So what went wrong with Barry Bannan?

[Londonvilla]

So what went wrong with Barry Bannan?

With Barry Bannan’s exit from the Villa just a matter of time, it’s probably the right moment to discuss what the hell went wrong with his career.

Ian Holloway said that Barry Bannan was the most talented footballer he’d ever worked with when he was on loan at Blackpool. He showed in glimpses supreme talent (that game against Manchester United) but never really kicked on. He should have been better than Sid Cowans, he should be the captain of Scotland, the top four clubs should be fighting for his signature, yet he’ll end up in the championship.

So what went wrong? Here are some theories,

1)   We can’t bridge the gap between youth team and first-team. – How the club brings young players through is appalling, we have a history of offering players with potential, new contracts on relatively  high salaries (£20,000 per week) when they are 19 or 20 and they just stop developing. The latest one is  Nathan Abayomi Delfouneso, who follows the greats like Luke Moore who had too much too young. The truth is if someone offered you over £400,000 a year after tax, wouldn’t you think you’ve made it, especially if you’re only 19 or 20 years old? The blame for Barry not progressing can be laid firmly at the feet of the Chief Executives who offered him a silly contract before he had proved himself.

2)   The Villa has consistently failed to use the loan system properly. – Young players need to play at the highest possible level in order to develop. The Villa has not been able to loan any of its bright young things to the right clubs, in order to help them develop. I was told by one of the coaches at Stockport County that how loans work is, that there are basically two types. The first type is where a club agrees to pay a loan fee plus all or part of the wages of the player they are hoping to have on loan. You normally can’t recall a player back to your club if a loan fee has been paid. The second type involves no loan fee and the wages are paid in full (unless it’s Chelsea where they cover most of the wages) but if the player is fit the player starts. The problem with younger Villa starlets is that they get paid too much and championship clubs can’t afford the wages. The Villa should have offered Barry Bannan to a championship club two years ago on the basis that we cover the wages and he’s guaranteed playing time. Look how good Westwood is and he was playing in division one. Game time is everything if you’re going to develop as a footballer.

3)   No one has had faith in Barry’s ability. – The quality of the managers at the Villa over recent years has been poor. Barry Bannan was not good enough to start for any of them and not poor enough to sell. (Stuck between a rock and a hard place) if one manager and had confidence in Barry’s ability (before Lambert got to the club) we could have had one hell of a player on our hands.

4)   Paul Lambert has got it wrong. – Paul Lambert has given Barry a chance but never in a position which would showcase his talents. Barry Bannan is an attacking midfield player who should be receiving the ball in the opposition’s half of the pitch. Playing him as a defensive midfield player or a central midfield player is only going to highlight the fact that he is the size of a Hobbit, with the pace of a turtle.

5)   The premiership is a league for television audiences across the world. – Modern football killed Barry Bannan chances of being a star at the Villa. Martin O’Neill had ridiculous sums of money, (compared to Paul Lambert) and spent it on overpriced bums and didn’t give youth a chance. This was because we are in a society where managers do not have the time to build a team because we all want instant success. If Barry Bannan had been born in the early 1960s he would have been in contention for a place in our league winning team. Because back in those days young players got the chance to develop and prove themselves, no one can tell me that Barry doesn’t have talent.

6)   No one to blame but himself. – if you’re going to make it in professional football talent is only part of what you need. You need heart determination and arrogance especially if you’re a ballplayer. Barry never really dominated games, he never demanded the ball, he never shouted at players, who made a mistake; he never took the responsibility for winning games. Barry’s failure at the Villa is Barry’s fault, hopefully dropping down into the championship will be just the thing that he needs to make him realise he’s privilege to get paid to do something that we would do for nothing.

Sorry for it being a bit of a long post; however we keep getting it wrong, when bringing incredibly talented players through, my fear is we’ve messed it up with Barry and Nathan and were are going to mess it up with Gary Gardner and Ciaran Clark. As a result analysing what went wrong with Barry Bannan is probably one of the most important issues for Villa fans at this time, especially when we have no chance of competing with the champions league teams in relation to finances.

So the question remains what went wrong with Barry Bannan?

[dave.woodhall]

How about, he just wasn't good enough?

[andrew08]

Erm, he's not tall enough.

[Goldie.7]

Just read the existing thread.

[Percy McCarthy]

Too small I think. His ability made up for it to a certain degree but he didn't have quite enough. Look at the players his size who have made it - they are absolutely worls class. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Maradonna. Can't think of any more.

[eamonn]

Fair play for taking the time to write an essay on it. Nice presentation too.
Have to take issue with your first point though - if we hadn't offered Baz and Nat those wages at the time some other club would likely have (or near enough). Similarly, if Westwood, Lowton etc. have mares next season will it really have been our fault that we rewarded them this summer for fine breakthrough seasons? An agent will always leverage potential of a young player especially if it's partly backed-up with encouraging first team performances.

[PeterWithesShin]

Same reasons hundreds of other players fail to live up to their early potential.

[richardhubbard]

He not as talented as Lee Hendrie let alone Cowans.

Bye Barry

[Dave Clark Five]

Did I miss the bit about him being a piss head or was that included in Chief Executives paying too much?

[bilsim]

Whilst the points you raise are undoubtedly contributing factors, I think we're all in agreement that Barry Bannan is what went wrong with Barry Bannan. I'm sure the fans and management of Aston Villa would give him "more time" if he wasn't such an arrogant tosser who's most memorable exploits were under the influence of alcohol.

[paulcomben]

DUI

[villan from luton]

How can you compare him to Gordon Cowans, not a patch. Sid always remained level headed throughout his career as well, not sure Barry has done that so far. I wish him well, but dont see him as a premiership player in the future

[KevinGage]

Fair play for taking the time to write an essay on it. Nice presentation too.
Have to take issue with your first point though - if we hadn't offered Baz and Nat those wages at the time some other club would likely have (or near enough). Similarly, if Westwood, Lowton etc. have mares next season will it really have been our fault that we rewarded them this summer for fine breakthrough seasons? An agent will always leverage potential of a young player especially if it's partly backed-up with encouraging first team performances.

Agree. 

If we'd offered a (relative) pittance to those players once they'd made the first team and were seeing regular action, it's quite likely that they'd have got the deals they were looking for elsewhere.  Had Albrighton, Bannan, Clark or (going back further Luke Moore) left soon after breaking through, there would have been outrage. 

The OP does have a point about players perhaps getting too much too soon and thinking they've made it, but that's an issue for football as a whole, not just our Chief Exec.

 The hope is, if the players are hungry enough (and good enough) money should never be the biggest motivating factor. It's important, but they know if they stay in the game for any length of time they will be rewarded financially. Pride in their performance and looking to develop should be a career long thing, it shouldn't cease being important after the first proper contract they sign. For the better players, I'm sure that's not the case.

I do agree on failing to utilize the loan facility more.  But not as far as Championship is concerned.   Bannan and the Fonz have had loans at different Championship clubs.  Looking back, we could have been braver and sent the Fonz and wee Barry out on 6 month or season long loans to other Prem clubs.  I get why we didn't, those players were on the fringes for us, and were -in their own way- important squad players.   But taking the longterm view, regular, sustained top flight football for a Portsmouth, Blackpool or similar might have enhanced their development, rather than just the odd runout for us. On the other hand, had they bombed, we might have been able to conclude far sooner that they weren't cut out for the demands of top flight football. 

[danlanza]

Arrogance is his down fall. He was barred from the Belfry for constantly ignoring greenkeepers requests to not drive his golf buggy onto the tee's. The old " Do you know who i am" attitude did not work.
He still has the potential to make it as a very good footballer. He just needs to drop the attitude and concentrate on his game. He has the ability to still be a great player. Good luck to him in the future and i hope he does very well.

[Sandeep]

Too many Cheezy Watsits