Players Who Went From Non-League To Premier League XI! _ Smalling, Bullard, Vardy

Welcome back to Football Daily. To celebrate non-league finals day, we've put together a team of the greatest players to climb up the footballing ladder. Goalkeeper, Joe Hart. Joe Hart grew up in Shrewsbury and went on to play for his local side, making the squad for the first time at the tender age of 15, when he was already 6ft 5. He had to wait two years to make his first start, and turned down the opportunity to pursue a career in cricket, eventually making his senior football debut in the conference against the mighty Gravesend and Northfleet, now Ebbsfleet United. That same week, Hart let in three against Morecambe, and it was another year before he earned a permanent spot in the first team, when Shrewsbury were promoted to League Two. By then, the news of a talented 19-year-old homegrown keeper had filtered through to the top leagues, and Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton all scouted the stopper. The campaign ended with Hart making the League Two team of the season, and Man City, then not the financial juggernaut they are today, scraped together £100,000 to sign him. He kept a clean sheet on his debut, and has gone on to rack up 119 shutouts in the prem, meaning City have forked out just £840 for each one. He's also won two league titles and four awards for the league's best keeper. Right back, Mikel Antonio. First up in our back line is Mikel Antonio, one of the Premier League's least likely stars. The speedy West Ham wide man, who can play as a full-back or as an attacking winger, appeared in the English top flight for the first time in 2015, at the age of 25. Antonio was eventually picked up by the Hammers following an impressive spell with Nottingham Forest, but his roots were very much in the non-league. Born in Wandsworth, the South Londoner started his career down the road at Tooting & Mitcham, joining the youth side at the age of 12 and staying with the Ryman League outfit for six years. During his time with the Terrors, Antonio worked as a lifeguard and considered giving up the dream to become a PE teacher. But after scoring on his full debut at the age of 17, things began to pick up, and he joined Reading in the Championship less than two years later. Several loan spells followed, including under Alan Pardew at Southampton, and by May 2017, a full ten years on from his first games for Tooting, Antonio has become a key man for Slav & Bilic's West Ham, with 18 goals in 69 appearances. Centre-back Chris Smalling Considering that Manchester United coughed up £6.8m to bring the relatively unknown Chris Smalling to Old Trafford from Fulham back in 2010, many Red Devils fans assumed the young centre-half was a product of the Cottagers' famed youth set-up. Contrary to popular belief, Smalling had already made the biggest leap of his footballing career when he joined Fulham from Maidstone United, who played in the Ryman League when he made the switch in 2008. The West London club paid Maidstone the far more modest sum of £10,000, meaning that they made nearly 700 times that amount when Sir Alex Ferguson came calling two years later. As of May 2017, Smalling has made over 150 appearances for the Red Devils, captaining the side on a number of occasions, and he has also won 30 caps for England, representing the Three Lions at two major tournaments. Centre-back Ashley Williams By the time he gained promotion to the Premier League with Swansea in 2011, Ashley Williams was a seasoned professional of the Football League. Having played in the Championship with the Swans and in League 1 and 2 with Stockport, the Welsh centre-half has certainly not taken playing in England's top flight for granted. And it could have happened a lot earlier. Coming up through the West Bromwich Albion youth system, Williams was hopeful of making it at the Hawthorns, but his dreams were scuppered when he was released at the age of 16. The young centre-back had to do things the hard way, playing with Staffordshire club Headingsford Town in English football's seventh tier to three seasons. Williams eventually got his break, as Stockport came in fame in 2003, and he also took the captain's armband for the Hatters, proving himself to be a natural leader. Williams made his international debut for Wales while he was still playing in League 2, and by 2016 had captained the Dragons to a historic European Championship semi-final, and had also earned himself a move to play under legendary centre-back Ronald Koeman at Everton. Left-back Steve Finnan Irish full-back Steve Finnan features on the left here, and is the only member of our non-League 11 to have won the Champions League. A starter in Liverpool's 2005 triumph in Istanbul, Finnan has claimed that he alone was the reason for the Red's success, as his injury before half-time led to Dietmar Hamann subbing on and an historic comeback. And that was far from Finnan's only piece of silverware. The defender started his career at non-League Welling United after getting the cup from Wimbledon's academy, and went on to win two FA Cups as well as titles in the second, third and fourth tiers of English football. Finnan is one of a small club of men to have scored in all of England's top five divisions, and also earned 52 caps for the Republic of Ireland. After retirement, he went to work on charity projects in The Gambia. Right-wing Jamie Vardy Because of the wealth of striking talent in our squad, we've had to stick this one out on the right. Before the days Jamie Vardy could party in such a nonchalant fashion, he was plying his trade for Stocksbridge Park Steels in the seventh tier of English football, following his release by boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday. As a 16-year-old, he earned £30 a week in South Yorkshire turning out for the club's reserves, and he'd supplement this income by working in a factory that made medical splints. A far cry from the lavish £100,000 a week contract he'd later secure following Leicester's historic title win in 2015-16. But his rise from the lower echelons was far from meteoric. A move to Halifax in June 2010 meant he could jack in the factory work, but it would be another two years before he sampled the heady heights of conference football. Mickey Mellon, possibly the greatest name in football, was the man who would make this happen, signing him for Fleetwood Town for an undisclosed fee. Vardy would repay his manager's faith with a plumb, firing the trawlerman into the Football League for the first ever time, netting 34 goals in 40 games in his debut season. This talismanic form aroused the interests of Leicester City, who secured their man for a non-league record of £1m, rising to £1.7m. But after just five goals in his first season for the Foxes, it looked like Vardy had bitten off more than he could chew. As the saying goes, cream always floats to the top, and following a 24-goal season in the Premier League and a prolific run for England, any doubts about the tenacious striker's ability to cut it at the top level has been dispelled. The boy done good, as they say in Sheffield. Central midfield, Jimmy Bullard One of English football's most humorous characters, Jimmy Bullard has always given off the impression of a man with two feet firmly on the ground, and his career backs this up, as the midfielder has big experience at every level of the game. Bullard began his playing days in the Southern County's East League with Corinthian FC, a club whose run to the second qualifying round of the FA Cup in 1993 remains their greatest ever endeavour in the competition. He then spent time with Dartford and Gravesend and Northfleet before getting his big move, climbing up five tiers of the English football pyramid to sign for boyhood heroes West Ham. But Bullard got his heart broken as he failed to break into the team and was released after two seasons. After that knock, the midfielder made his name at Peterborough United, before moving to Wigan Athletic, where he was a key part of the club's climb to the Premier League. By February 2006, he was playing for the Latics in the League Cup final, having knocked out Arsenal in the semis. He has now made his way back to the non-league, managing Leatherhead in the Ryman League while acting as Sky Sports' joker-in-chief. Central Midfield – Sam Klukas A left-wing shout with this one, Sam Klukas isn't usually a player we'd talk about, but he is one of the most recent examples of someone who's made the climb from the non-league. Klukas started his career in Leicester City's Youth Academy back in 2001 at the age of 10, but was released at 16 because he wasn't big enough. While studying sports development at Lincoln College, he was offered a scholarship to go to the United States, but stayed on and joined Lincoln after a successful trial period. Unfortunately though, he was released in 2010, but after more trials at Bisham Abbey, he was offered a two-year scholarship to the Glenn Hoddle Academy, which enabled him to move to Hereth Industrial in the Spanish fourth tier. Following a year with the Galician side, he moved to Hereford United, just below League Two, and after being the standout player for them, he was picked up by newly promoted Mansfield Town for £20,000, while he rejected a move to Cru Alexandra so he could be closer to home. Klukas now pays for Hull City, and on his Premier League debut, he was described as exceptional. In March 2017, the 26-year-old scored against Leicester City to complete a quite astounding record. He has now scored in the National League, League Two, League One, the Championship, and the Premier League, all in consecutive seasons. Blimey. LEFT WING – YANNICK BELASSI What a weird career Yannick Belassi has had. Born in Lyon, the winger trained with non-league Russian and Diamonds as a teenager, before playing for Hillingdon Borough in the eighth tier of English football. Quite ludicrously, club chairperson Didand wanted to pay Belassi £20 a week, but other officials objected and he ended up earning a free burger for each goal he scored. The Congolese wide man then had a spell in the Maltese Premier League, before returning to England where he climbed up the divisions with Plymouth, Bristol City and Crystal Palace. Plymouth paid just £21,000 for him, that's under 0.1% of the £25 million Everton will later shell out for his services. And despite 30-plus caps for his country and four years in the Prem, Belassi hasn't forgotten his roots. In January 2017, when Hillingdon Borough threatened to cease operations due to lack of support, Belassi called up the club to offer his encouragement. Forward Les Ferdinand With 149 Premier League goals, Les Ferdinand is among the division's all-time top 10 goalscorers, above Robin Van Persie and Didier Drogba. And the striker attributed this success to his early days playing amateur football at Southall in Hayes, as he faced fully grown adults as a 15-year-old. While leading the line for Southall, the club reached the final of the FA Vars, the holy grail of non-league football. And although Southall lost 3-0 to Hales Owen Town, Ferdinand had much to look forward to, and 1987 was spotted by Queens Park Rangers, who brought him to the English top flight. After a slow start and lone spells at Brentford and Besiktas of all places, Ferdinand became prolific for the hoops, and went on to bang in the goals for Newcastle and Tottenham, cementing his place as a Premier League legend. A man who has climbed up from the bottom, Charlie Austin has played for teams you'd probably be forgiven for thinking weren't even real. The Englishman actually started his career at Reading's Youth Academy, but was released for being too small when he was 15. During this period, the striker got a job with his father's firm, Austin Brickworks, and he later revealed his weekly routine at the time. Going to work Monday to Friday, playing football on Saturday with his mates and getting his football money of roughly £100, and then going out on the Saturday night and watching the football on the Sunday. Not a bad life by any means. But it was in 2008 that things got interesting for Austin, while playing for Pool Town FC, seven leagues away from the Premier League. The then-19-year-old scored 46 goals in 46 games, and news travelled quickly, with League One Swindon Town picking up Austin after an impressive trial run where he scored a hat-trick in a reserve game against Swansea. The rest, as they say, is history, as Austin has now led the line for QPR and Southampton in the Prem, and even received a call-up to the England squad in 2015.