It seems there is a growing trend of former Premier League players joining non-league outfits this summer. Two of the players who have joined that ever-increasing band recently are former Premier League forwards Adam Le Fondre and Charlie Austin, who will play in the non-league game in season 2024/25.
Le Fondre has joined F.C. United
At 37 years of age, Adam Le Fondre has joined F.C. United of Manchester. It may not be the bright lights or leaky roof of Manchester United, but according to the veteran forward, the club matches his ambitions.
The Northern Premier League club has pulled off something of a coup by attracting such a prolific striker, even if he is in the twilight of his career.
Le Fondre has been reasonably prolific in scoring goals throughout his career, scoring a respectable 278 goals in 723 career appearances in all competitions.
The veteran striker has spent most of his career in the lower leagues of English football.
However, he spent one reasonably prolific campaign in the Premier League with Reading in 2012/13, when he scored 12 goals in 34 appearances. The Royals suffered relegation to the Championship after just one season.
The eighth tier of English football is uncharted territory for the striker. Le Fondre has never played non-league football, with the lowest level he has played being League Two.
He enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his career with Rotherham United in 2009/10 when they were in the fourth tier of the English game, scoring 25 league goals.
Austin is returning to non-league football
Like his fellow forward, Charlie Austin joined an eight-tier club last month as he signed for A.F.C Totton of the Southern League.
DEBUT DAY 🦌💙
Who remembers the last time @chazaustin10 made a debut for a team on the South Coast…? 🤔👇🏼
Be at the @SnowsGroup Stadium on Saturday to see Charlie make his first appearance for The Stags against Forest Green Rovers! 🙌🏻
Footage: @SouthamptonFC… pic.twitter.com/A1oKLUrnnk
— AFC Totton ⚽️🦌 (@AFCTotton) August 1, 2024
While Adam Le Fondre is only just discovering the delights of non-league game, the former Southampton star is familiar with English football outside of the EFL.
Austin started his playing career in the non-league with Kintbury Rangers, Hungerford Town, and Poole Town. He was discovered at the latter after scoring an impressive 64 goals in 57 appearances over two seasons.
In 2009, he moved from Town to League One Swindon Town, where he hit the ground running, scoring 19 goals in his debut campaign in the EFL. Austin kept scoring goals at a decent rate, which led to him enjoying five seasons in the Premier League.
His 17 Championship goals in season 2013/14 helped QPR earn promotion to the English top-flight. Despite the forward scoring 18 times in his maiden season at English football’s elite level, his team suffered relegation back to the Championship.
After just half a season back in the second tier with Rangers, he returned to the Premier League with Southampton for the second half of season 2015/16.
Austin stayed with the Saints in the Premier League for three-and-half seasons, which were slightly less prolific than his first campaign in the top flight.
Except for five goalless matches for West Brom in season 2020/21, Austin didn’t reach the top level of the English game again. After returning to QPR, he played in the Championship and also briefly played in the Australian A-League with Brisbane Roar.
His last spell in the English game came at another one of his former clubs, Swindon Town, where he played in seasons 2022/23 and 2023/24. He stayed relatively sharp in front of goal with Swindon, scoring 23 goals in 68 appearances in all competitions.
Even at 35, Austin still has plenty of goals left in him, even if it isn’t at the level of the game he has been accustomed to for most of his playing career.
For a club like Totton, Charlie Austin is a potentially massive signing who could help the team’s ambitions on the pitch and maybe attract more fans to watch the team.
A growing trend this summer
In the past, dropping out of the EFL and entering the non-league game had something of a stigma attached to it. For some older players, signing for a non-league club was almost an acceptance that their careers were ending.
However, this summer has proven that playing non-league football is no longer stigmatised. Even former Premier League stars like Gareth Barry have decided to sign contracts with non-league clubs.
Barry didn’t need to return to playing football but has done for the love of the game. There is no doubt that Le Fondre and Austin had offers from clubs higher up the pyramid, even in the veteran stages of their careers.
However, it is interesting that both forwards have chosen to join clubs that are ‘projects’. Neither move seems motivated by money, as the pair are likely to be on small wages compared to their time at Premier League and EFL clubs.
It feels like the pair have joined their respected clubs for the love of playing rather than the financial aspect.
While the likes of Le Fondre and Austin are in the final years of their careers, both still have a lot to offer clubs. Players who have played at such a high level in non-league clubs will only help the clubs and even their teammates improve.
The players who are already at the clubs can learn a lot from players who have played the professional game for so long. If that can help those players to develop, then that is a highly positive aspect of the new arrivals for the non-league game as a whole.
Will Adam Le Fondre and Charlie Austin have a positive effect on the non-league game?