WHILE life may have turned full circle for James Hayter, AFC Bournemouth is today unrecognisable from the club he once put on the map.

Hayter now works part-time in the same Cherries youth ranks where his distinguished career started in the mid-1990s.

The seven and eight-year-olds who are fortunate to be coached by the club’s revered former striker will doubtless be dreaming of following in his footsteps.

But should any of them make the grade at Dean Court – and with Cherries still in the Premier League – they would find things very different to when Hayter graduated.

Hayter shot to national prominence when he scored a hat-trick in 140 seconds – the fastest in Football League history – in a 6-0 win over Wrexham, with Saturday marking the 14th anniversary of his remarkable feat.

“I remember my first pre-season,” said Hayter. “We used to run in the mornings and then paint the hallways in the old ground to save the club money!

“We had to clean the changing rooms and pay to replace our kit if we lost any. You couldn’t afford to lose anything, otherwise it would come out of your own pocket.

“There were no pre-season tours abroad, which you see all clubs having nowadays. It is all a far cry from when I started out as a teenager.

“I earned £40 a week as an apprentice. It was hard to live on but I managed to save some. I was living in digs on Holdenhurst Road and my food was paid for.

“There were six of us. We didn’t have a lot of money but we made do. We played and watched football most of the time. One of the lads had a computer so we played on that as well. It’s amazing how things have moved on.”

The club’s fifth highest goalscorer and sixth leading appearance-maker, Hayter made his debut when he was still a second-year trainee in April 1997.

Just three months earlier, he had been left wondering whether his boyhood dream of a career as a professional would be shattered before it had even started.

Cherries’ perilous financial position finally caught up with the club when it was placed in administrative receivership.

“The club was not in a great place,” said Hayter. “I was one of the lads going round with buckets collecting money at the Winter Gardens.

“They were really dark days and it was touch and go whether the club would survive. The first-team lads played at Bristol City on the following Saturday and didn’t know whether it was going to exist or if they would get paid.

“I was in the youth team and it was a difficult time for us as well. We were all hoping to take our first steps on a playing career but we weren’t sure whether the club was going to survive. Fortunately, it pulled through.”

Hayter, tutored by Sean O’Driscoll in the youth ranks, was rewarded by manager Mel Machin for his exploits with a first professional contract in the summer of 1997.

His wages rocketed to £125 a week and he moved out of digs and started lodging with Eddie Howe at his flat in Springbourne.

“He was a good landlord!” laughed Hayter. “He charged me less than what I had been paying in digs.

“I lodged with him for about a year. He was in the first team and had just signed an improved contract, allowing him to buy his first flat. I stayed with him until I bought my first place in Meyrick Park.

“We are fairly similar, both chilled and laid back, so we got on well. We are still friends to this day and it is brilliant to see what he has done.”

Hayter, who netted 176 goals in 721 games in a league career spanning 18 years, won promotion with the three clubs he served – Cherries, Doncaster and Yeovil – all in play-off finals.

He is hoping to help Havant & Waterlooville claim back-to-back promotions this season, a rise which would take them from the Isthmian League to the National League.

But is he envious of today’s Premier League stars, having missed out on the possibility of becoming a millionaire?

“There is an element of that but you also wonder whether you would have made it if the club had been playing at the top level then.

“It is difficult for young lads to break through now and they need to be outstanding players.

“I was fortunate to play regularly in the reserves when I was 16 and 17. The first team only had a squad of about 18 so that definitely helped with my development.

“Sometimes, you think you have missed out on the money side of it but you also never know whether you would have had a chance.

“Realistically, the majority of the young players will make their living away from the club in the lower leagues. That’s what happened to me. If you could have all the trappings, the world’s your oyster but there are no sure signs of that.

“It’s surreal and crazy when you look at the club now and how well it has done. Nobody could have predicted it, especially in those dark days.

“It is unbelievable to have gone from that night at the Winter Gardens to more than holding their own in the Premier League. Long may it continue!”