I would hope there is a ‘buyback’ clause for a very small fee. Who knows though. Whatever ‘vested’ interest we have, I hope he continues playing well. A really nice lad.
On Al-Hamadi's departure, GA said: "“We will keep an invested interest in him as there is potential in Ali to go onto things." I'd be surprised if it was a buyback, rather than a sell-on clause, but who knows?
He also gave a goal away for free with their second goal. Dawson has had a nightmare recently so I think Stockdale will get a few more opportunities on the back of a fairly good performance yesterday.
I’ve just returned to the Gasroom after a break because of an eye condition. My point would have been that, had he still been with us, he would have been in the starting lineup on Saturday. His potential was obvious in that match at Plymouth when GA made eight changes from the eleven who’d beaten Bristol Rovers a few days earlier and, although you rightly point out that defenders in League 2 are obviously less talented than League 1 defenders, his achievements with Wimbledon in a struggling side speak for themselves.
Have to be honest with you @micra I didn't see that potential in AAH performance at Plymouth - I thought he was anonymous. I wasn't surprised he left shortly afterwards and am a little surprised at his initial success at Wimbledon. I undersstand he is a nice lad and wish him well in his career. It happens sometimes that players on the fringe of a club go to another and suddenly click. No criticism of the former club. Just one of those things. All clubs have them. It maybe AAH will be one of ours.
He played wide for us, not exactly his preferred position which would be up front alone or in a pair. When he did play up front against Northampton he was very good.
It's a bit like Pattison...who had flashes...they have both found their level and are enjoying success at League 2 level and good luck to them.
Good on GA and Dobbo for giving them a shot as well. I am sure they would have preferred it had worked out and they had unearthed another couple of gems.
Injuries are part of the game and (unless you can predict the future) letting players move on is as well.
I thought I’d made it clear @Malone that my suggestion that Ali Al-Hamadi would have started last Saturday (had he still been at the club) was hypothetical and was based purely on the absence (on that particular day) of an attacking, goalscoring player capable of leading the line. Of the players you have listed, only Vokes is in that category and Al-Hamadi was clearly being groomed as his successor.
i repeat, my suggestion was hypothetical and I qualified even that by saying “if he’d still been at the club” so it is even debatable whether he would have been playing for Iraq against Russia if he’d stayed here.
I don’t understand why a few on here are seemingly so determined to write him off as not having the potential to be a very effective striker with Wycombe Wanderers.
Is any other League 2 player scoring at anything like the rate per game as Al-Hamadi ?
I watched the game at Plymouth and commented on here at one point that his dribble along the goal line from the left corner flag beating two Plymouth defenders was Mehmetiesque. I also remember @bluntphil mentioning his name several times so I don’t understand @DevC’s comment about him having been anonymous.
Finally, and the most woundingly, I received the following email message from my Wimbledon supporting mate.
”What a player Ali Al-Hamadi is turning out to be - and [in bold] - apparently we got him on a free transfer.
On Sunday he was playing in St Petersburg against Russia and was on the pitch for nearly the whole game. He flew back to the UK on Monday, making himself available for the bench for our Tuesday game against Walsall.
Our manager brings him on with about 20 minutes left and he promptly scores the clinching goal. He then gets another but another Wimbledon player was caught offside.
That’s 7 goals in just 9 starts and a couple of sub appearances. He’s a Wimbledon legend already!
We really needed that win but I think, if we beat Rochdale at home on Saturday, that should guarantee League 2 survival for next season.
It happens, we've had plenty of good players that have been shipped out from other clubs as they thought they weren't good enough. Some players just don't fit some clubs
Exactly this. For every player we've moved on, there's way more that never make it back to Wycombe's level.
Circumstances are everything. We went through a very calculated period of clearing the decks, and when you do that, sod law's dictates that you'll suddenly be down to the bare bones.
That bench away at Bristol Rovers was arguably the weakest league bench we've fielded since the days we couldn't fill the places and had a mid 40s keeper!
I'm with @micra on this, I always liked al Hamedi and thought he might make it. He seemed to have good positional sense and a guile to him that I always like to see in a striker. I'd be interested to know what style of play Wimbledon utilise these days, where on the pitch he sits and what sort of strike partner he has (though not interested enough to actively seek out said information on The Internet). I suspect he was a victim of Ainsworth's direct style and might have benefited more from Bloomfield's tweaks, but who knew that would all happen when he left.
Imagine how Notts County fans felt about Curtis Thompson being let go for not being good enough for L2? Not wanting to disagree with the venerable Vokes denier @micra ( 😉 )or those who think Ainsworth held back yet another fantastic player from helping Wycombe become a success, I never saw anything that meant I was shocked to see him move on (to better things?) .
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Came on , scored, got taken off injured. If he gets fit and keeps scoring we might start to speculate on sell on fees.
Let's see how he does over a longer period. Seven goals in 13 games is a strong start but nothing to draw any grand conclusions from.
We don't want grand conclusions, we probably want someone with lots of money, some desperation and a website that lists goals per minute.
Harriman made his debut yesterday, for Rushden & Diamonds, as they defeated Basford in the Southern Prem. Debut win and clean sheet.
If we got a sell on clause?
I would hope there is a ‘buyback’ clause for a very small fee. Who knows though. Whatever ‘vested’ interest we have, I hope he continues playing well. A really nice lad.
On Al-Hamadi's departure, GA said: "“We will keep an invested interest in him as there is potential in Ali to go onto things." I'd be surprised if it was a buyback, rather than a sell-on clause, but who knows?
We get a percentage profit from every vest he sells
There are strings attached / string vests
David Stockdale getting a rare start tonight for Sheff Wed, away at Cheltenham
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64299607
Looks like they might get rarer! 🤔
Stockdale was Man of the Match according to numerous reports from Cheltenham and Wednesday supporters
He also gave a goal away for free with their second goal. Dawson has had a nightmare recently so I think Stockdale will get a few more opportunities on the back of a fairly good performance yesterday.
I’ve just returned to the Gasroom after a break because of an eye condition. My point would have been that, had he still been with us, he would have been in the starting lineup on Saturday. His potential was obvious in that match at Plymouth when GA made eight changes from the eleven who’d beaten Bristol Rovers a few days earlier and, although you rightly point out that defenders in League 2 are obviously less talented than League 1 defenders, his achievements with Wimbledon in a struggling side speak for themselves.
He would have started.
Have to be honest with you @micra I didn't see that potential in AAH performance at Plymouth - I thought he was anonymous. I wasn't surprised he left shortly afterwards and am a little surprised at his initial success at Wimbledon. I undersstand he is a nice lad and wish him well in his career. It happens sometimes that players on the fringe of a club go to another and suddenly click. No criticism of the former club. Just one of those things. All clubs have them. It maybe AAH will be one of ours.
Who would he have started over? Not De Barr and definitely not Hanlan.
I agree with @DevC that any talk of AAH's potential is a bit captain hindsightery for most on here.
For most of his time here I can't really remember anyone suggesting he should get in over McCleary/Vokes/Hanlan/Mehmeti/Horgan/De Barr/Wheeler/Kaikai.
Even now I think he'd be first sub.
He played wide for us, not exactly his preferred position which would be up front alone or in a pair. When he did play up front against Northampton he was very good.
He had one great outing in pre season but only against fellow u23s.
No doubt he'd be on the bench for us but not sure of any more than that.
Loads of players can point to a bit of potential but you need to take your chances, good for him that he's doing that now.
Glad to see he’s about to get back playing.
It's a bit like Pattison...who had flashes...they have both found their level and are enjoying success at League 2 level and good luck to them.
Good on GA and Dobbo for giving them a shot as well. I am sure they would have preferred it had worked out and they had unearthed another couple of gems.
Injuries are part of the game and (unless you can predict the future) letting players move on is as well.
I thought I’d made it clear @Malone that my suggestion that Ali Al-Hamadi would have started last Saturday (had he still been at the club) was hypothetical and was based purely on the absence (on that particular day) of an attacking, goalscoring player capable of leading the line. Of the players you have listed, only Vokes is in that category and Al-Hamadi was clearly being groomed as his successor.
He wouldn’t because he was playing for Iraq.
Interestingly he played for Iraq against Russia in St. Petersburg.
Epic journey back too and only just made it back for the Tuesday night game where he scored again.
i repeat, my suggestion was hypothetical and I qualified even that by saying “if he’d still been at the club” so it is even debatable whether he would have been playing for Iraq against Russia if he’d stayed here.
I don’t understand why a few on here are seemingly so determined to write him off as not having the potential to be a very effective striker with Wycombe Wanderers.
Is any other League 2 player scoring at anything like the rate per game as Al-Hamadi ?
I watched the game at Plymouth and commented on here at one point that his dribble along the goal line from the left corner flag beating two Plymouth defenders was Mehmetiesque. I also remember @bluntphil mentioning his name several times so I don’t understand @DevC’s comment about him having been anonymous.
Finally, and the most woundingly, I received the following email message from my Wimbledon supporting mate.
”What a player Ali Al-Hamadi is turning out to be - and [in bold] - apparently we got him on a free transfer.
On Sunday he was playing in St Petersburg against Russia and was on the pitch for nearly the whole game. He flew back to the UK on Monday, making himself available for the bench for our Tuesday game against Walsall.
Our manager brings him on with about 20 minutes left and he promptly scores the clinching goal. He then gets another but another Wimbledon player was caught offside.
That’s 7 goals in just 9 starts and a couple of sub appearances. He’s a Wimbledon legend already!
We really needed that win but I think, if we beat Rochdale at home on Saturday, that should guarantee League 2 survival for next season.
Any more rough diamonds you want to offload?”
That really hurt.
It happens, we've had plenty of good players that have been shipped out from other clubs as they thought they weren't good enough. Some players just don't fit some clubs
Oh ye…….
Exactly this. For every player we've moved on, there's way more that never make it back to Wycombe's level.
Circumstances are everything. We went through a very calculated period of clearing the decks, and when you do that, sod law's dictates that you'll suddenly be down to the bare bones.
That bench away at Bristol Rovers was arguably the weakest league bench we've fielded since the days we couldn't fill the places and had a mid 40s keeper!
I'm with @micra on this, I always liked al Hamedi and thought he might make it. He seemed to have good positional sense and a guile to him that I always like to see in a striker. I'd be interested to know what style of play Wimbledon utilise these days, where on the pitch he sits and what sort of strike partner he has (though not interested enough to actively seek out said information on The Internet). I suspect he was a victim of Ainsworth's direct style and might have benefited more from Bloomfield's tweaks, but who knew that would all happen when he left.
Imagine how Notts County fans felt about Curtis Thompson being let go for not being good enough for L2? Not wanting to disagree with the venerable Vokes denier @micra ( 😉 )or those who think Ainsworth held back yet another fantastic player from helping Wycombe become a success, I never saw anything that meant I was shocked to see him move on (to better things?) .
It's definitely interesting how swings of opinion go isn't it?
De Barr has gone from a very fringe squad player to some people thinking he's now the key to it all.
I really hope he is and that, but all seems ever so early just yet.