WHEN the Zoom call came it was a brutal one. Ethan Hamilton, then 21 and a Manchester United player since his earliest days at secondary school was being told the club was releasing him.

It was a blow, of course, but after one pre-season friendly appearance lasting all of a couple of minutes and a succession of loan spells – taking in Rochdale, Southend United, and Bolton Wanderers – over two seasons it was hardly the biggest surprise.

Indeed, speaking a few years earlier, the young Scot, capped at Under-15, 16 and 19 levels, had already acknowledged the magnitude of the task facing any talented youngster attempting to step off the United conveyor belt into the first-team squad.

"United sign the best young players from all around the world,” he said. "I'm just a boy from Edinburgh so you have to try to get your head around how you're actually going to make it here. It's so tough. You just need to work hard every day."

United had been first in the queue as Hamilton was making his name as a kid at prodigious Edinburgh boys club Hutchison Vale. His first love was Celtic – his particular idols were Henrik Larsson and Shunsuke Nakamura – but there was only one destination in mind and, at the age of 12, his regular trips south for training sessions and matches at Carrington began. At 16, he and his grandmother made the move to Manchester full-time and soon after that they were joined by his mother.

His progress in the academy was impressive – so much so that Hamilton was once feted by Jose Mourinho after replacing Paul Pogba in the Manchester United matchday squad for an FA Cup tie against Huddersfield Town in 2018. It was the kind of elevation that brought Scott McTominay – another United youngster with Scotland connections – into the hemisphere of the first team at Old Trafford.

But where McTominay prospered under Mourinho and has gone on to become a mainstay of the United squad under subsequent managers, Hamilton did not get the same breaks and his time at the club ended with that Zoom call right in the middle of the pandemic.

The initial outlook had been promising for Hamilton. He was a member of the same youth team as Marcus Rashford while former Hearts loanee Jimmy Dunne, Angel Gomes – now at Lille – and Tahith Chong – on loan to Birmingham City – were others who were on the periphery of the United first team at that point. Such was Hamilton's standing among that Under-23s group that he finished runner-up in the vote for player of the year behind Demetri Mitchell, the Hibernian winger.

But the closest he came to making the breakthrough was that aforementioned place on the bench for the FA Cup tie and the couple of minutes he played against AC Milan during a pre-season tour in 2018 with a number of United's first teamers on World Cup duty. He eventually left United two summers ago for Peterborough where he played sporadically in the club's League One promotion-winning season. That had followed another loan move, this time to Bolton, where he hardly pulled up any trees according to those who witnessed his 14 appearances and solitary goal.

Sometimes, though, all a player needs is a change of scenery, new surroundings, a different voice to stir something in the soul. Hamilton has enjoyed a new lease of life at Accrington Stanley since his arrival last summer playing in a number of positions from wing-back to No.10. He has been a virtual ever present and his six goals in the league have been supplemented by a further two in cup competitions – a 100% improvement on his best ever goal return of the four he managed at Rochdale.

So what's the secret? Contentment seems to be the answer based on Hamilton's replies in press conferences.

“It's perfect for me [at Accrington],” he said. “It's just what I want. People here are humble, work hard, it's exactly what I want. This area was quite familiar for me from when I was younger. Scotland is not too far away, the family gets down as well. It's a little bit closer to home. It's a lovely part of the world. There's a real community feel, it's a lovely club to be part of and I just really enjoy being [here].”

His versatility has been a major bonus, too, for manager John Coleman, his assistant Jimmy Bell and first-team coach John Doolan, who was once part of Alan Stubbs' backroom staff at Hibs.

But for Peter Leathem, chair of the Accrington Stanley supporters trust, and a regular at home and away games, there is no binary answer.

“I think it is a combination of things,” he says. “I suspect he wasn't getting a lot of football at Bolton or Peterborough. I know at Peterborough he came off the bench a lot. Stanley have set their stall out in recent years to give players who have either lost their way or are trying to re-establish themselves in the game, particularly young players who have left academies – Liverpool, Everton – nearby to give them a platform to play league football and then to get sold on to a higher division and we have a number of players that have done that over the time and obviously Ethan has come in and played the vast majority of games in a number of different positions and so he has proved his versatility over the season and has proved very popular with the supporters. He's a wholehearted player, scores a few goals and leaves nothing on the pitch.”

Accrington's commitment to youth has led to inconsistency and ahead of today's home encounter against Charlton they sit plum in the middle of the division in 12th. That's not to say there have not been moment's to savour. One Hamilton wonder goal against Fleetwood in an EFL Trophy group match particularly stands out from this season's highlight reel. Cutting in off the right before unleashing a dipping, swerving shot into the top corner, it was a goal that came straight out of Nakamura's book of trademark strikes and followed something of a trend for Hamilton in this campaign.

“He's certainly got license to get forward from midfield,” says Leathem. “He's very much box to box and he does have a good shot on him. He's scored probably the majority of them from 18 yards or plus. We are providing him with a platform to show his wares on a regular basis and provided he keeps performing there's a fair chance he would probably move on in time to come. But he's certainly doing the right stuff for us at the moment.”