THE Non-League Gold Rush is well and truly on. Jamie Vardy, Andre Gray and Michail Antonio have shown Premier League talent can have humble beginnings. And everyone wants a piece of the bounty.
From Hampton & Richmond duo Jamal Lowe and Nicke Kabamba joining Portsmouth to Hednesford Town left-back Cohen Bramall making the incredible leap to giants Arsenal, it’s been a busy start to 2017.
In the January transfer window, more than 25 players made the step up, proving the players are here if a club looks hard enough.
Solihull Moors boss Liam McDonald knows as much as anyone about that. The 31-year-old was Redditch United manager two years ago when striker Jermaine Hylton was snapped up by Swindon Town.
This year it was Bramall, who he signed for Hednesford from Market Drayton Town, making big headlines. Having been made redundant from his day job at the Bentley factory, the 20-year-old was catapulted to a club that has no doubt seen plenty of luxury cars in the training ground car park.
Desire
“Jermaine Hylton had that blistering pace, that energy, desire and dedication to become a pro footballer,” McDonald says.
“Cohen has pace in abundance. Two or three weeks into pre-season I remember speaking to Jermaine. He was something special but I told him, ‘I’ve met a lad who’s quicker than you!’ He said, ‘Not a chance’. I said, ‘No, really, it’s true’.”
Bramall wasn’t even in the Pitmen’s starting XI on the opening day of the season until a mid-game injury saw him put on at left-back – a position McDonald had to tell Bramall’s supportive parents would be the most beneficial for his future.
McDonald says he speaks to Bramall almost daily – “even just to tell me he’s bought a sofa” – and is convinced Non-League has set him up for the future properly.
“There were times I rang him on a Saturday night or Sunday morning because I wasn’t happy with his level of performance,” McDonald says.
“He had to realise, ‘At 20 you’re one of our best players and key, so you are now a senior player for me. You have to take responsibility’. We lost somewhere away and he was a culprit in why we lost.
“He got the brunt end of me. He said, ‘Ah, it’s not my fault’. I said, ‘It is. If we concede goals, you’re part of the back four, and you and another will take responsibility for it’.
“You saw him grow again, I’d almost say into a man. You’d shout at him and he wouldn’t lose concentration or focus. He’d accept it and take it on board. He’s a fantastic player.
“People ask me about Cohen’s story and I say, ‘It’s to be continued’. If he makes Arsenal’s first team there’s a pretty good chance it’s not going to stop there.”
Bramall isn’t the only Step 3 player to make a big move. Harrow Borough‘s Ibrahim Meite joined Cardiff City, Rushall Olympic striker Alex Reid went to Fleetwood Town, and Stourbridge defender Dan Scarr made the short hop to Birmingham City.
“I took Scarry to Redditch from Causeway United in Step 5,” McDonald says. “He had a good season and, as is the way in Non-League football, Stourbridge could pay more than I could so I wished him all the best.
Hard knocks
“But I must say, Stourbridge played a massive part in his development then, because he got toughened up in the Northern Premier League.”
Plenty made January moves from the National League too. Braintree star Sim Akinola moved to Barnet, who also signed Eastleigh’s highly-rated Luke Coulson and?Forest Green’s Charlie Clough.
Clough’s old team-mate at the New Lawn, Kieffer Moore, is back in the Championship with Ipswich Town, and is joined in Suffolk by Macclesfield‘s Danny Rowe.
McDonald saw the manager he replaced at Moors, Grimsby’s Marcus Bignot, return for Jamey Osborne and Akwasi Asante.
“Jamey is the most naturally gifted football player I’ve ever managed,” says McDonald, who first had the midfielder at Redditch.
“He could not play for two years, you give him a ball and he could play at any level and run past people like they’re not there.
“I’ve not seen anything like it. It didn’t surprise me when he played for Grimsby last week and got man of the match on his debut.”
And McDonald fully expects the trend to continue as clubs hunt for more players educated in football’s school of hard knocks.
“Premier League scouts now won’t just dot about in the Championship or League One,” he says. “They will find themselves at games in the Southern Premier, the Northern Premier, the National League North.
“If you put the best National League XI together, it could compete in the Championship. If you put the best Southern Premier XI together, they could play against a National League side.
“Dan Scarr would have been in it, Cohen, Alex Reid – that’s just three players that have all made the step up.
“People will be sniffing around more and more. And that means clubs at Non-League level will start earning more money. These lads are on contracts so the money starts filtering down rather than go elsewhere. It’s fantastic.”
