It is a cold winter morning at West Brom’s training ground and Charlie Austin is sitting in the sparse media room, reflecting on the dog-eat-dog environment of the Championship.

He turned 30 in July and has spent much of the past five years in the Premier League, earning an England call-up along the way, yet this move to the Hawthorns is far from a retrograde step.

In the summer, he was training with Southampton’s under-23s, after being transfer-listed by Ralph Hasenhuttl, but now he could not be happier as he assesses the punishing 46-game slog for promotion.

West Brom are hoping to return to the top of the table and are establishing a reputation as the division’s great entertainers under Slaven Bilic, while Austin has been the match-winner in two of the last three games.

“This is what I needed to get that spark back into my career, to enjoy my football again and score goals in a winning team,” he says.

“Sometimes you have to take a step out to relight the fire, poke the bear and have a right go at this again.

“I’ve still got the hunger and yeah, a point to prove. Everybody loves playing in the Premier League, don’t they? Don’t get me wrong, what’s going on with the VAR and that is rubbish, but everyone wants to play there.