Barry Bannan making a big impression

The Aston Villa man is proving that size doesn’t matter

He may have the typically flash footballer motor, but the 5ft 7ins 21-year-old Coatbridge boy is as humble and grounded as they come. Playing in the English Premier League and being cast as Scotland’s saviour isn’t about to change that. Not when he knows he’d be letting down his doting parents if cockiness were to undermine his bid to make it big. After all, they did give up their jobs to up sticks from Glasgow to Birmingham when he opted, aged 14, to sign for Villa ahead of Celtic, the club he grew up supporting.

Bannan knows he might not be sitting on the cusp of stardom if it weren’t for the sacrifices made by his greatest role models. And he’s not talking about Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. Such is Bannan’s appreciation for what his mum and dad, Kathleen and James, have done for him, he recently bought them a house as a form of payback. “When I first came down here it was really hard and I got quite homesick,” he says. “Thankfully my mum, dad and younger sister had come down with me which made it easier. They had been keen to move to Birmingham because we had relatives down here but it was still a big gamble because they had to give up everything in Scotland to come down. I left behind my three big brothers and my big sister as well as my cousins, nephews and school friends who I’d grown up with, so it was really hard.

“I remember some of the young Irish boys who were staying in digs and they told me they hated it so I was just grateful that I was able to go home to my own house with my parents and my sister rather than being on my own.”

Now earning his own corn and living with Lauren, his Wolverhampton-born girlfriend, Mr and Mrs Bannan can sit back safe in the knowledge that their boy is imbued with all the tools required to overcome his lack of physical stature and continue making headway in the British game, where brawn and brute force are still favoured in many quarters over subtlety, intelligence and fleet of foot.

Confident in his own ability without being cocky, there are endearing qualities aplenty about this amiable Scot, who still enthusiastically professes to being a 24/7 football junkie. Blessed with more natural ability in his pinkie toe than many of the more hulking athletes who thunder about the fields of the English Premier League, Bannan has long since accepted that, because of his size, he’ll have to work harder than his peers to fully establish himself for club and country. Had he been born in Spain, there’s a fair chance this cultured young midfielder would have been caressing the ball about the top end of La Liga for a good couple of years by now. All too aware of this, his grounding with Lenzie Boys Club in his early teens at least taught him how he would have to go about his business.

“I was always one of the smallest at my boys club, but I used to play a few ages above me so I was sometimes playing against fully-developed boys which was a lot harder,” he says. “I soon realised that if I had a better first touch and moved the ball that bit quicker I wouldn’t have to get involved in the physical battles. That’s what I try to do now in games. I know that, because of my stature, I’ve got to be sharper than most other players because if I get involved in a physical battle, nine times out of ten I’m not going to win it. If there’s a ball in the air in my area I’ll always go up and challenge for it. I would never duck out of a challenge because of my height.

“It’s really frustrating that there’s so much emphasis on the physical side in the British game. Especially after the last Scotland game, when you go and play like that and still have people doubting you because of your size, it’s just stupid really. If you look at the best teams and the best players at the moment, most of them are small in stature. Apart from the centre-backs, Spain and Barcelona have very few players over six foot. Almost all the midfielders are small. There’s loads of players proving that you don’t have to be big and strong – it’s just stupid that some people think you can’t play at the highest level because you’re small.”

One such person was Martin O’Neill, the manager under whom Bannan had more chance of beating Peter Crouch in the air than getting a game for Villa. But, after the Ulsterman left last summer, Bannan’s career took a rapid upturn when the likes of Gerard Houllier, Gary McAllister, Craig Levein, and, most recently, Alex McLeish became the most prominent men in his working life.

Houllier, of course, was O’Neill’s successor, who famously compared Bannan’s technique to that of the Spanish superstars, Xavi and Iniesta. Since then, Scotland captain Darren Fletcher has echoed similar sentiments, while, such has been the impact the little man – who has ducked in and out of favour at Villa over the past year – has made, there’s even Manchester United fan chatter endorsing him as a future Red Devil.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Gerard,” Bannan says. “He gave me my chance and played me with just one other central midfielder, when most other people would only play me in a three-man midfield. Him and Gary McAllister were brilliant for me.”

After impressing under Houllier and McAllister, a management duo who alienated some of the more senior Villa players, last November brought a surprise – but fully earned – Scotland debut against the Faroes Islands in which Bannan first caught the attention of the Scottish public with a swaggering display of technical quality not seen in a dark blue jersey for many moons.

Momentum was stalled by a frustrating second half to last season which saw him loaned out to Leeds. But after last month’s mesmerising display against Lithuania saw him earn rapturous acclaim from the Hampden crowd, his club career is also back on track, as he heads to London today intent on starting his third successive Villa game against on-song QPR. “My confidence is sky high at the moment after the games I’ve played recently, particularly the Scotland game,” he says. “For your country’s fans to be singing your name after just a couple of games was unbelievable. Coming off the pitch against Lithuania was my happiest moment in football.”

Bannan hogged the headlines in Scotland for the next few days but he admits he was happy to shoot straight back to Birmingham and escape the hullabaloo. He may have dodged the fanfare, but Alex McLeish, his current Villa manager, ensured he had to endure some gentle ribbing. “When I got back down here, he was joking that I’m Scotland’s saviour. It’s good that people recognise that you’re doing well but, for me, it’s definitely better to get away back down to Birmingham when everybody up the road is talking about you. If you pick up the papers and see yourself on the back pages, there’s always a chance you could get carried away, although I’d like to think I’m not that type of guy.”

Despite his seven years in Birmingham, where he can see himself living even after he retires from football, Bannan still feels fully Scottish and loves hooking up with the national team. As a likely starter for the must-win game in Liechtenstein next month, his guile could be crucial in unlocking a tight defence, although, depending on whether Scotland need a result in Spain or not, it may be that the old size issue crops up again to deny him the chance of a first encounter with his imperious little Iberian clones. “Craig Levein’s been brilliant,” he says. “He’s all about team spirit and the trip to La Manga was brilliant for that. Everyone’s really friendly at Scotland – it’s basically a club atmosphere. If I can start the next few games for Villa, hopefully I’ll be involved in the double-header. I took my chance against Lithuania, so I’m hoping I did enough to start in Liechtenstein. If I’m not in the team I won’t complain – I’ll just make sure I’m ready when I’m called upon. I’d love to play against Spain – that would show you how far you’ve got to go to get close to the level of Iniesta and Xavi. I’m not sure the Spanish will know who I am, but if I play, hopefully they’ll know who I am by the end of the game. I’d love to get Xavi or Iniesta’s shirt after it – that would be brilliant.”

As recently as eight years ago, Bannan was a starry-eyed wee boy in Coatbridge, idolising then-Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov. “When I was watching him on TV as a kid, I was thinking it would be amazing to meet him, never mind play beside him,” he said. “Now I’m one of his good mates – it’s crazy.”

Adamant “there’s no danger of me thinking I’ve already arrived”, this unlikely rise to Petrov’s level should provide the little Scottish ray of light with the requisite belief that one day he might enjoy the same exalted stage now occupied by Messrs Xavi and Iniesta.