Adam Hammill

Adam James Hammill (born 25 January 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a winger for Barnsley.

At international level, Hammill has represented England U21's, though he also qualifies to play for the Republic of Ireland at international level.

Hammill is a product of the Liverpool academy, but failed to make a league appearance for the club at senior level, before leaving to join Championship side Barnsley in 2009. After a successful period at Barnsley, he entered the Premier League when he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2011, with whom he remained until 2013.

In 2015, Hammill returned to Barnsley on a short term contract.

Club career

Liverpool

Hammill was born in Liverpool and was a member of the Youth Academy at Liverpool, and after appearing for the youth and reserves teams, he was promoted to Melwood on a full-time basis. He was part of the Liverpool team that defeated Manchester City in the 2006 FA Youth Cup final.

In January 2007, he got his first taste of senior football when he was loaned to Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic until the end of the season.^[2] He played eighteen games for Dunfermline, including the Scottish Cup final, and scored once against Celtic.^[3]

He spent the 2007–08 season on loan at Championship side Southampton,^[4] where he made 28 appearances in total.

Returning to Anfield, he signed a new five-year contract with Liverpool in July 2008, before being sent out on loan for a sixth time; joining Blackpool in a six-month deal.^[5] He made his debut for the Seasiders on 9 August in a 1–0 home defeat to Bristol City. He scored his first goal in English football for the Seasiders on 16 November in the West Lancashire derby 3–1 home defeat to Preston.^[6] After a successful loan spell he returned to Liverpool on 30 December,^[7] where Rafael Benítez would decide whether or not Hammill would return to Bloomfield Road.

He did have a second loan deal during the 2008–09 season, but it was instead with Barnsley, whom he joined in February 2009 for the remainder of the campaign.^[8]

Barnsley

Following his loan spell at Oakwell in Spring 2009, Barnsley launched a bid which was turned down as Liverpool wanted to see what Hammill could offer during pre-season. Barnsley then made a second, successful, bid and Hammill signed a three-year contract on 10 August 2009.^[9]

Hammill made his debut for Barnsley in a 1–0 win at Lincoln City in a League Cup first round tie on 11 August 2009. He scored his first goal of the 2009 season for Barnsley, away at Derby County, as the Reds recorded their first win of the season under new manager Mark Robins. Hammill's goal was a curling effort from the edge of the box that won him the club's Goal of the Year Award for 2009.^[10]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 20 January 2011, Hammill signed for Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers on a three-and-a-half-year contract after Wolves triggered a £500,000 buy-out clause in his contract.^[11] He made his Wolves debut as a substitute against boyhood and former club Liverpool two days later.^[12] He made ten appearances in total for the club during the remainder of the season, but found himself on the sidelines towards the end of the campaign as manager Mick McCarthy recalled the more experienced Stephen Hunt.

The 2011–12 season saw Hammill score his first – and only goal – for Wolves, when he netted a free-kick in a League Cup tie against Millwall.^[13] However, although he made a series of substitute appearances in the Premier League during the first half of the season he was unable to establish himself in the team.

On 1 March 2012, he was sent on loan to Championship side Middlesbrough on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season.^[14] He made his debut two days later in a 3–1 away victory against Portsmouth, but he finished the campaign mostly on the substitutes bench before returning to Wolves.

Wolves had suffered relegation to the Championship at the end of the season, and now appointed Ståle Solbakken as their new manager. However this change of manager did not improve Hammill's involvement in Wolves' first team and he was again made available for loan.^[15] Shortly before the end of the transfer window on 31 August 2012, he joined fellow Championship side Huddersfield Town in a loan deal to last until 13 January 2013.^[16] He made his Huddersfield début as a substitute in a 2–2 draw at Ipswich the following day,^[17] and scored his first goal for the club minutes after coming on as a substitute in a 1–3 loss at Peterborough on 23 October 2012.^[18] His only other goal for the Terriers happened to be his final kick of his loan spell with a last minute equaliser against Birmingham City in January 2013.^[19]

The midfielder made four final appearances for Wolves, appearing as a substitute in a series of matches in the final months of the 2012–13 season as the club battled unsuccessfully under new manager Dean Saunders to avoid a second relegation. In total he made 27 appearances for Wolves, scoring once, before his time at Molineux ended as Kenny Jackett arrived as manager.^[20]

Huddersfield Town

On 24 June 2013, Hammill rejoined Huddersfield Town in a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year deal (with a further year's option) with the Terriers.^[21] He made his second debut for the club as a substitute in the 1–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest on 3 August. He scored his first goal in his second spell in the 5–1 win over A.F.C. Bournemouth on 24 August, and since returning to the club, has excelled in the new 3–5–2 formation as a right wing-back. Hammill felt out of favour with Huddersfield Town manager Chris Powell, and subsequently was dropped from the team's match-day squad.

On 9 January 2015, he joined fellow Championship side Rotherham United on loan for the rest of the season.^[22]

On 1 September 2015, he was released by Football League Championship side Huddersfield Town by mutual consent.^[23]

Return to Barnsley

On 9 November 2015 it was confirmed that Hammill had rejoined Barnsley on a short term deal. On his second debut for the club he scored the winning goal in a Football League Trophy tie against York City.^[24]

International career

At international level, Hammill is eligible to represent the country of birth England as well as Rep of Ireland through his grand parents, he has to date represented England at youth level being capped at both U19 and U21 level. Along with then Liverpool teammates Craig Lindfield and Paul Anderson, Hammill was called up for the England under-19 team in 2006, and scored his first Under-19 international goal in the win against Switzerland in November 2006.^[25]

On 27 March 2011, Hammill was called up to the England U21 squad for the first time, as Stuart Pearce had a number of injuries and made the decision to rest some key players. He is in the squad to face both Denmark and Iceland. He went on to make his U21 debut against Iceland, coming on as a substitute in the 74th minute.

On 28 March 2011, it was confirmed that Hammill is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland national side through his late grandfather.^[26][27]

Assault charge

In the early hours of 7 October 2012, Hammill was involved in an altercation outside a Liverpool nightclub while celebrating a friend's birthday and was arrested for assaulting two female paramedics.^[28] The paramedics had attended the scene after Hammill had collapsed inside the club drunk and been taken outside.^[29] He was formally charged with two counts of assault on 27 October,^[30] to which he pleaded guilty on 12 November.^[31] On 20 November 2012 he was sentenced to 12 weeks of jail suspended for 12 months, 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £350 to each of the paramedics.^[29]

Career statistics

As of match played 2 May 2015.^[32]

Honours

Liverpool

• FA Youth Cup winner: 2006

Dunfermline Athletic

• Tennent's Scottish Cup runner-up: 2007

References

External links

• Adam Hammill career statistics at Soccerbase