03 August 2023 , 01:00
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It's probably fair to say that very few people of an AFC Wimbledon persuasion would have relished the majority of the 2022/23 campaign, where they won just twice in 23 league games following the turn of the year.
But Ali Al-Hamadi treasures every moment he gets living out his dream in the EFL after the trials and tribulations his family went through in their native Iraq.
Al-Hamadi, an Iraq international, was forced to flee the Middle East at the age of one after war broke out during the reign of Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, he was separated from his father, Ibrahim, who was imprisoned after staging a peaceful protest against the Hussein regime.
Al-Hamadi senior was tortured during his time in prison before fleeing to Liverpool, where he was reunited with his family. And as Al-Hamadi has grown older, hearing the stories of the hardships that his father faced have moulded the 21-year-old into the man he is today.
"The things [my dad] had to go through and has seen... the sacrifices he's made for our family are huge," Al-Hamadi tells Mirror Football." I'm fortunate to be here and I don't take it for granted.
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"I feel like I owe it to myself and the people around me to always give back on the pitch. The type of character I am, I wear my heart on my sleeve and that comes again from my family and my upbringing. All those experiences have shaped me as a person.
"If you compare being left out of the team to some of the other things people in this world have to deal with then it puts everything into perspective."
The versatile forward made such a big impression at the Dons that he was crowned as the club's Player of the Year back in May - even though he only arrived at Plough Lane from Wycombe Wanderers in the January transfer window.
After walking into a team which had been stripped of key players such as Ayoub Assal and loan stars Nathan Young-Coombes and Ryler Towler, Al-Hamadi quickly became Wimbledon's main man. There's little doubt that his haul of 10 goals in 19 games was invaluable in helping the Dons avoid a second successive relegation in the wake of their long barren run.
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Al-Hamadi is a full Iraq international (Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images)For the forward, the prospect of becoming a main man played a major role in convincing him to drop down into League Two. His imperious form since that switch has not gone unnoticed by clubs higher up the pyramid too - but Al-Hamadi has no problem with the extra attention that comes with being the Dons talisman.
He continued: "It's definitely something that I was hoping for [being the main man]. I think as a striker you always want to be that focal point.
"I got down to business and started doing what I always knew I could do if I was given the opportunity to play a run of games. It's about doing it again now and doing it season after season, which is what every good striker does.
"At the end of the day, strikers get paid to score goals and win games, so it was always my intention to come in and score as many goals as possible. But again, it's no good just doing it for one season; I've got to do more of the same this year."
Wimbledon were on the outskirts of the play-offs when Al-Hamadi joined before fading away. Unfortunately, demoralising winless runs have become the norm in SW9 over the past couple of years: the Dons failed to win a single game after beating Accrington Stanley at the start of December the season before last and succumbed to relegation - just 12 months after conjuring up a miraculous escape from the drop during the 2020/21 campaign.
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Wimbledon have stuck by former Charlton boss Johnnie Jackson in spite of his underwhelming maiden year in charge. The 40-year-old has implemented a sweeping overhaul of his playing squad over the summer, bringing in 10 new signings.
Some fans were calling for the former Tottenham man's head towards the end of the season, but Al-Hamadi is grateful that Jackson has been given an opportunity to redeem himself this year.
He added: "I'm glad the club has decided to stick with the gaffer and given him another chance to show what he can do. Although sometimes it looks it from the outside, I don't think that [last season] was as black and white as some people think.
Al-Hamadi spent time at Swansea and Wycombe before joining the Dons in January (Catherine Ivill/Getty)"I'm confident we'll do a lot better than last season. We've had a full pre-season together whereas last season the gaffer came in quite late with a set of players who weren't really his and maybe didn't have much time to implement his playing style [in pre-season].
"But this year we're a lot more prepared: everyone knows the way we're playing and bought into what we're doing. The players we've recruited are winners and have lots of experience, so I think it's more about the quality of signings we've made rather than the amount.
"We're physical and ready to outrun a lot of teams this year; I think that's the type of team Wimbledon fans want to see because that embodies the spirit of the club. A lot of people say it for the sake of saying it, but it [the mood in the camp] actually is really positive.
"There's been a lot of changes to the training ground, the signings we've made and the way we've conducted ourselves in pre-season. Everything up until this point has been perfect but now it's all about taking it into the new season."
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