09 Aug 2026 13:11:49
General enquiry here - I watched a match at Boreham Wood and their player - Abdul Abdulmalik was superb.

I have plenty of mates who play semi professional football and they are obviously supremely talented. I think we forget how incredibly good you have to be to even play at National League level.

How big is the jump from Non or National League to League One or the Championship?

It looked for all the world he could play for us. My mate said he was released from Millwall as a kid. Is this the sort of player we could look at? He looked far too good for that level.

1.) 09 Aug 2026
09 Aug 2026 13:37:28
Wasn't he the lad linked to the Swedish side? I saw a bit about him on SSN. He has got good attributes: pace, low centre of gravity, etc.

I'm all for looking at these types, Vardy, Antonio and Ian Wright came through this way, good chars and good players, but it is a fairly big jump up, I think.

2.) 09 Aug 2026
09 Aug 2026 18:35:17
I also think they should look at non league or lower league players, especially now that we are in the Championship. I know I'm going back a bit, but Allan Taylor came from Rochdale, Devonshire came from Southall, and I think Dean Ashton started at Crewe, although I think we bought him off Norwich. I'm sure there are many more to mention.

3.) 09 Aug 2026
09 Aug 2026 20:41:40
There definitely seems to be something wrong with the way academies are coaching creativity out of the modern player. Perhaps this is an area WHU could exploit through new thinking.

4.) 09 Aug 2026
09 Aug 2026 21:11:54
HD, Dean Ashton was local to me and a legend everywhere he played. Crewe had a great academy, aside from the unpleasantness that went before. It saddens me to think how good he could have been without the injury he got on England duty.

5.) 10 Aug 2026
10 Aug 2026 08:32:22
DH2, Dean Ashton was a fantastic player & was crippled in an England training session by Sean Wright Phillips, Ian W Phillips's son??Was never the same after that! Always thought there was some kind of resentment from Wright Phillips to tackle another colleague like that in a bloody training session?That's why I dislike our players being called up for International duties, would have had a great career ahead of him & for the Hammers! ⚒⚒⚒⚒