Football Ex-captain feels he was made a scapegoat for Gas relegation
MAX Ehmer claims he was made a scapegoat by Joey Barton for Bristol Rovers’ relegation and believes the manager should look closer to home for where the blame truly lies.
Ehmer left Rovers last week following the termination of his contract to rejoin former club Gillingham after a forgettable and frustrating - for all concerned - 12 months in north Bristol.
The 29-year-old was signed last summer as the centrepiece of Ben Garner’s new-look defence, named club captain, and made the Gas’ highest-paid player, but his performances did not come anywhere near matching that status.
Ehmer’s season of struggle culminated with an explosive public dressing down by Barton in the wake of defeats at Hull and Plymouth where he was substituted at half-time and which proved to be the defender’s last performance in the quarters as he soon underwent surgery on a shoulder injury.
Barton claimed Ehmer was the wrong choice to be made Rovers skipper and claimed the mistakes he was making on the field were the same he experienced when they were teammates at QPR.
Speaking to Kent Online, Ehmer admits he was baffled by this assessment: “I’m not going to go too much in depth with it, but it was strange. From how he was speaking to me when he first came in to what he came out and said was odd. It was almost like I got scapegoated. How can you blame someone who’s injured when you first come in, missed a couple of weeks with my shoulder and then I played 45 minutes at Hull and 45 minutes at Plymouth and somehow it’s all my fault?
“At the end of the day some people just need to look at themselves rather than blaming others I suppose.
“He came for me a couple of times in meetings but he was always positive, that’s what made it even more strange. The day he released the article was the day he agreed to let me get my shoulder operated on, so then I saw all the reports saying I wasn’t committed to it, but my shoulder had no ligaments in it, so I think I had to get it done regardless.
“I was trying to play on, trying to help the club and it got to a point where I couldn’t, and he agreed to let me get it done.”
Ehmer angered Rovers fans last week as he tweeted Gillingham was a “proper place to play football” soon after his return to Priestfield was confirmed. That was seen as a slight on the Gas, but the centreback insists it was not meant that way.
“It was literally nothing to do with Bristol Rovers but it got to the point where they’re nibbling too much and I can’t go back on it because they think I said it,” he added. “It’s literally saying Gillingham is a proper place to play football.”
Although Ehmer has earned a move back to League One, as Rovers prepare for life in League Two, he’s set to be consigned to Gas history
alongside the likes of Stefan Payne as an all-time flop summer signing but he insists he holds no regrets over his decision in 2020.
Ehmer made 33 appearances across all competitions, scoring twice and earned six yellow cards, with Rovers keeping a clean sheet in just seven of those games, and in our website Bristol Live’s end of season player ratings, Gasheads gave him an average rating of 2.53 out of 10.
“People read into all the stuff, that I was the worst player ever, or whatever else,” Ehmer said. “If they want to say that, that’s fine, there were results and games where I played really well. Like I said, I feel like it was scapegoating but I’m big enough and wise enough to know it’s part and parcel of football and I’m not going to take it to heart.”