Solid foundations can help Bannon build sound future

Brian Meek

16 Jun 1993

EAMONN Bannon was on the roof when I called; he is having an extension built to his home in Joppa and it is all hands to the drills.

He was happy enough to stop for a while, however, and we enjoyed tea and rolls in the back garden, with planks and slates all around.

At 35, and after 17 years as a full-time professional footballer, Eamonn must rebuild his career as well as his house.

He was given a free transfer by Hearts at the end of last season, despite having made 21 first-team appearances.

Bannon is not in the least bitter about being released.

He has seen both high days and broken dreams in all the ports into which he has sailed, Tynecastle (twice), Stamford Bridge with Chelsea, and nine years at Tannadice with Dundee United.

He won 11 Scottish caps and played under many notable managers including Jim McLean and Joe Jordan, whom Eamonn is sure will be successful at Celtic.

"I have always considered myself to be fortunate to have had the opportunity to play football at the highest level," he said.

"Sometimes you hear young men in the game complaining about their lot -- not me.

Most people would give their all to have had my experiences (which also include two League Cup victories and one championship with United).

I am as enthusiastic now as when I started."

The players who last longest, he will tell you, are those who enjoy training.

He loves it.

It will not suprise you then, to learn that he would like to continue in the only business, apart from a short stint training to be a PE teacher at Jordanhill, that he has ever known.

Player, coach, manager, Bannon will do any of them, thanks very much.

Has anyone come for him, this articulate, thinking man's professional? Until yesterday the only squeak had been from Ayr United but, even as we spoke, the manager of Gateshead came on the blower and Eamonn will have talks with him next week.

What has been the major change he has seen since he first lifted a pay packet? Money, he replied.

"When I was a youngster, clubs did not have overdrafts of millions, or even the financial equivalent in those days.

In fact it was unusual for many clubs to make a loss.

"Now, in order to compete, there have to be huge increases in expenditure every year.

There is a shortage of quality players which means the price of those who are available shoots up."

But why are there so few players of skill? Bannon has no doubt; once upon a time Scottish kids played football morning, noon, and night; children today have a variety of alternatives.

Yet he believes that football remains the finest game of all and he has thoughts and ideas about the way in which it must be played.

"Last season Rangers and Dundee United were prepared to use a passing style while almost everybody else was punting it hopefully upfield.

You don't need to ask what I prefer."

Bannon still remembers the words of Danny Blanchflower which he used to say over and over at training: "There's only one ball," meaning no-one should ever take their eyes off it, or give it away cheaply.

He has an affectionate recollection of Jim McLean, too.

"He could be the hardest of task-masters but he is a man of strong principles and his record puts him alongside Jock Stein or Alex Ferguson.

Every time I see him now he reminds me that he has more hair than me."

Bannon, a devotee of Italian football on the box, sees the European dimension as the most exciting for the future.

"Rangers have been able to build a team which can compete in Europe because their ground improvements were done at a earlier stage.

You have to admire what Walter Smith has done with the side.

"Other teams have some way to catch up, but Aberdeen have a fine bunch of young forwards and that is the most important part of any side aiming for success."

As a player Bannon always seemed to have time, the vision to pierce a defence with a pass, the confidence to go where others would hang back.

He never, he insisted, felt any pressure on the field.

The back-room might impose different strains, but he is happy to take his chance.

I pondered as I left him; what credentials does one need to have to interest a Scottish club? Eamonn Bannon has the caps and the medals, he also has brains.

Are we so well-off in all these departments to let him ply his trade in foreign fields?

Taken from the Herald