We’re used to seeing players – and sometimes managers or coaching staff – getting booked during matches, but seeing fans get shown a yellow card is something else altogether.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday (tongue-in-cheek, it must be said) in a pre-season friendly between Bristol City and Aston Villa.
The Robins were welcoming fans back to Ashton Gate for the first time since last March, and 7,589 fans were in attendance.
Villa also brought 1,000 spectators to a match which was refereed by Premier League official Kevin Friend.
Friend hadn’t officiated a Villa game since 2019, when he sent off Trezeguet and booked a further seven players in a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.
He was the man in the middle as Dean Smith’s side won 3-0 against the Robins – but there was a notable moment involving the away section of the crowd.
After hearing chants of ‘you’re just a sh*t Mike Dean’ and various chants of ‘Kevin, give us a wave’ and ‘Kevin, give us a card’, Friend did in fact pull the yellow card out and pointed to the fans, sending them into raptures.
The explicit language can be heard in the video below:
Villa’s 3-0 victory was their second win of pre-season, with two weeks to go until the 2021/22 Premier League campaign gets underway.
Jaden Bidace opened the scoring on six minutes, with Ezri Konsa putting them 2-0 up at half-time.
Ollie Watkins then added a third late on to put the result beyond doubt.
Villa’s transfer market focus
The headlines around Villa at the moment currently relate to the transfer market, with Jack Grealish’s future one of the biggest talking points in English football.
It was confirmed on Friday that Manchester City had made a £100m bid for the midfielder. Should Villa accept the bid, it will be a British transfer record.
Elsewhere, Smith’s side have agreed a deal for Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey.
Villa have already secured the signings of Emiliano Buendia and Ashley Young so far this summer, whilst they saw a bid rejected by Southampton for midfielder James Ward-Prowse.
Featured Image Credit: Getty
