Gareth Barry Interview: It was no fun in the circus

Dec 4 2008 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

GARETH Barry has known in his heart-of-hearts since August that he would be spending the whole of this season at Villa Park.

That was when he returned to the club after being handed a fortnight’s ban from the training ground for an article which appeared in a Sunday newspaper.

He also spoke of the frustrations that immediately followed that return, including from the friendly at Walsall’s Banks’ Stadium, when he was booed by a section of the club’s supporters.

It was during the heat of Liverpool’s media-hyped drive to coax him out of Villa.

“Ever since I’ve come back to Aston Villa I knew I’d be staying here for this season, and I’ve been fine since that moment,’’ he said.

“It was just over the summer really. It was quite hard (to deal with).

“The day-to-day speculation could gradually get you down.

“In terms of me coming back here for a little bit of pre-season and then being