From non-league to League One: How hard work and dedication has seen Harvey Saunders make it to the EFL

The local lad has been in the paper since making the breakthrough in 2017, he first made a name for himself, however, in these pages back in 2005 and it was nothing to do with football.

Then a pupil at Staindrop Primary School, Saunders had become one of the country’s youngest to achieve black belt status in taekwondo, and that meant a write-up in the paper and posing for a picture.

Aged seven-years-old, sporting a short haircut and an earring, the youngster stood proud as punch, fists clenched, as he posed for the photograph.

Fourteen years later and he was doing it again - no fists this time - while wearing a Fleetwood shirt.

He put pen to paper in Lancashire a fortnight ago. The day before he had trained with Darlington’s academy players at 2pm, then did a running session with team-mate Alex Henshall before completing a busy day by joining the rest of his team-mates for a regular training session during the evening at Eastbourne Sports Complex.

No complacency, no let up, no excuses, just a desire to improve, to be better than yesterday.

Such traits are evident throughout this story of a hard-working youngster, who, in an era when clubs have hundreds of youngsters in their academies, was never attached to professional youth set-up.

He played for a Barnard Castle junior side, but they disbanded when aged 13 or 14, so he turned to rugby so didn’t play as much football as his peers, perhaps missing out on some development.

Yet through sheer determination and with the influence of a handful of mentors he has now moved into the EFL.

Putting the extra work in with Quakers’ academy kids, says Darlington manager Tommy Wright, is typical of Saunders and helps explain what has taken the 21-year-old from non-league to League One.

From working as a barista in Mango Bean to being a striker in professional football, from playing for Darlington RA to playing for Joey Barton, the player whose name he had on the back of his shirt as a child.

Saunders remains with Quakers on loan for the remainder of the season before joining Fleetwood full-time in the summer, the fee believed to be a five-figure sum with clauses attached.

He will spend Monday-Wednesday training at Poolfoot Farm, Fleetwood’s £7m training complex opened in 2016 and living at a club-owned property, before heading back to the family home in Staindrop in Teesdale to prepare for Quakers’ next game.

He admitted: “I’m used to being up at half-past-six, going to work, having an hour’s rest at home after work and then going out to train. Now my whole day is football and I don’t know what to do with myself the rest of the time!

“It’s been brilliant so far. Everyone has been welcoming, I don’t feel like the new kid and everyone is there to help you.”

The transfer represents a three-division jump. Lewis Wing successfully moving from Shildon to Middlesbrough has proven what can be achieved, with another comparison to make being with Jamie Vardy.

He is a former Fleetwood player with a non-league background known for his workrate and pace, the same characteristics that define Saunders.

Fleetwood know he is not the finished article. They will work on his weaknesses, just as Wright has done for over a year, but Fleetwood feel they have found a rough diamond.

“There was other interest in him,” revealed Wright. “Barnsley kept tabs on him after a trial there last year, and other Football League clubs were interested.

“Every time I spoke to someone in football Harvey’s name would get mentioned, and sometimes in circles you might not have expected. I know people at Leicester, I didn’t tell them about Harvey, it was them asking me.

“Fleetwood are the perfect club for him and with the training facilities they have. He will get opportunities and the time is right for him.”

With 21 starts, this has been Saunders’ breakthrough campaign.

Up until the end of last season 38 of his 45 appearances had been as a substitute, but circumstances changed. Reece Styche being sold and Simon Ainge being either injured or needed in defence created an opportunity, and Saunders has now scored seven goals this season, plus a hat-trick in the Durham Challenge Cup.

The transfer reflects well on Wright and those who placed their faith in Saunders.

Martin Gray signed him in January 2016 having been told all about the youngster in glowing terms by chief scout Harry Dunn, one of the stalwarts of this region's non-league game, and then gave him his debut in January 2017.

After the match, Gray said: “He's full of energy and he’s an unknown. It’s only two years ago he was playing for Darlington RA, but his pace is exceptional."

Chris Swailes, Dunston UTS' manager when Saunders was on loan there, put it another way, saying the forward "could catch pigeons".

He’d caught Dunn’s eye during a nomadic spell that included a stints with Bishop Auckland, who gave him an appearance at left-back, Darlington RA, where he got two hat-tricks, and Durham City, where the scout saw him in a friendly against Quakers.

Dunn not only strongly recommended Gray sign Saunders, he also worked one-on-one with him to improve his technical ability, taking him to a park in Bishop Auckland during the summer of 2016.

It sounds like football’s version of a Rocky film, an old-timer spending his time in a local park firing balls at an enthusiastic youngster hoping to hone his touch.

After signing for Fleetwood, one of the first people Saunders rang to express his gratitude was Dunn.

“He was brilliant for me,” says Saunders. “He’d ring me up and ask me to come down the park and he improved me in any way he could.

“He gave me little bits about technique that still stick in my mind now, and we were using tennis balls.

“After not playing football when you’re younger, you don’t realise how much you’ve missed out on.”

Since becoming Darlington’s manager midway through last season, Wright, also striker in his playing days, has worked with extensively with Saunders.

“The harder you work, the more likely you are to get your rewards and Harvey has proven that,” says Wright.

“Many wrote him off as not being good enough for Darlington, let alone the Football League.

“Every young player has potential, but it’s about unearthing it. He has got his head down. He has worked, he’s listened, he’s soaked it all up but ultimately you need the right mentality and belief.

“We can make players do extra work, but you want the lads to want to do it. Early days it was probably more me asking Harvey to do more after training, but it’s became a routine and doing extra is now what we do.

“As a young lad I looked up to my coaches, I respected them, I soaked everything up, and that’s what Harvey has done. A lot of young lads think they know best.

“Ultimately Harvey is the one that has done the hard work and has been first into training every Tuesday and Thursday. It’s become a running joke at the club – training starts at 6.45pm, but he’s there in the gym at 5pm. We finish training usually by quarter to nine, but me and Harvey are there until 20 past nine.”

The gym work has been worthwhile as he’s visibly bulked up.

Harvey’s father, Jonathan, has been a guiding hand throughout, ferrying his son to matches home and away, he was at Fleetwood when Harvey met Barton, the striker’s childhood hero.

Jonathan revealed: “I never allowed Harvey to have a player’s name on the back of his shirt as a kid, ‘it should be your own name’ I’d say.

“But the only one I did let him to have was Joey Barton, because he was his hero, he was his absolute idol. It’s bizarre how things come around!

“The minute we walked in at Fleetwood everyone was kind, it was a bit like Darlo really. The guy on reception said ‘Oh hello Harvey, I’ve just been watching a clip of you playing’.

“Joey sat him down and said ‘we’ll look after you, we know what you’re all about’.”

It is Jonathan’s influence that saw his son take a keen interest in martial arts, though it was proud mother Lynn who was quoted in the Echo’s 2005 story headlined: “Seven-year-old black belt packs a punch.”

She said at the time. “He is not at all aggressive. He's a nice natured boy, but loves everything to do with martial arts and enjoys taking part in the fights.”

Fourteen years later and he has a feistiness to his game that comes to the fore occasionally - difficult to say whether Barton will curb or encourage it - but it is his never-say-die attitude that is most evident.

He’s a relentless runner who never gives defenders an inch, and his interest in taekwondo could explain it.

His dad says: “It gives you that thing where the body will keep going even if the brain doesn’t want it too. You can spot a kid who’s done a martial art – jumping, balance, manual dexterity, co-ordination, it teaches you all of those things.”

If you’ve been at a Quakers game in recent seasons you’ve probably seen Jonathan –jovial chap, well-built and bearded, unlikely to be confused with his fresh-faced and whippet-paced son.

“Harvey’s a credit to his mum and dad,” added Wright. “I’ve never met anyone like his dad, Jonathan, he’s so tough!

“Every time Harvey’s says he’s tired his dad has said ‘no, get on with it, don’t give the manager an excuse to leave you out of the team’.

“That grit and determination is what’s got Harvey the move.”