Feature: 'Ageing like a fine wine!' Ashley Hemmings is loving life

 For former Wolves striker Ashley Hemmings, the opposite is true.

 Hemmings, who turned 34 in March, has just come off the most successful campaign of his career.   Ageing like a fine wine.

 He struck 33 goals last season – including three hat tricks – for Kidderminster Harriers, who went agonisingly close to winning promotion from National League North to the top division, and the brink of the Football League.

 Already voted at Harriers as the Fans’ Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season and Away Supporters’ Player of the Season, three weeks ago Hemmings attended the National League awards and added their Player of the Year and top scorer accolade to his profile.  

 Little wonder that he is already relishing another season having committed his future at Aggborough, believing there is still plenty more to come.

 “I certainly feel like I am getting better with age,” says Hemmings.

 “Last season was the best I ever had individually, I really enjoyed it even though it was a disappointing end for all of us connected with Kidderminster.

 “But I am still learning and wanting to improve and to get better as a player.

 “As you get older, you have to look at how you look after yourself and recover between games and training as your body is very different to when you are 18 to 25.

 “I am thankful to all the different people who have helped me to keep going, and I’m still able to keep up with the young ones in training which is good!

 “I still feel strong and am ready and looking forward to pre-season.”

 Hemmings has completed many pre-seasons since first becoming a professional footballer, now 16-and-a-half years ago, when putting pen to paper on his first deal at Wolves.

 He was one of a prolific year group from the Academy in terms of the number going on to build careers in the game, even if, for many, it was away from Molineux.

 Danny Batth went on to captain Wolves and was involved in two promotions, whilst David Davis played in the Premier League, but, like Hemmings, Sam Winnall, Scott Malone and Kyle Bennett went on to enjoy successful careers elsewhere.

 That certainly made for some great times within the Academy, for whom renowned Wolves scout Bob Bennett initially spotted the talents of Hemmings whilst he was at a tournament with Argyle Young Guns. Having been told by an opposition scout that the standard was poor, Bennett spotted over his shoulder a young player warming the goalkeeper up with plenty of style and potential.  That was Hemmings.

 Actually born in London, he had barely enjoyed a taste of football until moving to Wolverhampton at the age of seven, where he soon picked up the bug from playing with his cousins.

 “I remember after being scouted by Bob I was invited on trial and played some games at Compton, including one against Crewe which I still clearly remember like it was yesterday,” he recalls.

 “We won 4-1, and Kyle Bennett scored twice, I got one and Josh Craddock the other.

 “I managed to get a scholarship, from the Under-eights onwards, and the Academy was amazing for me right from the first day.

 “Learning from coaches and managers like Des Davis, Chico (Carlo Federici), Steve (Burrell), Dave (Timmins), Stuart (Holmes), Lloyd (Stobart) – as I moved through the Academy each of them taught me something new and different about my game and I have so much to thank them for.

 “And then there were so many different experiences from going to Japan at Under-12s, tournaments in Holland, Italy and Germany, all the fixtures up and down the country travelling on the coach with the parents.

 “It was really good that so many of us of the age stayed together as a core group through all those years and went on to make it in the game.

 “I cherish each and every one of those times, and without them I would never have had the career that I did.”

 Hemmings had already represented England Under-17s at the Nordic Cup 18 months before putting pen to paper on his first professional contract on his 17th birthday in early 2009.

 Barely two months later, he had followed up with his first team debut, and what a time, and place to do it.

 Off the bench in the 68th minute, with Wolves a goal down at Barnsley, needing a point to clinch the Championship title under Mick McCarthy, having already secured promotion.

 And so, Hemmings was on the pitch when Kyel Reid slammed home the equaliser sparking the chaos of a jubilant pitch invasion and the eventual result which ensured Wolves would finish top of the pile.

 “People have asked me how I felt as I was about to come on in that Barnsley game, and it’s something I can’t really explain,” says Hemmings.

 “I was speechless, it was almost like an out-of-body experience.

 “I was also up against Darren Moore, and that soon focused my attention on making sure I was quickly into the pass and move and not giving myself the chance to be clattered!

 “But as soon as I got on the pitch, and took my first touch, I was able to relax and was ready to go.

 “That whole day was unreal.“Getting the chance to make my debut in such an important game, and by the end of it Wolves had won the league, it couldn’t get any better!

 “Not to mention with all the scenes when so many fans came into the pitch, it’s something that I will never forget.”

 Hemmings was able to follow it up eight days later with his Molineux senior debut, again coming on as a substitute amid the carnival atmosphere of the final day against Doncaster, once again on the pitch for a vital goal, Richard Stearman’s last gasp headed winner.

 And on this occasion, it was all witnessed by perhaps Hemmings’ greatest fan of all – his Mum Rose.

 “Some members of my family had gone up for the Barnsley game and were buzzing that they got to run on the pitch and celebrate with me,” he explains.

 “Then the following week my Mum got to come and see me make my home debut.

 “That was the best feeling ever – the woman who had done everything to help me get to where I was, from getting me up early in the morning, making sure I’d got all the right equipment, getting to places on time, putting me on the bus to training, travelling up and down the country to watch me.

 “I thank her endlessly because without what she did, none of it would ever have been possible.”

 For Hemmings however, those incredible highlights were as good as it got for him at Wolves, in no small part due to the club’s new Premier League status making it seriously difficult for any teenagers to gatecrash the senior set-up.

 He did make a first team start, alongside Winnall in a Carling Cup win against Southend, and it remains a handy statistical quirk that in each of his three senior appearances for Wolves, whilst he was on the pitch the team scored once, and conceded none.

 Ultimately though, his trade was to be developed elsewhere, with loan spells at Torquay and Plymouth – nothing like keeping a bit of distance! – before departing for a permanent switch much closer to home with Walsall in the summer of 2012.

 “With Wolves reaching the Premier League, and bringing new players in, it was always going to be much harder for any young player trying to break through,” Hemmings reflects.

 “Back in the top division for the first time in a few years they wanted everything to go right to try and establish themselves, and I completely understood that the loan spells were the right way for me to carry on developing.

 “Everyone’s journeys in football are different, success came a bit later for me and my journey was to eventually move on from Wolves and learn my trade that way.

 “I would have loved to have been involved in more games, and obviously a few years later more young players got a chance in the League One season, but for me it wasn’t meant to be, and I was just really pleased for those lads to get their careers started.”

 The two seasons spent with Walsall included returning to Molineux to score in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, and ended with a loan spell with Burton Albion during which they reached the League Two play-off final.

 He then spent two years in League Two as a regular with Dagenham & Redbridge and a season with Mansfield in the same division before dropping into non-league with Boston United - where he was named Player of the Season - AFC Fylde and Altrincham.

 It has been an extensive journey with many different stops, but one which led to his current challenge with Kidderminster all the way back in 2019 meaning his current footballing home has been his longest stay so far, with the exception of Wolves.

 “I have been to a lot of different clubs on this journey and enjoyed so many memories and Kidderminster has been amazing for me right from the start,” Hemmings explains.

 “It’s a family club where I feel so settled and I have now played close to 250 games and scored nearly 100 goals.

 “There have been ups and downs, getting promoted and relegated and then trying to get back up, and a great FA Cup run.

 “It is very hard to get out of these leagues, but I am very proud of myself and the club for so much of what we have achieved.”

 And of course, for any career which has the sort of longevity which Hemmings has enjoyed, he has experienced many different coaching and managerial styles from those in the dugout.

 Within that have been many with strong Premier League experience, from Mick McCarthy at Wolves to Dean Smith when at Walsall, and Phil Brown with Kidderminster Harriers.

 At the same time, he is also relishing the next chapter at Aggborough with Adam Murray, who he previously played for at both Mansfield and Boston.

 “Mick and TC (former Wolves assistant Terry Connor) did so much for me in my early years,” Hemmings recalls.

 “It wasn’t just about the playing side and giving me those opportunities, it was also the discipline and wanting you to grow as a person as quickly as possible.

 “Making sure that we didn’t think, just because we had signed a contract, that we had made it.

 “It was about showing the right manners, discipline, dressing properly, being on time.

 “They taught me so much, skills and habits that I have carried on during my career and which I also pass on to younger players when I can – it is about how you conduct yourself on and off the pitch.

 “Dean Smith and Richard O’Kelly were also similar when I was at Walsall, and it’s no surprise they went on to great things, and I also really enjoyed working with Phil Brown at Kidderminster.

 “He had a different style to the others but was still someone who had managed at the top level and I just wanted to take in everything he said to try and get better.

 “I was sad to see him go in the summer, but that’s football and these things happen.

 “Adam is someone I have worked with and two clubs and, like us as players, has always been wanting to improve as a manager and a coach.

 “I am really looking forward to getting back in for pre-season and linking up with him again.”

 For now, Hemmings is focused only on the next season and trying to help Harriers move back within touching distance of the Football League.

 In the longer term, he is mulling over several potential plans for life after hanging up his boots, and has also enjoyed doing a bit of coaching at the club where his seven-year-old son Regan enjoys playing.

 There will eventually be so many memories to take with him, not just of that magical week at Molineux but during the rest of his career, including when Kidderminster went agonisingly close to knocking West Ham out of the FA Cup, Declan Rice – equalising in the 91st minute - and Jarrod Bowen – scoring the winner on 121 - separately coming to the Hammers’ rescue.

 “That was such a bittersweet experience, matching world-class Premier League players for 120 minutes, but the result really hurt,” he admits.

 Even so, it has been a fantastic story, one which Hemmings perhaps never envisaged coming to fruition.  His motivation in playing for fun meant he didn’t actually take up the offer initially of coming to train with the Academy, prompting scout Bennett to break the habit of a lifetime and visit his Mum at home to make sure all was fine, and he was ready to trial.  Bennett can still remember the family walking through the doors the following week, and, as a sign of the enjoyment he has taken from seeing how Hemmings developed, for many years kept an Express & Star picture of him training before the Doncaster game on his kitchen pinboard.

 Little wonder that the man himself still identifies Wolves as having played such a prominent part in his career.

 “When I was growing up, I just loved playing football, and didn’t even realise scholarships, or trying to play professionally, was an option,” he reveals.

 “So, I never really stressed myself about becoming a pro, and maybe that has helped me continue to love the game so much and hopefully have a few more years left to enjoy yet!

 “I can still remember the day I was first told I’d got a professional contract, it was unreal, especially as it was Wolves, the team I had been at since I was eight.

 “I always look out for Wolves’ results and I take my little boy to the games, I will always be a supporter and it’s a club I will always cherish.

 “I was able to take the learnings on from my time there, and take things to the next step, so much so that I am still playing now and enjoying the challenge as much as ever.

 “I still feel like the very first day that I played, the body feels fit and so does the mind, and I want to play for as long as possible.

 “Next season we’ll start it all again, trying to get promoted, trying to have a cup run.

 “I am still motivated and wanting to achieve as much as I can, and I will always aim for the very best.”