7 Reasons Why Signing Non-League Strikers Works, Feat. Leeds Utd Legend’s Goal Vs Man Utd

Amitai Winehouse (@awinehouse1)

There has been a constant train of successful non-league strikers stepping up to the Football League in recent seasons.

The most notable of these is undoubtedly Charlie Austin, who has began to score on a more regular basis for Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League, having played for sides like Kintbury Rangers, Hungerford Town and Poole Town less than eight years ago.

There have been others, however, and it is increasingly clear that players from the bottom can have an impact on the top-level of the game, no matter how far they’ve fallen.

Here are seven things that prove non-league stars can step up:

1. Jermaine Beckford scored a goal every other game in his first season in League One with Leeds United

Jermaine Beckford

2. Steve Morison bullied League One defences, scoring 35 goals in two seasons for Millwall

Steve-Morison-006

3. Dwight Gayle stepped up to the Premier League in only two years after leaving non-league, costing Crystal Palace a club record £4.5 million

Dwight Gayle Liverpool

Here he is ending Liverpool’s title hopes last season.

4. Jamie Vardy struggled, scoring only four goals in 26 games after his £1 million move to Leicester City, but played a key role as they beat Manchester United 5-3 in the Premier League this season

Van Gaal

Unlucky Louis.

5. Jermaine Beckford scored the goal as Leeds beat their biggest rivals Man Utd away from home for the first time since 1981. In the same season, he scored a last-minute equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur and the goal that won Leeds promotion

6. These goalscoring heroes played at the following clubs: Jermaine Beckford, Wealdstone; Steve Morison, Bishop’s Stortford; Dwight Gayle, Stansted and Dagenham & Redbridge; Jamie Vardy, Stocksbridge Park Steels and FC Halifax Town

Stocksbridge Park Steels
Where Jamie Vardy plied his trade for Stocksbridge.

7. Fernando Torres cost Chelsea £50 million and scored 20 goals in the Premier League in 110 games. Charlie Austin cost Queens Park Rangers  £4 million and has scored 6 goals in 10 Premier League games

Spoughts
Editor

2 thoughts on “7 Reasons Why Signing Non-League Strikers Works, Feat. Leeds Utd Legend’s Goal Vs Man Utd”

  1. I think you need to change your heading regarding Leeds beating Man Utd for the first time since 1981. They weren’t that invincible.

  2. Look back a little further and QPR and Palace were again picking up non-league stars with Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright going onto forge stellar Premier League careers and winning international caps along the way. It can be done, but scouting lower leagues for talent hardly seems de rigeur for some clubs nowadays!

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