Swindon Town striker Charlie Austin is in line to make his second debut this weekend against Grimsby.
Austin is back where his career kickstarted, Swindon Town and the striker is now ready to return to the County Ground in front of what is expected to be a bumper crowd.
Town fans are ready to welcome back the 33 year old who went on to play for QPR, Burnley, Southampton, West Brom and Brisbane Roar.
Swindon kit man Steve Hooper believes that it will massively help Swindon commercially.
“We have had some good crowds recently and boxing day we had ten thousand which was more than Bournemouth had in the Premier league.
“I do think though that these big crowds will become more consistent with the arrival of Chaz (Charlie).
“Not only has he played fantastically for the club before and already won the hearts of supporters, but he’s also played in the Premier League and is now a very big name.
“He’s come back a completely different person, he’s a lot more confident and definitely louder but he’s still the same goal scoring Charlie and I think the club shop are going to have to print a lot more shirts than they’re used to.”
Austin ‘s signature captured a lot of interest on social media, with the announcement of the striker receiving thousands of likes on Twitter but kit man Hooper is not surprised.
“He’s one of the most loved players to play for our club in recent times at least, I am not surprised that he is getting this amount of attention, he grew up half an hour away so we all think of him as a local.”
Town have run into a strange run of form and are looking to correct that as they head into the second half of the season and Hooper believes that Charlie can help them with that.
“Charlie’s finishing ability is phenomenal and I think he is still too good for this League in terms of pure ability, yes he’s not in as good of a physical condition as he used to be, but if he was, he would still be in the Premier League.
“I think if the manager can get the team playing how he wants, Charlie will thrive.”
Hooper also reflected on his friendship with the striker.
“I get on with him so well he’s like my brother because I’ve known him for so long, obviously it’s been a while since he was here so I’m probably the only one he remembers.
“Chaz isn’t a hard person to get on with though so I’m sure a lot of people at the club will feel the same as me soon enough unless they mess up on the pitch, then they will be in for it.”
Austin penned a six-month deal at the County Ground following his departure from Brisbane Roar.
It’s not a long deal at Swindon but if it helps the Robins push for League One it will be seen as a great bit of business.
Austin is likely to play on the weekend against Grimsby, but it is not yet known whether will start.
