Return of the ex-player

Monday, 12/09/2011

by Tom Seymour

There is a belief in football, particularly amongst the members of the terraces, that a player moving on from your club will result in a haunting from them in the future. Of course this is more likely if the player in question has great ability and has done pretty well at your club. This is certainly the case with former Peterborough United striker Aaron Mclean.

Mclean enjoyed an extremely successful four years at London Road, scoring 66 goals in 148 appearances for the club, after being signed from Grays Athletic following a successful loan spell. He became a firm favourite with The Posh fans and along with strike partner Craig Mackail-Smith, was one half of a lethal partnership at the spearhead of Peterborough’s attack.

However, following relegation from the Championship, it was always likely that Peterborough would lose their top players and so, in January of this year, Mclean moved to Hull City for £1.3m – a handsome sum for the Championship. But low and behold, Peterborough bounced straight back from League 1 and have enjoyed a reasonable start in their return to the second tier of English football.

Mclean on the other hand had endured a dry spell in front of goal so far this term and was looking to get off the mark as soon as possible. So upon his first return to London Road since his transfer, he received a warm welcome from his former fans, but there was a sense of the inevitable.

As promised, Mclean scored the only goal of the game just after half-time, with a thunderous strike into the top corner. His muted celebration showed his respect for the Peterborough fans, but they had been treated to the cursed return of the ex-player.

Elsewhere in the Championship, a similar feat was being performed at Upton Park. Matty Taylor’s new side West Ham, were taking on his old team Portsmouth. Again, Taylor had been a fan’s favourite with the Pompey faithful, recognised for his trademark long range goals – most notably his volley from the halfway line against Everton. Admittedly Taylor had had a spell at Bolton between his current and former clubs, but Portsmouth is where he was considered an outstanding performer.

Upon returning to face his former club, Taylor (pictured) had a sting in the tail with one of his strikes from distance. His free-kick flew into the far corner of the net after nine minutes, contributing towards The Hammers 4-3 victory over the South-coast club. It was a typically accurate finish from Taylor, which the Portsmouth fans could only watch on with grim faces, as their former talisman had become part of their downfall.

Likewise, Nicky Adams netted only his second goal for Rochdale this weekend, in their impressive 4-2 League 1 victory against fierce rivals (and of course, his former club) Bury.

There could be something more to the return of the ex-player, other than fan superstition and nostalgia. Maybe they are more fired up for their return. Who knows, but there’s certainly a trend of it. So don’t be surprised if Fernando Torres finds his goal-scoring prowess during Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge on November 20.

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