Sheffield Wednesday v Portsmouth: Barry Bannan’s personal motivation for winning promotion

BARRY BANNAN will feel it when he is in the supermarket.

He will also feel it when he is walking in the park with his young daughter. As he will when he pops out for a coffee or when he looks into the eyes of his loved ones when discussion turns to football. It used to be green and white, but blue and white is now everywhere.

A proud Scot by birth who hails from North Lanarkshire, an area forged by iron and steel, the home of Bannan – Celtic-daft as a youngster – is now the Steel City, geographically and emotionally.

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He is a Sheffield Wednesday captain at the heart of the community. His all-consuming mission to get back Wednesday back to the Championship and enjoy a glorious end to a season for once – exorcising the ghosts of Wembley, Pride Park and a bitter penalty shoot-out play-off elimination at Hillsborough in May 2017 – is something that is highly personal and also shared.

Sheffield Wednesday's Barry Bannan celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes. (Picture: PA)Sheffield Wednesday's Barry Bannan celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes. (Picture: PA)
Sheffield Wednesday's Barry Bannan celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes. (Picture: PA)

Should Wednesday achieve the first aim of booking a play-off berth later today, Bannan’s emotion will be relief and nothing to do with euphoria. The smile of the season will be exclusively reserved for success on the hallowed turf on May 21.

Promotion would mean a lot to many connected with one of English football’s grand old teams. None more so than Bannan, leader of a 24/7 club.

“My summer will be relying on this, to be honest,” Bannan told The Yorkshire Post.

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“We are invested. My family is invested and everybody is because they know what it means to me. This is everything for me and to be this close is amazing, but there is still a lot of hard work to be done.

Barry Bannan dejected at Wembley in 2016 (Picture: Steve Ellis)Barry Bannan dejected at Wembley in 2016 (Picture: Steve Ellis)
Barry Bannan dejected at Wembley in 2016 (Picture: Steve Ellis)

“I want to get this club back to the Championship because as captain last year, I failed and I want to give it back to the fans, club and the chairman as do all the boys in that changing room.

“So we have all got it on our shoulders to get it over the line.

“It has been there the whole year. But as you get closer, it gets closer to the front of your head. It’s in touching distance, but it is still a long way away.

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“We have given ourselves a great chance to get into the play-offs and then taking it from there. I am just happy we are in with a shout. If we concentrate on what we are doing, we should be really close to it.”

Barry Bannan has taken Wednesday to the cusp of the play-offs. Can he now get them over the line? (Picture: Steve Ellis)Barry Bannan has taken Wednesday to the cusp of the play-offs. Can he now get them over the line? (Picture: Steve Ellis)
Barry Bannan has taken Wednesday to the cusp of the play-offs. Can he now get them over the line? (Picture: Steve Ellis)

Personal kudos was afforded Bannan on Sunday. Dressed in his best bib and tucker at the EFL awards dinner in London, he picked up two awards.

The EFL Goal of the Season gong will sit on the mantelpiece alongside his recent EFL Player of the Month accolade for March.

Earning a place in the League One Team of the Season is another individual accomplishment. Bannan smiled for the cameras on Sunday, but he was keeping something back.

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He added: “It is good to get noticed. But I’d happily give the awards back to get my hands on the trophy that’ll mean the world to me to get the club up to the Championship. That’s the main one I’ve always focused on this season. Others are just a bonus.

“If we get back to the Championship, I can look back at this being one of the most successful seasons in my career.

“If we don’t, it is just another season where we have failed.”

If that happens, there would be censure for Darren Moore, Bannan says it would be harsh.

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This is no normal year in League One. Eighty-three points may not yet be enough to finish in the top six. Several ex-Premier League sides aren’t even in it.

Bannan added: “Managers are normally the first ones to get it, which is quite unfair as I always say it is the players on the pitch, blame us first as we are the ones out there influencing results.

“I think the gaffer has been quite unlucky. This is his first (full) season starting his own project bringing his own players he wants to work with. It was always going to take time.

“I saw something the other day that this season is the third highest points we have ever had as a club, so he has not done a bad job. Hopefully he can shove all those negative people’s comments down the people’s throats when we get promoted at the end of the season.”

Note the usage of the word ‘when’. Bannan cannot contemplate anything else. Not this year.

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