New contract for Hamer

[Stranded]

Goalkeeper has signed on for another year according to the OS.

[Elmer Park]

It would appear that Hamer reputation with the Club is still higher than with most fans and with a bit of goalkeeping knowledge amongst the Management I will trust their judgment.

At some point though surely we are going to find it hard to keep four goalkeepers happy. Surprising we have heard little or nothing about Federici extending his contract. Whatever the views of some posters on here surely we must have offered him something although, as he was with us in those distant feeling glory days, I would think we wouldn't be offering him much of an increase in terms.

Now that we have secured new contracts for the three young keepers I wouldn't be surprised if we sold Adam in January if nothing has been sorted out with him.

[Hoop Blah]

Good on him for getting the new contract. I'm not sure on him yet, but he can't be bad really.

It would appear that Hamer reputation with the Club is still higher than with most fans and with a bit of goalkeeping knowledge amongst the Management I will trust their judgment.

As for this, do you know why they've given him a new contract? Are they giving him a contract because they see him as the most promisin keeper we have? Or is it to try and get a fee this summer? Maybe it's because they know they're going to have to let Anderson leave and need to tie up the 'lesser' keeper to fill that void?

If you don't know the answer then it's a bit hard to judge what their opinion of him is isn't it?

[Ian Royal]

He's seemed shaky in the little I've seen of him, but there's obviously quality in there somewhere.

Personally I think Hamer is an excellent example of just how moronic some of our fans are. Before he played for the first team he was brilliant and should replace Federici, now the love has moved on to McCarthy with Hamer getting barely any chance to show what he can do for us.

Keeper strikes me as a very difficult position to crack the transition from promising youngster to experienced regular as there are often so few chances to take.

Happy to see he's still under contract, I think he needs regular games somewhere after his bout of bench warming. But agree we can't keep 4 promising young(ish) keepers on the books indefinitely, something has gotta give sooner or later.

[georgerob]

Anderson and McCarthy look more promising for the future and are tied to longer contracts than Hamer. After the Northampton game where Hamer made numerous errors and put in an unconvincing performance I thought he would only have a slim chance of being the future number 1 goalkeeper. I cannot see Hamer playing for Reading again with all the other goalkeepers at the club and would of thought that Hamer would have been released or sold as we do have too many goalkeepers on our books.

[specialjon]

Now that we have secured new contracts for the three young keepers I wouldn't be surprised if we sold Adam in January if nothing has been sorted out with him.

I would be very surprised and angry unless a premier league team comes in and offers a couple of million for him.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Anderson and McCarthy look more promising for the future and are tied to longer contracts than Hamer. After the Northampton game where Hamer made numerous errors and put in an unconvincing performance I thought he would only have a slim chance of being the future number 1 goalkeeper. I cannot see Hamer playing for Reading again with all the other goalkeepers at the club and would of thought that Hamer would have been released or sold as we do have too many goalkeepers on our books.

So, youve just written off our No.2 keeper based on 1 performance in the League Cup. Obviously discounting 2 seasons of excellent performances before that.

Unless its a huge whoosh on my part, that post sums up our cluesless support in a nutshell. Well Done.

[cmonurz]

There are few truly dependable keepers even in the Premier League. Reina, Van Der Saar, Howard and Friedal, maybe Given - and even Reina fcuked up on the first day of the season. I think fans have too high an expectation as to how keepers at this level should and will perform. So Fed looks a bit dodgy from time to time? So do all keepers at this level. But Federici has won us many points and kept us in many games, and in the Championship that has to be enough.

Now to move back to the thread subject - the same has to apply to Hamer. By all accounts he was considered a gem before he enjoyed a not too confident appearance for Reading's first team - and suddenly fans don't rate him so highly. Ridiculous. Everything a keeper does is analysed in greater detail because when they touch the ball it's generally in the thick of the action - so it's important we can rely on our man between the sticks, but keepers should be judged over half a season or more, not the odd appearance here or there.

[georgerob]

Anderson and McCarthy look more promising for the future and are tied to longer contracts than Hamer. After the Northampton game where Hamer made numerous errors and put in an unconvincing performance I thought he would only have a slim chance of being the future number 1 goalkeeper. I cannot see Hamer playing for Reading again with all the other goalkeepers at the club and would of thought that Hamer would have been released or sold as we do have too many goalkeepers on our books.

So, youve just written off our No.2 keeper based on 1 performance in the League Cup. Obviously discounting 2 seasons of excellent performances before that.

Unless its a huge whoosh on my part, that post sums up our cluesless support in a nutshell. Well Done.

McCarthy is No.2 atm. Just saying it looked like Hamer blew his chances with performance in the league cup with the other keepers playing well on loan especially Anderson and the position being wide open for three keepers when Federici inevitably goes.
Yes Hamer had one reasonable season on loan at Brentford in League 2 but you have to look at Anderson, McCarthy and even Locke and see they have more potential and credentials than Hamer at this moment in time. Look at Anderson for example was awarded Bristol Rovers Young Player of the Year trophy and was named goalkeeper of the tournament at the 2010 Toulon Tournament for the U21’s.

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

Good come back post.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Hamer in his 3rd season at Brentford. Set a clean sheet record their in 2009. He has as many appearances for them as Federici has for Reading. View from their terrace is they cant believe we keep sending him back. They didnt rate McCarthy one bit. Their view, not mine. Theyve seen them both play a lot more than we have. Obviously, all of that counts for nothing after 1 bad game for us. also forgetting an excellent performance at Torquay.

He is our no.2, you dont offer new contracts to keepers falling down the pecking order. Not with our miserly budget. They just cant leave him on the bench for another year where he is not going to improve. Clearly last season doing sod all didnt do him any good at all.

Typical short term view.

[georgerob]

Hamer in his 3rd season at Brentford. Set a clean sheet record their in 2009. He has as many appearances for them as Federici has for Reading. View from their terrace is they cant believe we keep sending him back. They didnt rate McCarthy one bit. Their view, not mine. Theyve seen them both play a lot more than we have. Obviously, all of that counts for nothing after 1 bad game for us. also forgetting an excellent performance at Torquay.

He is our no.2, you dont offer new contracts to keepers falling down the pecking order. Not with our miserly budget. They just cant leave him on the bench for another year where he is not going to improve. Clearly last season doing sod all didnt do him any good at all.

Typical short term view.

Anderson and McCarthy have recently signed new contracts as well on a longer term basis than Hamer’s which indicates they have more of a future at the club. I don’t know why you are convinced Hamer is in the best position to replace Federici, look at the level of opposition he is up against playing for Brentford where he has not been outstanding and he has never represented his country unlike McCarthy and Anderson.
From the performances and their careers up to now I would say Anderson is second best and as he has been consistently on loan and playing regular first team football ensuring he improves and is ready to step up.

[georgerob]

Good come back post.

cheers

[Hoop Blah]

...and he has never represented his country unlike McCarthy and Anderson.

You realise that McCarthy's U21 career amounted to one substitute appearance in a friendly and he's not been back in the squad since, despite there being 4 keepers in the current one.

From the performances and their careers up to now I would say Anderson is second best and as he has been consistently on loan and playing regular first team football ensuring he improves and is ready to step up.

I probably agree with this though. He's the one who looks the most physically equipped.

[Snowball]

So Hamer got an award for his keeping for Crawley
then kept 20 clean sheets last season for Brentford

And this season for Brentford he's kept 50% clean sheets
and only let in a single goal for the other games

1-0
0-0
0-0
0-1
0-1
2-1

Of course the defence has a say in clean-sheets, but Hamer seems to be doing a good job.

[Ian Royal]

Anderson and McCarthy look more promising for the future and are tied to longer contracts than Hamer. After the Northampton game where Hamer made numerous errors and put in an unconvincing performance I thought he would only have a slim chance of being the future number 1 goalkeeper. I cannot see Hamer playing for Reading again with all the other goalkeepers at the club and would of thought that Hamer would have been released or sold as we do have too many goalkeepers on our books.

So, youve just written off our No.2 keeper based on 1 performance in the League Cup. Obviously discounting 2 seasons of excellent performances before that.

Unless its a huge whoosh on my part, that post sums up our cluesless support in a nutshell. Well Done.

I would hope it is a piss take given it comes directly after my post which bemoans the idiocy of that exact reaction. Sadly I doubt it.

McCarthy is just as likely to be No 2 to get first team squad experience at this level and to give Hamer the opportunity to go somewhere and play first team football after a season on the bench, than because he is rated better.

[Snowball]

It's a difficult choice.

Really you're second-choice would be the guy out on loan
because that way he is gaining experience.

It would need to be your THIRD choice on the bench.

There's a dodgy moment if the Number 1 keeper gets injured in a game
and the No 3 has to play 20- minutes or whatever... but if your second choice
is always on the bench, how does he ever get experience?

I don't know what the recall clause/timescale is for keepers. Is it the same as outfield players?

[Hungerford Bee]

Hamer does not measure up to the loanee that we had from Arsenal last season Wojciech Szczesny but the few would. He is keeping Richard Lee out of the team who has been excellent when given a chance. Having had a chance to settle in Hamer is a dependable League 1 keeper - but maybe no more. He has certainly played better than McCarthy did. Andersson will be better than both of them imho.

[pea]

As pointed out by someone else, McCarthy being called into the U21s seems to have clouded peoples judgement. Every game I saw him play in for Yeovil last season he was average at best and showed no signs to me of having what it takes to make the no 1 shirt his own. But keepers are difficult to judge at that age, everyone thought Kaspar Schmeichel was better than Joe Hart at one point. Its a good problem to have at the moment.