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The Premier League has done and continues to do a splendid job of convincing the uninitiated sports fan that it is, in fact, the greatest and most spectacular assembly of sporting talent on the planet. Only the very best players of the highest possible sophistication can survive at the top level.Except that’s not quite true. Though youngsters at the top clubs theoretically have an advantage over those from less glamorous backgrounds, multiple are the instances of players emerging from the rough-and-tumble of non-league football and making these supposedly top notch talents look rather silly in comparison.Here are ten such players who had humble beginnings, but went on to thrive in the Premier League.
#1 Jamie Vardy
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Jamie Vardy the first team professional first saw the light of day at Stocksbridge Park Steels in 2007. Over the next five years, before his transfer to Leicester City in 2012, Vardy also played for Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town.
Leicester’s difficult first season in the Premier League, rescued by their great escape in the final few weeks, was somewhat mitigated by the form of Leonardo Ulloa. The most impressive result, however, came in September 2014 and was engineered by Jamie Vardy: a 5-3 home defeat of Manchester United announced the arrival of a scruffy louse who nobody would have hitherto looked twice at.
It began a wave the Yorkshireman rode to fourteen goals so far this new season, an England call-up and a Premier League record. It is all a far cry from a 7 a.m. wake-up time to juggle both work and training for a £30-a-week wage.
#2 Steve Finnan
Rejected by Wimbledon at 16, Steve Finnan signed with non-league side Welling United in 1993. He spent two years there, before turning pro with a transfer to Birmingham City. He later moved to Notts County and then Fulham in 1997.
After five personally fulfilling seasons at Fulham, during which Finnan helped the Cottagers win promotion to the Premier League, and had a strong run to the World Cup quarter-finals with the Republic of Ireland in 2002, Liverpool moved to secure his services in the summer of 2003.
It was an inspired signing. Out of the 114 Premier League games Liverpool played between 2004-05 and 2006-07, Finnan missed only 15 of them. Career highlights include an Intertoto win with Fulham in 2002 and the Champions League and FA Cup with Liverpool. It all contributes to the mystique of a fullback who almost ended up joining his family’s building business as a bricklayer.
#3 Joe Hart
Joe Hart spent his first year as a professional, 2003-04, in non-league football with Shrewsbury Town. They were able to climb back into the League that same year, but it was fast becoming evident that League Two was too small a stage for the talented Hart.
Manchester City pulled him out of the mire in 2006, and although, it took a few loan spells for Hart’s worth to draw more attention, once he settled in at the club, he proved difficult to dislodge.
2010-11 saw Hart win the Golden Glove as Manchester City won the FA Cup and qualified for the Champions League. It was Hart’s true coming-of-age.
Two league titles and two runners-up finishes have followed since, and Hart has also become England’s first choice goalkeeper. Successful duels with Barcelona in the Champions League make those gritty days as a schoolboy cricketer and at Gay Meadow seem like a different reality.
#4 Les Ferdinand
Until 1987, ‘Sir’ Les Ferdinand roughed it in non-league football, with spells at clubs like Hayes and Southall. At age 20, however, Ferdinand was signed by Queen’s Park Rangers.
It was a further five years, however, before Ferdinand really forced the public to sit up and take notice. Beginning in 1992, Ferdinand racked up an impressive 60 goals in three seasons.
After much transfer speculation, though, he signed for Newcastle United in 1995. Runners-up for both seasons he was at the club, the two years on Tyneside brought 41 goals in 68 league games.
Injuries meant the six subsequent seasons at Tottenham were nowhere near his best. The 2003-04 season saw Ferdinand turn back the clock to come up with 12 goals in 29 games for Leicester City at the age of 37 – but that was the last act for one of the first stars of the Premier League as we know it.
#5 Yannick Bolasie
Yannick Bolasie’s career began at non-league Hillingdon Borough in 2006, before moving to Plymouth Argyle in 2008. This was followed by a loan spell at Rushden and Diamonds of the Conference as well.
His taste of non-league action was rather brief, however, and Bolasie moved to Crystal Palace of the Championship in 2012. It was at Selhurst Park that he really began to find his feet as a professional.
In 2013, back in the top flight after eight years, Crystal Palace came to depend on Bolasie’s presence in attack – with four assists in his first Premier League season. Not one to set the world alight, but Bolasie continued with four goals and six assists in 2014-15 – including a hat trick away at Sunderland.
The new season, which has already brought four important goals with it, will hopefully see Bolasie carry on the good work.
#6 Charlie Austin
Released by Reading at 15, 107 goals in 202 games of league football since 2009. That, in essence, is the story of Charlie Austin. For four seasons, divided across spells with non-league sides Kintbury Rangers, Hungerford Town and Poole Town, Austin paid his dues alright.
Splendid performances took him to Swindon Town, Burnley and Queen’s Park Rangers – and eventually the Premier League.
His solitary year was a revelation – incredibly, for a QPR side that finished bottom, Austin was fourth on the list of top scorers for the season, behind only Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Diego Costa.
His 18 goals also put Austin above other such luminaries as Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard and Olivier Giroud. It only serves to demonstrate Austin’s proficiency in front of goal, and fans of the Premier League will hope the former career bricklayer is back in the top flight sooner rather than later.
#7 Chris Smalling
Plucked from the ranks of Maidstone United, Fulham should be given their due for taking a chance on the young defender in the summer of 2008. And after two years with the Cottagers, Manchester United officially signed Chris Smalling in 2010.
Smalling was initially inconsistent – deputising at right back, combined with injury and the imposing figures of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand meant Smalling was never quite “the man” in defence. Under David Moyes, however, disciplinary trouble with the club suggested something more serious.
Louis van Gaal saw the ugly side of that. Smalling was dismissed in the Manchester derby in November 2014, following which Manchester City scored and won the game. That, ironically, may have been what gave Smalling his new found focus.
Smalling has come on leaps and bounds since then. Now a first choice defender displaying impressive form, Smalling has been praised by his manager, who sees Smalling as potentially a future Man United skipper.
#8 Stuart Pearce
Five years at non-league Wealdstone from 1978-1983, along with a side pursuit as an electrician, taught Stuart Pearce lessons about life and football the old fashioned way. It was rough and uncompromising, but that grounding held him in good stead.
Though his most prominent club, Nottingham Forest, yo-yo-ed between the Premier League and the Championship in the 1990s, Pearce never let his head hang.
He scored the goal that won promotion in 1994, and helped the club to a third-place finish in the Premier League in 1995 (to date, the highest finish for a promoted club in the Premier League era) and a quarter-final place in the 1996 UEFA Cup.
Spells with Newcastle, West Ham and Manchester City followed, and Pearce retired in 2002, having amassed 78 caps for England as well.
The man known to many as simply “Psycho” also had notable spells in management with Manchester City and the England Under-21s.
#9 Kevin Phillips
After his release from Southampton as a teenager, Kevin Phillips joined non-league Baldock Town in 1991. He spent three years there, before moving to Watford. Most of the 1990s were spent in the Championship with Watford and Sunderland, but Phillips eventually won promotion with The Black Cats in 1998-99.
His first season saw Phillips strike up a classic “little-and-large” partnership with Niall Quinn. A brilliant 30-goal 1999-2000 ensued – Phillips won the European Golden Shoe, never mind the Premier League Golden Boot, and to date he is the only Englishman to have won it.
In his subsequent seasons in the English top flight, Phillips racked up 62 goals in eight-and-a-half seasons in the Premier League across spells with Sunderland, Southampton, Aston Villa, Birmingham and Crystal Palace. When you combine ‘good things come in small packages’ and ‘knock it up for the big man to knock it down’, Kevin Phillips is what you get.
#10 Ashley Williams
Ashley Williams had to rough it in non-league football after being released by West Bromwich Albion. He spent two years (2001-03) at Hednesford Town, before being transferred to League One’s Stockport County. While there, Williams was made captain and also debuted for Wales.
A loan to Swansea City in early 2008 followed, with the management impressed enough by Williams to sign him permanently for a club record fee.
Eventually, the club were promoted to the Premier League in 2011 with Williams, that defensive rock, completing three full seasons without missing a game. He has helped keep a respectable 45 clean sheets since his Premier League debut and has also been permanently named the Swansea and Wales captain.
As Williams gears up to represent Wales at Euro 2016, he can also be pleased with a piece of silverware – the 2013 League Cup. Not a bad show from the former Hednesford defender.
