Introducing Barry Bannan a young talented Scottish winger with tinges of Jimmy Johnstone about him. The twenty year old, soon to be twenty one is at Aston Villa and has recently broke into the first team under current boss Gerard Houllier.
Bannan himself claimed that former manager Martin O'Neill was detrimental to his progress as he wouldn't play him due to his height. The Aston Villa player stands at a proud 5 ft 7 and was head and shoulders above the rest on his debut for Scotland against the Faroe Islands if only in metaphorical terms.
However, are we right to be hyping him up so quickly? A reality check suggests otherwise as it was the Faroe Islands he was playing against, and to further emphasis this their season finished three weeks ago. It was hardly the sort of team that would provide any sort of challenge to the tricky winger.
I can already hear
the argument about him playing against Manchester United and undoubtedly playing really well. But careers are not made on one game they are made on hundreds and there have been instances in the past where the Scottish media in particular have hyped up players and then nothing has come of it.Players like Mark Burchill when he was a youngster at Celtic was being compared to the great Michael Owen when he was at his peak and where is he now one might ask.
Another candidate in the hat for this award is Sean Maloney again another rising star for the Hoops went down to the Premiership to try and test his ability against the elite of football but was found to be lacking in certain areas and instead is back in the SPL testing his ability against the 'elite' in Scottish football.
Incidentally Maloney played in the match against the Faroes and was dire his night was summed up when he was gifted the easiest of chances as a misplaced pass led him one on one with the goalkeeper- admittedly if it had been a proper International match then he might have not attempted to chip the keeper but it was a poor effort none the less.
And what about superstar John Fleck being compared to the next Wayne Rooney a season or so ago and he cannot even get in the Rangers team even with their squad being sparse as it is.
But perhaps in Bannan's favour is he already playing in the Premiership where others in the past have failed. He seems to have genuine talent and does not seem to fear anyone with the right coaching and direction he could become a very good player for his country but for now he needs to keep his feet on the ground.
