RED DEVIL ETHAN PROVES DESIRE...
IT’S not a choice that every 21-year-old would make.
But Ethan Hamilton does not regret swapping a season rubbing shoulders with some of world football’s top names for a season battling against relegation to the English game’s basement division.
Manchester United have a long tradition of blooding youngsters in the Football League – David Beckham was famously farmed out to Preston in 1995 – and last summer Hamilton was one of four Red Devils hopefuls to follow the same path.
The former Scotland under-19 international has gone on to make 30 senior appearances on loan this season – one more than George Tanner, who is now at Salford, managed for Morecambe and over double the number Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has mustered with Tranmere and Oldham.
Keeper Kieran O’Hara has featured 43 times for Burton.
Hamilton’s outings have been shared between the two clubs who boast the fewest points in the Football League this term – Southend and Bolton – but the Edinburgh-born midfielder, who once shared a pitch with Alexis Sanchez and took a penalty for the Old Trafford giants against Pepe Reina, believes he has benefited from every minute. Benefited
Having played for ex-England favourite Sol Campbell at Southend, Hamilton moved back to the north-west in January, running out in front of 13,000 crowds at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The Trotters – a Premier League outfit eight years ago – started the season with a 12-point deduction and are destined to be joined in League Two by Southend next season, but such trying circumstances have not deterred Hamilton, who scored his second goal of the campaign in Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw at Burton.
“I don’t mind,” said Hamilton, “because playing in the league is totally different from academy football and you learn a lot from the older players.
“Manchester United put a plan in place for me. I had a couple of years playing with the reserves and the next step was to get some experience playing men’s football.
“Bolton are a huge club with a huge history and it’s been great to come into this environment and see how the players do everything. We all work with a positive mindset on the training pitch and take that into games.
“Some games we have performed well but not won and all you can do is see what we could have done better, work on it and keep going.”
Indeed, recent results might not have provided an accurate reflection of performances with three draws following a run of five straight defeats, of which four were only by the odd goal.
Hamilton is also relishing working under Keith Hill, below, for a second time after being given his professional debut last season at Rochdale by the likeable Lancastrian, who has racked up almost 700 games as a lower-league manager.
“He’s been brilliant for me,” the Scot enthused. “He analyses games with me and tells me where I can improve.
“He’s always looking to help younger players. He’s really positive, he gets the best out of me and I’m very thankful for the opportunities he has given me.”
Hamilton remains grateful too for his formative football years at renowned Scottish Non-League outfit Hutchinson Vale where, like Darren Fletcher before him, he was spotted by United scouts. Hotbed
Leigh Griffiths and John Collins also hailed from the amateur Edinburgh club and, with midfielder Billy Gilmour making an exciting breakthrough at Chelsea and Liverpool’s Andy Robertson now one of the planet’s best left-backs, Hamilton reckons Scotland can re-establish itself as a hotbed for producing young football talent.
“I had 11 years at Hutchinson Vale and it was a really great upbringing for me,” he explained. “I loved playing boys’ football there.
“I found there were a lot of good people working within grassroots football in Scotland, who coach you in the right manner.”
Hamilton is unclear, meanwhile, on his future at United, with his one first-team game coming during a 2018 pre-season tour to the United States where he came on as an 89th-minute sub for Juan Mata against AC Milan and found himself in the unexpected situation of trying to beat ex-Liverpool and Spain keeper Reina, now at Aston Villa, from 12 yards after the two teams had taken nine penalties each in a shoot-out.
His spot-kick was saved, but United went on to prevail and Hamilton has nothing but fond memories of the trip.
“It was a great learning experience to see how such worldclass players operate,” he pointed out.