This weekend sees the return of Ethan Erhahon for the first time since his £750,000 move to Bolton in the summer.
Inevitably, some fans will boo him. It’s all pantomime, and as with (bizarrely) Lasse Sorensen and Sean Roughan earlier in the season, the boos are sure to ring out for a player who once wore our colours.
I could preach and say it is ridiculous, but it will always happen. As a kid, I was conditioned to boo former players more than most. One of the earliest I recall was ‘Super’ Joe Allon, who became ‘Goofy’ Joe Allon not three months later. I remember screaming Judas at Ben Futcher for his Boston move, and even booing Lee Thorpe on one of the many times he scored against us.
I’m not a happy clapper – I wasn’t one of those cheering Terry Hawkridge when he scored the fourth as we lost 4-1 at Notts County, and I didn’t stay and applaud Danny and Nicky after their Portsmouth side beat us 2-0. I appreciate what players and managers have done (or not done) and yet for 90 minutes, they’re just another member of the opposition.
However, I never boo indiscriminately at players. A player has to earn my ire to get a boo, and simply going elsewhere for more money is not enough. I once worked a job on £20,000 a year, and was offered £22,000 to go elsewhere, so I did (long story, I did end up doing a U-turn, but that doesn’t entirely fit my example here). That’s life, and you can bet Ethan was offered significantly more than £2000 a year when he went to Bolton.
The question you have to ask is, did Ethan Erhahon do enough while here to warrant boos? I think about Chris Maguire; he won’t come back here because he’s not at the level, but I’d boo him. He was seemingly quite arrogant, and not one person I met has a good tale to tell. When I met him, he told me Lincoln had ‘nothing,’ and if he wanted anything, he would drive to Sheffield. Everyone I speak to has a similar tale, and when he did go, it was under a cloud. Booing him? Absolutely.
Ethan? Every time I met him, he was a livewire, friendly and warm, always happy to chat. He seemed a decent lad, a bit excitable, like Danny Mandroiu, but not the so-called ‘bad egg’ I keep hearing about. He left for more money than he came for, and I don’t recall him openly demanding a transfer in the press. I never saw him give less than 100% for the Imps, and while he’s moved on, we’ve arguably been just as good, if not better, without him. I don’t see any reason there to boo at all.
Of course, that’s anecdotal and personal. My personal impression of him may differ. Like Maguire, there may be some who met him and found him friendly and approachable (they don’t talk about it much), and there may be some who met Ethan and found him arrogant and aloof. I doubt it, personally.
Of course, he’ll get booed; that is the pantomime. He didn’t quite turn into the £1m player we hoped he would, and he left with plenty of rumours swirling around. That said, as we found out when Conor McGrandles joined Charlton, what people say about a player doesn’t always align with what the player is, or how he has behaved. I’m not sure there are many people at the club who would say that Ethan Erhahon was a bad egg around the training ground or dressing room, because my understanding is that he wasn’t, not one bit. Just because Jimmy Walker slated him on the radio doesn’t mean he was a bad player or had a bad attitude; it’s all opinion.
Yes, we cashed in early and didn’t get the return we wanted, so there must be circumstances that led to that, but disruptiveness and arrogance are not two words I believe fit Ethan Erhahon. He’s young, perhaps made decisions that those without the benefit of experience make, and we cut our ties.
Booing? Not for me, but when I do hear them, it will be more out of the inevitability of the panto, rather than a deep-seated dislike for a player who, let’s be honest, only really let us down once, and that was at Bolton at Christmas 2024.
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