Preston North End v Leeds United: Leeds beat off rivals to secure Bannan deal

SIMON GRAYSON has revealed Leeds United pipped “nearly every other team in the Championship” to sign Aston Villa midfield player Barry Bannan on loan until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old Scotland international has gone straight into United’s squad for tonight’s trip to the Championship’s bottom club, Preston North End.

Bannan arrives at Leeds with an impressive pedigree after helping Blackpool win promotion last season while on loan at Bloomfield Road.

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He has also made 12 Premier League appearances for Villa this term, while his last outing for Gerard Houllier’s men was the 3-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City just seven days ago.

Grayson said: “Barry is a player we have been tracking for a while. Circumstances have now changed where Villa are in a position to let him join us and I would like to thank them for agreeing to the move.

“He has had the opportunity to go to nearly every other team in the Championship so for him to come here makes it all the more pleasing.

“He is used to this division and he played a major part in Blackpool’s run to get promoted last season, so he has experience and he fits the bill perfectly for us,” he added.

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Bannan made 21 appearances for Blackpool last season, including late cameos from the bench in the Lancashire club’s play-off semi-final win over Nottingham Forest and the Wembley triumph against Cardiff City.

He has played twice for Scotland this term, including alongside Leeds wideman Robert Snodgrass in last month’s 3-0 win over Northern Ireland.

Whether he has to be content with a place on the bench tonight against Preston remains to be seen, but Bannan will be part of a squad hoping to make amends for what has to be a leading contender for the craziest game of the season.

When Leeds hosted North End in September, they somehow managed to squander a 4-1 lead en route to losing 6-4.

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Former Hull City striker Jon Parkin was the architect of United’s collapse with a hat-trick and such was the stunning manner of the turnaround that the customary boos and jeers normally expected from the stands after such a heavy beating were conspicuous only by their absence.

Instead, the 22,727 crowd drifted off into the night wondering just how Leeds had conceded six goals on home soil in a league game for the first time in the club’s history.

A little over five months on from that drubbing, the final score looks, if anything, even more bizarre with Preston having won just two games in the 25 outings since pulling off the fightback of the season.

Darren Ferguson has also been replaced as manager by Phil Brown, while Leeds have been transformed from a team seemingly set for a campaign in lower mid-table to one that has a chance of winning promotion.

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No wonder, therefore, that anyone connected with United is trying to block out the memory of such an infamous collapse ahead of tonight’s return clash.

Max Gradel, one of five members from the XI that took on Preston who is likely to start tonight at Deepdale, said: “We won’t be thinking about the game earlier in the season.

“All that matters is this one. We can’t think about the past, just now. Every game we played already is gone. The next game is what matters.

“It is like (we are) a different team now anyway and if we stick to how we have been doing then we will have a chance.”

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Leeds make the trip across the Pennines in buoyant mood following a weekend that brought a 5-2 derby win over Doncaster Rovers and several of their promotion rivals slipping up.

Gradel, who took his tally to 14 goals for the season against Rovers, said: “At the start of the season, we just said we wanted to stay in the division.

“But now we can hopefully achieve more than that target. We have to keep pushing.

“Saturday was good because we won and a lot of the other teams dropped points. What matters most, though, is how we do. We can’t focus too much on others.

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“We can go up, that is what we are aiming to do. We think we can go up. We just have to keep working hard.

“The Doncaster game was also a great one to be involved in, though the most positive bit was that we won and got the three points. We could not have afforded to lose or draw. I am happy with how the season has gone, mainly because of how the team has been doing rather than myself. I enjoy it here a lot.”

Last six games: Preston North End LDDDLD, Leeds United DWWDDDW.

Referee: R Shoebridge (Derbyshire).

Last time: Preston North End 4 Leeds United 1; October 31, 2006; Championship.