CHARLIE Austin has hit out at Saints by claiming that they didn’t show him the respect he deserved.

The 30-year-old striker joined Championship club West Brom on deadline day for £4m after spending the summer training with Radhi Jaidi’s under-23s.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Austin said: “Of course I was [hurt]. I am 30 years old. I felt like I needed to be treated with respect.

“It is easy to say the club has got to do this and that and they have got to look after themselves.

Then you wonder why players sit back and go ‘this is fine with me if you are going to treat me like that [then] no problem.

“The other side is that the outside world thinks the player gets this and gets that money and they should.

“Sometimes the club has got to look at it and go, ‘you have given him this, it is not their problem’. This is your problem. This is on you.

“Sometimes you have got to hold your hands up and say that is up to you. I look in the mirror and can say I did nothing wrong.

“For six weeks at Southampton I trained with the U23s, with Radhi Jaïdi, gave them no trouble and trained with them every single day and that was it.

“But I see it as that door is shut and this door is open. I am part of a club now that has the same feel as the club I was at before Southampton [in QPR] when they were on the rise up.”

Due to not training with the first team throughout the summer, Austin explained that his taken him longer than he would have liked to reach full fitness at West Brom.

He added: “I never had a pre-season. That was nothing to do with me, that was the way that the club wanted to go down.

“I have come here and feel now I am in a position where I am ready to go now. I have used the last six weeks and all the games as my pre-season games as such and the manager was good for me.”