AFc Totton pulled a big surprise out of the hat this evening when they unveiled their latest signing ahead of their pre season fixture against Eastbourne on Tuesday evening, the man who walked out was none other than ex Southampton striker Charlie Austin.
Charlie Austin was a player who perhaps split some Southampton supporters, when he arrived in January 2016, he had a reputation as a bit of a crock, but he made an immediate impact when after coming on as a substitute at Old Trafford in the dying minutes, he scored an 87th minute winner.
Sadly this would be his only goal of the season, with injury issues he would make only 6 more appearances mainly as a late substitute, but he played a part as Saints stormed to a 6th place finish.
He would stay at the club for 3 1/2 years making 34 starts and 37 off the bench in total and scoring 16 goals in the Premier League, a reasonable return for the £4 million Saints paid for his services and we got that back when he left for QPR in August 2019.
Since then he has been a football nomad, after the Baggies, he went to his old club QPR and then a spell at Brisbane Roar in Australia.
He returned to England in December 2022 and joined Swindon where his 50 starts and 16 sub appearances saw him hit 16 goals in League 2 was a reasonable return of a goal every 4 games.
The rumour was that Swindon wanted to keep him but they could not afford his wages, which makes his arrival at the Snows Stadium even more of a surprise given the Stags are 3 steps below the Wiltshire side.
At 35 a player of the quality of Charlie Austin should find the Southern League Premier South easily within his capabilities.
This is a big coup for Totton and should give them a big boost after their defeat in the play offs to Salisbury on penalties last term, which would have seen them in the National League South.
Good luck to Charlie Austin, he left Saints under a bit of a cloud after seemingly falling out with then manager Ralph Hasenhuttl and there were some fans that felt he disrespected the club, but I think that he felt that he wasn't given the credit he deserved by some supporters and perhaps took it a little too personal.
But he scored some vital goals and his strike rate of roughly a goal every 4 games is something than only Danny Ings has managed since Austin departed St Mary's 5 years ago.