THE HUSTLER
‘If I really had no ligaments in my knee, I wouldn’t be able to walk!’
WEDNESDAY night in Milan. During Southampton’s final training session at the San Siro, Charlie Austin pauses to capture the scene around him.
This moment is important. He looks up at those four towering stands and recalls the names of some of the giants who have played here. This is one of football’s cathedrals and to have chance to step on its turf is something Austin will cherish.
Yet as he takes all this in, one memory is vivid. It is about his time in non-League football. He thinks about his spell with Poole Town and remembers what it was like having to leave a building site early to catch a boat to play in an evening kick-off on the Isle of Wight.
‘I’d go home from work, get my gear, meet the lads and jump on the ferry,’ says Austin. ‘You would have work the next day, so no matter what happened in the game, there was no hanging around. The last ferry was 11pm. But it was brilliant. You did it because you loved football.’ FROM sailing across the Solent to leading Southampton’s attack in the San Siro, Austin’s journey has not been orthodox, but it is not a route he would change. This is a theme he reinforces during our conversation at his home in Compton, a small village in Hampshire.
Austin is currently one of the hottest strikers in the Premier League. A run of seven goals in his last seven appearances has led to increased calls for a return to the England squad, 16 months on from his sole call-up for games against the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia.
‘The experience I took away from being with the top- end English players was brilliant,’ Austin recalls. ‘I was frustrated I didn’t get the cap but I ticked a box in getting into the squad. If the opportunity comes again, I’ll grab it with both hands. Who knows what will happen?’
He knows critics will scoff at the idea of him representing England. Austin, by his own admission, doesn’t play with a style that is easy on the eye — he does not possess a blistering change of pace and has to contend with accusations that he is physically brittle.
But he scores. Austin might be a throwback to a different era — it could be argued, at 27, he is the last of a dying breed — but he’s clinical. Ronald Koeman wanted him at Southampton because, as he told Austin, ‘I was always in the right place at the right time’.
‘I had a conversation with Les Ferdinand about this when I was at QPR,’ says Austin. ‘ The problem now is everyone wants to be a No 10. Why doesn’t anyone want to be a centre forward that stands up there, heads it, puts his body in the way and attacks crosses coming in? That is a No 9.
‘When I was growing up they never had forward players like Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino. We had Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer. I watched Alan every single week. I thought he was fantastic — 260 Premier League goals. That will never be beaten, will it? I loved Alan and try to base my game on him. When we sit with analysts and watch a video in a team meeting of the opposition, of course I will take all that in.
‘But I’ve always felt the opposition should worry about what I’m bringing to the table, not the other way around. I’ve never studied a centre half’s weaknesses.
‘I’ve always thought, “I’ll find them out when I play”. It’s an old-fashioned approach, but it works. I think sometimes people can’t get their head around it. They question me: “Can he do this? Can he do that?” But every club I’ve gone to, I have moved up. When I went to Burnley (from Swindon), people were saying, “League One is his level”. I scored 45 goals in 90 games for Burnley. I went to QPR, helped them get promoted. So people were saying, “He is a Championship striker”. I scored 18 goals in the Premier League.
‘Then people said, “Is this just one season?” But then I arrived at Southampton (in January) and, for some reason, the credibility goes up. When you start scoring here, people maybe take a step back and say, “This is where he deserves to be”. I certainly believe that.’
All around his house is evidence to back that up. There are signed
‘After a game, I would have a takeaway and a couple of pints’
shirts on the wall of his games room from Daniel Sturridge and David Silva, with the likes of John Terry and Steven Gerrard among the others waiting to be hung.
There is a signed ball from the match he scored a hat-trick for QPR against West Brom in December 2014 that sits on a shelf to stop his four-year-old daughter Ava having games of her own in the hall, while the man- of-the-match award for last week’s double against Burnley will soon be in position.
He is, he says, happy, healthy and ‘never been fitter’. With those words introduced to the conversation, it is time to confront the subject of his failed medical at Hull in July 2013 and all that has followed, culminating in the claim from West Ham co- owner David Sullivan in August 2015 Austin had ‘ no ligaments in his knee’.
‘I had an operation when I was 15,’ Austin begins. ‘But I was only off for two months and I never looked back. When I signed for Swindon, they did a test and there was nothing. It was the same at Burnley. Then I went to Hull. My dad had come up from Bournemouth to be with me that day.
‘It was big, wasn’t it? I was going to sign for a Premier League club. But they found something on the scan. Steve Bruce spoke to my dad and David (Threlfall, his agent) and they told me. At that point I said, “I don’t want to play any more”. It was the heat of the moment but I thought that was it.
‘With West Ham, I can laugh about it now, I suppose. I was on my way into training and a mate of mine rang up and said, “Have you seen what David Sullivan has said about you?” I hadn’t, so I looked at it and thought, “What is this!”
‘If I had no ligaments, I wouldn’t be able to walk, would I?
‘I was annoyed, to be honest. Look how much it travelled around. It sticks in people’s minds, whether it is true or not. I just felt I had to act. What did it say about QPR if what he was saying was true? What did it say about me and my integrity? I had to make a statement.’
Austin described Sullivan’s comments as ‘outrageous’ at the time and he received an apology but closure did not arrive until he made another statement five weeks ago. This one came against West Ham at the London Stadium and was absolutely emphatic — a goal for Soutampton to kick-start a 3-0 drubbing.
‘I’d made up my mind not to react,’ he says. ‘But it wasn’t until after I realised how delighted I was. I know people would have expected me to do something but I didn’t want to stoke the fire again. We played well, I scored. We battered them. The goal put the cherry on the top of the cake.’
Had there been any concerns about his knee, Southampton would not have paid £4million for him in January. It is only since he has been at St Mary’s, though, that Austin has taken on board what is required to stay ahead of the game.
‘ I’ve changed my diet — not massively but enough to help me prevent injuries,’ Austin reveals. ‘Yes, I eat nuts (like Pep Guardiola has introduced at tomorrow’s opponents, Manchester City). Do you know what? I was never really mad for water.
‘I couldn’t keep ramming it down my throat. Let’s be honest — it’s not great, is it? But (Southampton captain) Jose Fonte was the one. He’s one of the best athletes I’ve seen. Every day he’d say, “Drink plenty of water”. He lives by it. He’s adamant professional athletes should never get muscle tears.
‘So I’ve lost body fat and put muscle on. It was a big eye opener. I am old fashioned. You can get stuck in your ways.
‘But I knew I had to change. What did I do before? It wasn’t anything over the top. I’d come in after a game, have a takeaway and a couple of pints.
‘That is the way I have always been and I don’t think I will alter that too much. But now it is a case of having it at the right time. That is just something I have taken through. If you are happy off the pitch and your life is in order, you will get your rewards.’
And he is proof those words are not hollow. Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic may have denied him a fairytale goal on Thursday as Southampton lost 1-0, but the fact Austin played in such a game is a measure of how far he has progressed. This journey, however, has not reached its final destination.
‘It’s patience,’ he says. ‘ A bit of luck, hard work. Having the right people around. Plus every team needs an out-and- out goalscorer. That’s what I am.’