Bannan speak out against Mon… Part 2

[Leighton]

Seems odd that Mon had issues with his size as he was the same man who signed that 6ft giant Maloney…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1330702/Martin-ONeills-exit-Villa-boss-big-break-says-Barry-Bannan.html

[Mr Diggles]

MON - the progressive football thinker.

[usav]

MON's reputation seems to diminish more each passing week.

[ROBBO]

Barry should avoid the publicity and concentrate on his game, no comment should be his by word.

[KevinGage]

Agreed.

Managers have different opinions on players and what they look for.

The way we played under MON a player like Bannan would more often than not have been a passenger.  The focus was on countering at pace rather than keeping possession and our CM's needed to be more robust. Nobody can say MON's ideas were entirely without merit either as we consistently got good results over a three year period (just not quite good enough -as we all know).

But I'm glad the focus has changed and a player like Bannan now has more of a chance to shine.

[Reality]

You'd think Martin the Great would know that history serves as a good reminder to men who put down small footballers. George Best wasn't exactly the tallest footballer in the world. Maradona wasn't exactly 6'5, neither is Messi. Sure he may not be in their league, but he should know that size means fuck all in football, especially if you have the heart and the ability. And Barry certainly has both of them.

[Rigadon]

Agreed.

Managers have different opinions on players and what they look for.

The way we played under MON a player like Bannan would more often than not have been a passenger.  The focus was on countering at pace rather than keeping possession and our CM's needed to be more robust. Nobody can say MON's ideas were entirely without merit either as we consistently got good results over a three year period (just not quite good enough -as we all know).

But I'm glad the focus has changed and a player like Bannan now has more of a chance to shine.

Well said

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Have to defend MON on this one, there are very few players as small as Bannan that make the grade, it's still early days with him as yet anyway.

[SteveN]

Would prefer him to do his talking on the pitch.  Kids of today, you would have thought he would refer to his manager as Mr or Msr Houllier rather than just Houllier.

[Shrek]

Martin never gave young people a chance. Albrighton, Bannan, Clark, Cahill, Gardner. Martin was scared to give these lads a chance.

Looking back we were fools and judged Martin though tinted glass.

All he did was spend spend spend and stifle our excellent academy players.

Well done Randy.

[Neil Hawkes]

Ive seen various reports on his height. Can anyone confirm what it actually is?

From what he's produced so far, combined with the ability to make his own space, shield, harass and excellent range of passing, the only way I can see him not continuing to make the grade would be either through injury or attitude.

[Risso]

To be fair to Bannan, he's not exactly slating O'Neill is he?  He's just pointing out that O'Neill had concerns about his size, which isn't unreasonable on either side to be fair.

[TimTheVillain]

Keep up the good work Barry - skill and footballing ability are far more important that size.

I still don't think he's 5 ft 7 by the way !

[kipeye]

I thought he was 5'5".

[E I Adio]

One of the papers that carried the report of the Scotland game yesterday said that he was 5' 7". Don't see why this is necessarily an issue.

Maybe MON was thinking of playing him at CB and was worried that he was a little bit short.