davieG Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 Huddersfield goalkeeper endured unhappy reunion with former team-mates on Saturday ByJordan Blackwell 19:00, 8 APR 2019 Former Leicester City goalkeeper Ben Hamer has admitted to “childish” behaviour during his first season at the club, in which he thought he was “untouchable”. Hamer spent four years at the King Power before moving to Huddersfield last summer, the 31-year-old enduring an unhappy reunion with his former team-mates on Saturday as City hit four at the John Smith’s Stadium. In the programme for the match, Hamer reflected on his time at City, recalling a difficult period in his debut campaign. After City were promoted to the Premier League in 2014, Hamer was signed by Nigel Pearson on a free transfer from Charlton, coming in as back-up to Kasper Schmeichel. But it was Hamer that was between the sticks for City’s first win back in the top flight, a 1-0 success at Stoke. After Schmeichel got injured around Christmas, Hamer enjoyed a run of seven games, but found himself out of the squad completely shortly after as Pearson brought in his old Middlesbrough team-mate Mark Schwarzer. “My dream was to play in the Premier League and once Leicester called and showed their interest in me, I was absolutely buzzing," Hamer said. "I thought it was a chance to play in the top flight, so I took it with both hands. “I went there with a bundle of confidence and got my chance early, did alright, a 1-0 win away to Stoke. I thought I’d have a sniff for the next game, but Kasper was back fit again. “Around Christmas time, Kasper was injured again, I came in and did ok, but then the manager brought in Schwarzer. “We got beat by Stoke and then I was back out of the team, so it was a bit of a difficult first season to be honest, but there were some highs. “When I got pulled out, at the time I didn’t really understand why. “If I’m honest, I was probably a bit naive and reacted a little bit childishly because I didn’t really know my role, obviously Kasper had been there for years and is still doing incredibly well now. “As time went on I had conversations and I began to understand my role, even though it wasn’t ideal, because everyone wants to play. “I took it on board into my second year and began to understand it all and enjoy my time there, but when you’re focused on achieving your goal, you don’t really listen to what anyone else says. “I was the number one at Charlton and had this mentality of playing every week. I trained all week to play on the Saturday. So that hurt me quite a bit and knocked my confidence. “I thought I was untouchable, but I wasn’t. So it was a big learning curve, but once I understood all of this, I got along with it.” Hamer played 10 games in all competitions during his first City season, the same as in the following three seasons combined. Still third choice behind Schmeichel and Schwarzer, Hamer played no part in the title-winning campaign, and then made just one outing in 2016-17, the 5-0 Champions League defeat at Porto, with Ron-Robert Zieler backing up Schmeichel for most of the season. In his final year at the club, Hamer found favour under Craig Shakespeare and Claude Puel, and won the battle with Eldin Jakupovic to be Schmeichel’s number two. “I was in a couple of Champions League squads, but I didn’t play much that season (16-17),” he said. “I always did what was asked of me and then the year after Craig Shakespeare came to the helm and said he wanted me back in the team because he liked me around the place. Kasper Schmeichel catches up with Ben Hamer after Leicester City's 4-1 win over Huddersfield (Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City via Getty Images) “He said, ‘I’ll give you game time in the cup games.' So I played in the Carabao Cup run, where we got knocked out on penalties to Man City, but I was pretty much in the squad for the whole season.” Hamer was a well-liked figure at the club and maintains friendships with several City players. “I made some really good friends there,” he said. “When you spend four years there you spend every day with them and I’m still in contact with the likes of Ben Chilwell, Marc Albrighton, Andy King and Matty James. “It was a really good group; I’m still in contract with big Harry Maguire too. Sometimes in football you don’t come across people you stay in touch with, but I can count on both hands how many people I stay in contact with at Leicester. “It was a really good group, family-like, it was really tight-knitted.” https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/i-reacted-childishly-ben-hamer-2736170
Jimmy Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 that's first season when he played I thought he looked quite good, seemed to drop off of a cliff though
fuchsntf Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 Like always..this forum went OTT,on criticising and poking fun at one of their own.....
KingsX Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 Based on the thread title I expected something like this ...
sylofox Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 Seems like an honest guy that tried his best. Not sure why people would knock him for that. Cost us nothing to boot.
Winchesterfox Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 I'll never understand players who prefer rotting in the reserves to playing at a decent level. But I guess someone has to do it. Must have been gutting to be lower in the pecking order than Zieler, who was really shit for us
GeorgeTheFox Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 All jokes aside that's a really good, honest interview. Actually think he was quite decent for us when needed but christ he was poor on saturday
The Horse's Mouth Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 Pearson did sort of bury him a bit, schwarzer was pretty awful in comparison
The_Rorab Posted 8 April 2019 Posted 8 April 2019 29 minutes ago, The Horse's Mouth said: Pearson did sort of bury him a bit, schwarzer was pretty awful in comparison It wouldn't surprise me if the reason he was below Schwarzer for Nige was the stuff he alluded to having been naive and childish - I can imagine Nige not having taken too kindly to him complaining about being behind Kasper.
The Horse's Mouth Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 14 minutes ago, The_Rorab said: It wouldn't surprise me if the reason he was below Schwarzer for Nige was the stuff he alluded to having been naive and childish - I can imagine Nige not having taken too kindly to him complaining about being behind Kasper. Probably helped him and Nige were good mates too
UpTheLeagueFox Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Was offered a new deal by us in the summer, effectively to be the no3 GK, but decided to try his luck elsewhere. Might get to play a bit more regularly in the Championship next season.
urban.spaceman Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 8 hours ago, Bayfox said: What's his contract with Harry? He’s Harry’s personal tea lady.
Koke Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Was decent in his first season. Played away to Stoke (we won 1-0?) And he looked like a solid capable keeper. He completely went off a cliff after that though.
Gazza M Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 I think Hamer looked like a bloke who hasn't played much in 4 years for them. I see his level in the Championship and I'm sure he will be a bit sharper after 20-30 matches in a row.
lgfualol Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Felt a bit sorry for him after we scored the 4th on Saturday. He must have really pissed off Pearson because Schwarzer was so old by the time he dived to save a shot we were already kicking back off after conceding, and he was 2nd choice.
HybridFox Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 He was better than Schwarzer, Ziegler and even Jakupovic. So I do feel for him not getting enough games with us. That said, he was never going to dislodge Schmeichel. And we have a solid number two now in Danny Ward so right decision for him to leave and get some game time elsewhere.
Guest Bob Hazels shorts Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 12 hours ago, sylofox said: Seems like an honest guy that tried his best. Not sure why people would knock him for that. Cost us nothing to boot. Just the £260K a game. Made no secret of his wage to the younger players + the fact that he'll stick in and take the money, foolish not to. Jakupović is the same. Turned down loans and chances to play lower league. Short career, have to get as much dosh as they can, while they can. The money side of money v playing appears to have won with Drinkwater
David Hankey Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Never a top class keeper but reasonable understudy, bit like Logan really.
Guest Bob Hazels shorts Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Stood next to a fella in the next urinal pre game ale time. Bloke asked me about Hamer. I've never been a fan so pointed out his weaknesses in so many words. He assured me he was playing before the side was announced. The penny dropped when I noticed he was talking like a Wurzel but I'd already dug my hole. I was slagging him off to his Dad!
MC Prussian Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Hamer certainly opened up on Saturday. Ben - once a fox, forever a fox!
ultrafox Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 Is Hamer still on our payroll? It certainly seemed like it on Saturday. Shockingly bad performance. With his height and position it should have been easier to have saved Tielemans and Maddisons goals.
Anglodanglo Posted 9 April 2019 Posted 9 April 2019 3 hours ago, David Hankey said: Never a top class keeper but reasonable understudy, bit like Logan really. As if you just copy and pasted his Twitter Bio
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