturday,” says former defender Pete Smith, 29, a first team regular throughout Austin’s time with Poole.
Smith has since relocated to Chicago where he pursued a career in marketing after spells with St. Albans and Staines in the Conference South. He now plays regular football for an Irish pub team, and reflects on the period when League One outfit Swindon began scouting Austin.
“When we found out Swindon were coming down to look at Charlie, a lot of us thought it was probably a step too far at that stage. Poole were in one of the bottom leagues in non-league and the next move for a lot of us would have been Conference South.
"To even think about starting for Swindon at that stage was a big ask for Charlie. It’s been six years and it still seems like yesterday that he was playing at Poole, although he’s obviously done so much in between.
“We wanted Charlie to succeed but Swindon were a professional outfit doing well in League One. You don’t look at a player in the Wessex League and ever imagine they are going to play for England. It just doesn’t enter your mind. I thought it would be conference level and then see how he goes.”
Austin's performances in England's ninth tier had already attracted interest from League Two Bournemouth several months before Swindon decided to offer him a professional deal.
The Cherries were plagued by financial trouble back then and narrowly escaped relegation to the Conference. Only a transfer embargo imposed by the Football League prevented manager Eddie Howe from signing Austin after the youngster caught his eye during a summer trial.
Six years on, Bournemouth have completed their own remarkable surge through England's pyramid system, but Austin’s personal development has proved even more dramatic.
Howe made him the first signing of his tenure at Championship club Burnley after taking over in January 2011. It was clearly not lost on him when the man who had slipped through his fingers bagged 31 league goals in 54 matches for Swindon in League One.
Howe cited family reasons when re-joining Bournemouth from Burnley in October 2012, ending his Turf Moof reign less than two years after moving north, but this had no impact whatsoever on Austin’s sensational goal-scoring exploits.
By May 2013, he had rippled the net 45 times in 90 matches over two-and-a-half seasons. A move to the Premier League seemed imminent, even though his former Poole team-mate hadn't noticed much of a change in Austin's style of play.
“As a player, he has stayed the same,” Smith explains. “He hasn’t suddenly become a skilful player and never will do. He was ultra confident in himself, and that was one of his biggest assets.
“Charlie wouldn’t stand out as being the best player on the pitch at Poole. He was Gary Lineker-esque, and would just be in the right place, at the right time. The biggest thing for Charlie is that he's learned that he can't give the ball away as he's progressed through the divisions."
Austin must have felt like he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, when a failed Hull City medical in July 2013 threatened to scupper his top flight aspirations. He eventually joined QPR for £4m and helped the Super Hoops win promotion back to the Premier League with 17 goals in 31 appearances.
The 25 year-old has already matched that tally in the Premier League, where only Man City’s Sergio Aguero, Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Chelsea’s Diego Costa have scored more often this season.
Whatever happens with England in the coming weeks, the former Poole striker's humble beginnings will ensure he doesn't take this opportunity for granted.
“It was doubly tough for him being a bricklayer, going to work every day and then playing non-league football,” says Smith. “It will always remind him of where he’s come from. And what it took to get to that point. I think Charlie would appreciate it more than anyone if he puts on that England shirt.”