Sadly, he’s not the only ex player from that period with little time for Jim.  I can understand that to a degree, but to suggest McLean didn’t help make him as good as he was is nonsense.  One thing JYM did do was make players better.

I kind of agree with you, especially the stuff about wishing he'd left years earlier which is a bit of a kick in the teeth for arabs (my last memory of Bannon in a Utd strip was the sitter he missed in the 88 cup final). Andy McLaren and Ralph Milne, both talk about how much they learned from Jim in terms of technique and in-game knowledge so its surprising to hear Bannon say that he never learned anything from Jim.

Buuut..... Perhaps in light of the statue fundraising which is (rightly) going on, I think there is a lot of retconning going on with regards to Wee Jim's character. In reality, Jim McLean was a horrible bastard to his players, he was rude, aggressive, a bully and completely irrational a fair amount of the time. Bannon is not the first person to say that Jim would barely offer a grunt when you walked past him and said hello (Ralph Milne says the same in his book). That doesn't diminish what he did and his immense abilities but lets face it, he was a complex character who could be very unlikeable so it's no surprise that people like Bannon who took the brunt of things would say that.

Last edited by lifesanocean (07/7/2019 4:58 pm)

lifesanocean wrote:

I kind of agree with you, especially the stuff about wishing he'd left years earlier which is a bit of a kick in the teeth for arabs (my last memory of Bannon in a Utd strip was the sitter he missed in the 88 cup final). Andy McLaren and Ralph Milne, both talk about how much they learned from Jim in terms of technique and in-game knowledge so its surprising to hear Bannon say that he never learned anything from Jim.

Buuut..... Perhaps in light of the statue fundraising which is (rightly) going on, I think there is a lot of retconning going on with regards to Wee Jim's character. In reality, Jim McLean was a horrible bastard to his players, he was rude, aggressive, a bully and completely irrational a fair amount of the time. Bannon is not the first person to say that Jim would barely offer a grunt when you walked past him and said hello (Ralph Milne says the same in his book). That doesn't diminish what he did and his immense abilities but lets face it, he was a complex character who could be very unlikeable so it's no surprise that people like Bannon who took the brunt of things would say that.

 
I’ve heard various stories first hand from a few players from that time and some of them certainly have that sort of opinion, some don’t aswell tbf.  No one has ever been anything but complimentary about Jim’s ability to make them better individually and as a team.

The other thing about Jim is that he was actually one of the nicest guys I ever met from the football world.  Definitely a different person to work for than he was to supporters.

Poor from Bannon. If he ever asks for comps or anything I hope United tell him to fuck off.

I used to live not too far from Bannon when I was a kid and he was playing for United, but I was always too shy to approach him.

However, I met Bannon once about 10 years ago and we spoke about United.  He didn't like McLean for reasons I think most of us would admit are completely understandable.  I think it's been mentioned in the past by ex players that Bannon was one of the guys that McLean picked on in the dressing room which would understandably be a bone of contention for Bannon and I wouldn't be surprised if Bannon didn't think that McLean made him the player he was, especially when he was held in such high regards by both Hearts and Chelsea.  Who is to say that Bannon wouldn't have been a better player if McLean had adopted a different approach to managing him?  Maybe the reason McLean picked on him was because he knew Bannon had more to offer.

Does my opinion on Bannon change after reading his comments in the article posted above?  Nope, not one bit.  He was a great player, he never hid and he was an absolute gent.  I think he is another of the players that were rubbed up the wrong way by McLean.

The boy Patullo is a bitter BNB

Last edited by Beardy23 (08/7/2019 8:33 am)

This article is a strange and slightly sad read.  The glory days of united are well documented, and almost every ex player falls into two groups. 

1. He was a "hard task master" but he massively improved me as a player and lead united to success (Hegarty, Gough, Malpas)
2. He was "a total prick and I hated him", but he improved me as a player and lead united to success (Milne, McLaren, Bowman) 

I cannot remember any ex united player not being grateful to Jim McLean or recognizing his achievements. I agree with Tangy, given Jim's health status it is not kind. 

 

He and Ferguson were seen as similar but Fergie learned he had to treat players as individuals and realised that constantly spitting and fuming in player's faces every day didn't work for everyone. Like I say, hard to separate but we don't know what was said and how it affected players so I don't feel any differently towards Bannon. As for the timing...he was asked questions he didn't run onto twitter to start slagging someone off out of nowhere. 

JYM worked hard on the players and for the fans.

I'd rather not know any negative thoughts on Jim.

Meanwhile, Patullo, while being one of the better Scottish football journalists, allows his allegiances get the better of him at times, including in the Big Dunc book mentioned above.

I was an employee at the time, 1979.
The team were playing in Japan.
Hamish got sent home, he walked into the office.
'What happened Hamish'? I asked.
'I moved a defender at a corner kick'!
That's when Bonetti came in but it wasn't long before Hamish was back between the sticks.

Eamonn  always had a very high strong believe that he knew more than those around him. He saw himself as an intelectual surrounded by philistines. I had a number of business dealings with him in the 80s, he was basically a pompous twat who excelled in a sport that he felt was beneath him.

kingdomarab wrote:

Some of the comments about Bannon on here seem pretty harsh. He scored arguably one of the two most important goals in our clubs history. Disappointed to hear he would’ve preferred to have left earlier than he did but don’t let that tainted our views on one of the best players most on here will have seen play.

I won't. In a playing capacity. He was one the best players who ever played for our club and no-one can take that away from him.

I guess that's why the comments have disappointed a good few older Arabs.

We put him on a pedestal.