Had a Celtic coach been more thoughtful about the transport needs of a young Barry Bannan, then the Scotland international could have begun his career at Parkhead rather than Aston Villa.
"I played a couple of games for Drew Todd’s team at Celtic but I was still playing Sunday league," the 29-year-old, now with Sheffield Wednesday, said in an interview with Si Ferry's Open Goal.
"Something happened one night because neither of my parents drove.
"I came back from a game in Aberdeen after playing for Celtic and they dropped us in at Parkhead.
"Obviously I lived in Airdrie and I had no lift home."
Airdrie is a 25 minute drive from Parkhead, or, for a young Bannan, a three or four-hour walk.
"Luckily one of my brother’s mates came and got me, but I was just took back to Parkhead and left there to find my own way home," he continued.
I think I was 11 or 12 at the time.
I had trained quite a bit at Hamilton Palace with Hugh McGovern and John McStay, so I was training and playing a couple of games, and playing for my Sunday league team.
But when that happened my dad was like, ‘you’re not going back’.
That was hard because we were die-hard Celtic fans as well, so that would have been the best thing to do for me, to go there and try and break through.
It was around this time that Aston Villa were making enquiries about the midfielder. Celtic's lapse made it an easy decision for his parents.
Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
See Also: The Kerryman Who Brushed Shoulders With Sven, Sol Campbell And Jimmy Floyd
