As the 2024–25 season approached, it appeared like James Tilley would not play a significant role in the AFC Wimbledon starting lineup.
The former Brighton & Hove Albion youth product was expected to play a bit-part role in the team due to a dismal finish to the previous season and a tactical and formational adjustment made by manager Johnnie Jackson.
He has, however, excelled when given the opportunity by squad rotation, and now that his contract is up at the end of this season, the Dons must move fast to prevent outside interest from growing and the possibility of a January sale at a discount or a free transfer the following summer.
As previously said, Tilley had become a shadow of the player he had been when he began at Wimbledon in the second half of the 23–24 season.
He scored all seven of his league goals for the season in the first two months of the season, and he would only score five more in three different cup competitions in the early going. As a result, he would not score again after November.
He soon proved to be an inconsistent choice off the bench as well, and some fans would have been happy to see him go over the summer if it meant the Dons could make a fast profit.
However, despite the overall negative opinion that some held of Tilley, the opinion that mattered most was that of Jackson, and the former Charlton captain chose to stick with Tilley and try and rework his game so that he would fit into gameplans for 24/25.
Over pre-season, Tilley was rarely used in his current left wing-back position, instead taking up the advanced, attacking role on the left of the midfield three. However, with mixed results came mixed performances, and once again, it felt as though the Irishman was a square peg in a round hole.
What was even more concerning for Tilley was the effectiveness of James Furlong and Aron Sasu as the pair at left wing-back. Both looked like they were a class above and were very able to rotate in and out of the position as and when needed.
However, when injury struck Sasu in August, Tilley was handed a brilliant opportunity to reinstate himself in Jackson’s plans, and make it impossible for Furlong, who is on loan from Hull City but similarly started off at Brighton, to get back in the team.
He took this opportunity and ran away with it, starting with an excellent defensive display versus Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup.
Facing the prospect of defending against Jack Clarke, who had just moved to the Tractor Boys from Sunderland at that point, Tilley kept the youngster extremely quiet and even when a fresh-legged Omari Hutchinson entered the fray, the former Grimsby Town loanee made sure to keep his influence on the game to an absolute minimum.
Not only did he do brilliantly defensively, but when allowed the chance to break forward, he did, and made sure to create dangerous opportunities for the Dons, even if there was no assist or goal to show for it.
And while performances have carried on in this vein, the goal contribution column has finally sprung into life, with the now 26-year-old scoring his first goal this campaign, and competitively for almost a year, in the recent midweek fixture against Morecambe FC.
Having received the ball on the halfway line, the wing-back took himself on a mazy run through the opposition defence before slotting home a fantastic shot into the top right-hand corner.
