The legend of Barry Bannan, born in Scotland, made in Sheffield
Joe Crann loves Sheffield Wednesday – and adores their Scottish maverick every bit as much. Here's why...
Joe Crann launched The Wednesday Word on Substack recently and it has become a huge success with the club’s fanbase. Here, he writes exclusively for Nutmeg FC about Barry Bannan’s emotional return to Sheffield Wednesday this summer.
Bannan made 477 appearances for the club after joining in 2015. He moved to Millwall in January when the club entered administration, but re-signed this summer — and will be awarded a heroes welcome when he walks out Hillsborough again this season.
Barry Bannan smiles as we bring up his daughter, Elsie, who burst into tears when he told her he was moving back to Sheffield Wednesday.
The 36-year-old is a ‘new’ signing for the Owls this summer. But it’s also a move that will almost certainly see him break the 500-appearance mark for one of the oldest clubs in English football. Only a handful of others have achieved it, and even fewer who weren’t locals.
He doesn’t sound it, but ‘Baz’ is one of us now. His departure to Millwall was short-lived, and never one that anyone at Wednesday — including the Scot himself — ever really wanted, but none of that matters now. In a pre-season run-out in Austria earlier this month, he looked like he’d never left.
Chat to the man, and it becomes apparent that all he wanted in football was to find a home — one where he was appreciated. He left home young, leaving behind Scotland and his beloved Celtic for Aston Villa, where he was continuously sent out on loan. To Blackpool, to Bolton, to Leeds.
Then came Wednesday. He didn’t know it at first, but it didn’t take long for him to realise that they were the perfect match. And it wasn’t just his quality that got fans on board — although it certainly helped. It was his vociferousness, his tenacity, his energy. It became pretty clear, pretty quickly that Barry Bannan got Sheffield Wednesday… and they got him.
Don’t get me wrong, the left-footed rockets into the top corner, the mazy dribbles and crunching tackles all played their part, but just as memorable are the 50-yard dashes to make a last-ditch block and the fist-pumps towards the fans after a hard-fought victory.
He arrived in a summer that saw then-owner Dejphon Chansiri splashing cash all over the place, but none was spent better than what was paid to get free agent Bannan on board. A decade later, he’s the only one still left in blue and white.
Reading about his ‘tanner ba’ roots only serves to further explain why he fitted in so well. Wednesdayites have been starved of top-flight football for over a quarter of a century, and many players have come and gone without ever leaning into Sheffield’s proud footballing history. Not Bannan, his love for this sport is pure.
And it’s mutual. He describes defeat in the 2016 play-off final as the “best worst day” of his life, and victory — as captain — at Wembley seven years later went some way to putting things right. His name filled the air under the arch after the Owls beat local rivals Barnsley in the most dramatic of fashion...
“We’ve got Bannan,” they sang, to the tune of the Billy Ray Cyrus classic Achy Breaky Heart. “Barry Bannan. I just don’t think you’d understand. A wee Scottish man, better than Zidane, we’ve got Barry Bannan.”
There have been tears, in good times and in bad, and there could be more to come.
“When I left, I didn’t think I was ever going to come back as a player,” he said, speaking to The Wednesday Word for Nutmeg. “I’m 36, so it might have never happened. That’s why there was all that emotion — it felt like it could be the end. I didn’t want it to be, but that’s why it came out the way that it did.
“But I think it might be just as bad going back out there — I don’t know how I’m going to take it, because I didn’t think I’d react the way I did when I left!
“My wife is on to me, because she’s adamant that I never cried when she walked down the aisle — which I did! — but she says I never. So she was surprised I was crying, and it could be the same again. It’ll be a different emotion completely though, and I’ll see my kids and wife in the stand again.
“I’m excited about it, though, I can’t wait to get back playing in front of those fans. Deja vu all over again.”
Owls of generations gone by had their Chris Waddles and David Hirsts and Mel Sterlands. They saw trophy wins and cup runs, they saw international footballers on a weekly basis. Those born after the 1990s have had none of that, and if you ask most of them, they won’t even have to think about who the best player they’ve ever seen in a Wednesday shirt is.
It baffles us how he’s only got 27 caps for Scotland. How a man with 112 goals and assists for our club never found the back of the net for his nation. How a man so beloved in a Steel City south of the border barely got a kick in front of the Tartan Army despite being Football League royalty.
Pep Guardiola once called him an “incredible player”, not too long after Bannan had outrageously stuck the ball through Bernardo Silva’s legs. He’s singled out by opposition managers before practically every game, and for a long while it was a case of ‘Stop Bannan, stop Wednesday…’
Now, after his brief southern sojourn, the diminutive Scot is back where he belongs. And just wait for the noise when he saunters back out at Hillsborough once again.
Watch Bannan on his daughter’s reaction to his return to Wednesday
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He was very hyped before his first Scotland appearance and you could see his quality; bur wasn't he involved in some unpleasantness with McBurnie and Fleck where they were critical of the Scotland setup at one point?