Barry Bannan’s forthright response after Sheffield Wednesday star receives EFL gong

The Wednesday skipper was named in the League One Team of the Season on Sunday night, and while he missed out on the Player of the Season gong to Aaron Collins he says that it’s still nice to be recognised for his efforts in 2022/23.

But while the plaudits are well received, Bannan says that they will mean nothing if the Owls aren’t playing Championship football next season.

“It’s always nice to get recognised,” he told The Star. “I’m here for the second year in a row which is a big honour, but as much as it’s nice to be recognised for doing things well it’ll all mean nothing if I don’t get what I want to get at the end of this season. This night is a bit of a bonus, a pat on the back, but there’s still hard work to do – hopefully the big trophy comes at the end of it...

“As a team this season there have been a lot of consistent performers in our team that can maybe feel hard done by not being in that the team or in those nominations, but we’re the lucky people here representing the club and collecting awards. I think that says a lot about how we’ve done as a club this season, but we’ve also got a job to finish – because we’ve not done the job that we want to do.”

Wednesday face Shrewsbury Town on Saturday afternoon in another huge game if they’re to keep their promotion hopes alive.

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