By Mark Meadows
YEADING (Reuters) - Approaching the ground of minor league Yeading, it is easy to see why Sunday’s FA Cup third-round match against Premier League Newcastle United had to be switched to a bigger venue.
Rusty corrugated iron sheets surround most of the pitch at The Warren, buried down a cul-de-sac at the back of an industrial estate in the suburbs of west London.
The setting is a far cry from Loftus Road, Queen’s Park Rangers’ all-seater stadium where the tie will take place.
For Yeading striker DJ Campbell, the experience will be nothing new as he tasted life as a young professional footballer with QPR before moving to Premier League Aston Villa.
Campbell, 23, dreams of what might have been after throwing away the chance of making it in the big time at the age of 17.
He played in Villa’s youth teams alongside England striker Darius Vassell and current Villa left back JLloyd Samuel before deciding to walk away.
"I regret the things that I have done. I was young and fiery at the time," says Campbell who now works part-time in a warehouse.
"I didn’t get on with (then Villa manager) John Gregory. I had a little baby and was homesick.
"I had a good chance of making it but I felt (quitting) was the right thing to do. I wasn’t wanting to listen to people."
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SCORERHe left the game for a year and drifted around minor league clubs but a twist of fate led him to the attention of future Yeading manager Johnson ’Drax’ Hippolyte.
"I lived just two minutes from his mum’s," Hippolyte said. "I saw him through the window playing on the field with some local boys."
Campbell has never looked back and smashed in 36 goals last season as semi-professional Yeading were crowned champions of their division.
"I was four goals behind the league top scorer but I scored five in the last game to win the golden boot," Campbell recalls.
He is top scorer with 22 so far this season as Yeading have run away with the Ryman League premier division, sitting nine points clear of their nearest rivals after 22 games.
That still leaves Yeading six divisions below Newcastle in the English league pyramid but 40-year-old boss Hippolyte, who is still registered as a player and delivers kitchen worktops for a living, thinks his team will not embarrass themselves.
"For a non-league side we are a good side. Man for man we have good ability. Every day (the Newcastle game) has been on my mind but we have had league games and training and the most important thing is promotion."
BELOW PAR
Yeading are not totally new to the limelight after The Warren was used in the soccer films The Mean Machine and Bend it Like Beckham.
Peel away the exterior and Yeading is a well-run little club, with an impressive bar that 55,000 at a Newcastle home game would be proud of, even if the Premier League side’s form on the pitch this season has been below par.
Newcastle lie in 14th and have leaked goals, prompting manager Graeme Souness to bring in defenders Celestine Babayaro and Jean-Alain Boumsong during the transfer window.
However, Yeading boss Hippolyte believes striker Campbell will worry whomever he faces.
"Why no-one’s taken him on a two-week trial is beyond me," Hippolyte chuckled, wondering how he has clung on to such a prolific scorer.
Campbell returns to Loftus Road as a QPR fan after starting his career there while his brother follows Newcastle, having latched on to the second-best supported club in England after Manchester United.
Campbell accepts there might be family frictions but is aware this is probably his last chance to show he could play at a higher level.
"It is a chance for everyone to get in the shop window. I’ve had so many chances and blown them, so hopefully this time..."
