Why Sheffield Wednesday star Barry Bannan likes being the man Sheffield United fans love to hate
It’s a curious existence for a footballer of Barry Bannan’s prominence in a city such as Sheffield.
The 35-year-old midfielder, a man that is often argued to have taken a seat at the very top table of Sheffield Wednesday legend and who took his league appearance tally to 400 in midweek, is adored by those of a blue persuasion to the point of messianic adulation. Those favouring red? Politely put, perhaps a little less so.
It’s a natural turn of events in a city with football running through its DNA and it’s one Bannan appreciates. Airdrie-born, the wee Scottish man spent years in Birmingham as a young man and between a handful of loan spells lay his hat in London. And though he and his family have since moved away from the Steel City, it is around Sheffield that he and his family have built a life since arriving to Hillsborough a decade ago.
“The city has been amazing for us,” the Owls skipper told The Star. “It’s quite similar to Glasgow in that it’s mainly working class people who are very passionate about their football. They work hard for their money to make their family’s lives better. I remember that in Glasgow, a massive rivalry football-wise, same as here, people going out to work for their families day-in, day-out.
“That’s why I settled here really quickly. I loved the rivalry between the two teams, I grew up as a Celtic fan and I took to all that straight away. It needs to be kept in football because it adds an edge to all of the games. But the city has been amazing for me and my family, I’ve been at the club for 10 years now and it’s been incredible.”
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Though the passions of Sheffield United fans may be greater than those elsewhere when it comes to ire for their cross-city talisman, they won’t be alone in having given him a hard time come Sunday. Opposition supporters up and down the country have rounded on the Owls skipper in several matches in the last couple of seasons, perhaps a mark of respect and a sign of the now synonymous relationship with the club he has been part of for so long.
It’s a reality he has laughed off in the past as a source of confusion - particularly when fans of his former loan club Derby County booed him at Pride Park back in December. His stunning goal of the month winner won the game that day and it wasn’t the first time Bannan has revelled in the role of pantomime villain.
It’s fair to say that his is a name on the list of individuals who have contributed to the off-field ramping up of spicy relations between Owls and Blades in recent years. Without villain figures on both sides the rivalry isn’t as fierce. And that’s a world Bannan doesn’t want to imagine.
“It's part and parcel of football, you get it everywhere,” he said. “If I was liked by the other half then I would be doing something wrong! It is what it is, I don't mind it and I get it completely, why they don't like me.
“Growing up I remember not liking Rangers players and that's why I get it. It's not the fact that they don't like me as a person maybe, they don't know me not to like me. But it's a football thing, the rivalry is always going to be there. It's probably not just me, they won't like any of us. I love that.
“On the flipside, I'm adored by the blue side of Sheffield and that's the only thing that matters to be to be honest.”