Some Birmingham City fans have been reacting on social media to recent comments made by former Aston Villa midfielder Barry Bannan following the 30-year-old’s recent goalscoring performance versus the Blues in the Championship for Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.
Bannan scored Wednesday’s first goal of the game to level last Saturday’s fixture up at 1-1 in the 20th minute. In addition to his goal, he made a total of three successful tackles and completed two successful dribbles according to WhoScored.com, in a performance that earned Bannan an overall rating of 7.43 on WhoScored, which made him Wednesday’s second-highest rated player on the website for this game.
After his goalscoring performance, the former Aston Villa man claimed that he could “die happy now”, before stating that scoring versus Birmingham City “has always been something [he’s] wanted to do”, as reported by birminghammail.co.uk.
Some Birmingham City fans have been reacting to Bannan’s recent comments on social media, with many of them taking the opportunity to poke fun at the former Aston Villa midfielder for the level of importance that he appears to be placing on scoring versus the Blues.
An Aston Villa fan account on Twitter, @Total_Villa, made a post in praise of Bannan following his recent comments, stating “once a Villan, always a Villan!”. This particular tweet received attention from some Blues supporters seeking to mock Bannan’s post-match comments. Read the social media reactions of some Blues supporters to the 30-year-old’s recent comments in the tweets below.
Should scoring versus Birmingham City be an important career milestone for Aston Villa players?YES, BIRMINGHAM CITY ARE ASTON VILLA'S MAIN RIVALS AND PLAYERS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT
NO, ASTON VILLA ARE BIGGER THAN BIRMINGHAM CITY AND PLAYERS SHOULDN'T BE CONCERNED WITH THEM
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Barry Bannan on scoring against Blues
“I can die happy now. It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do & I’m unhappy that it’s not contributed to three points but it was a good one to get, to put one over the Birmingham City fans.”
Once a Villan, always a Villan!? #avfc pic.twitter.com/KKRcp0xQXZ
— Total Villa (@Total_Villa) February 25, 2020
His dream in life was to score against Birmingham City. Massive
— Max Bradley (@_Maxbradley_) February 25, 2020
Only for hogan to shut him up ?
— Connor Sutton (@connorbluesbcfc) February 25, 2020
Funny how it matters so much to him. ‘Little old Small Heath’ eh?
— Richard Harris (@RichHarris74) February 26, 2020
His dream was to score against us in a mid table draw, shows the attitude of villa?
— Tim (@timhutchinson97) February 25, 2020
Barry Bannan on the pinnacle of his football career zzzzzz
— One City One Team (@Dealhunterspain) February 26, 2020
To be fair scoring against a massive club like Blues would be amazing
— CHRIS KEEN (@totallykeen) February 26, 2020
What do we think?
According to Transfermarkt.co.uk, Bannan originally joined Aston Villa’s youth academy from Celtic in 2004 as a 14-year-old. The midfielder subsequently made his first-team debut for the Villans in the UEFA Cup in 2008 versus Hamburger SV. He went on to make a total of 82 appearances for Villa’s first team, according to Transfermarkt, before eventually leaving the club to join Crystal Palace in 2013.
Having spent nine years at the club in total, it may not come as a surprise that Bannan placed an increased level of importance on scoring a goal versus Aston Villa’s traditional Second City rivals. However, it may also be hard not to see the funny side of Bannan’s comments from a Blues perspective, considering how far Bannan has gone in describing the significance of last Saturday’s goal for him as a career milestone with comments such as “I can die happy now”.