What Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan said after Sheffield United lost to Sunderland | OneFootball

The Sheffield Wednesday legend had a message for his club's local rivals after they were beaten in the Championship play-off final by Sunderland.

Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Barry Bannan had a message for bitter rivals Sheffield United following their heartbreaking late Championship play-off final defeat to Sunderland.

The Blades were beaten at Wembley on Saturday by a stoppage-time goal scored for Sunderland by teenager Tommy Watson.

All the more agonisingly, United had taken a first-half lead through Tyrese Campbell which they held onto for more than 50 minutes before Eliezer Mayenda levelled for the Black Cats with fourteen minutes to play before Watson's dramatic late winner.

This defeat sentences Sheffield United to a second season in the Championship, after having finished the season in third place in the table.

With Leeds United and Burnley occupying the top two places on 100 points each, they're the only one of the three clubs relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2023/24 season not to bounce straight back.

Barry Bannan takes great pleasure in Sheffield United's Wembley disappointment

The Sheffield Star shared a video posted by Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Bannan in the wake of United's defeat at Wembley, which appears to show the Scotsman enjoying a holiday overseas, but finding the time to revel in the misfortune of the Blades.

"Oh! That's a shame! What a Saturday!" Bannan exclaimed at footage of celebrating Sunderland players at the end of yesterday's Championship play-off final, as the video below shows.

This result ensures that there will be another pair of Steel City derby clashes in the Championship next season, as well as prolonging Sheffield United's dismal record in the play-offs.

Sheffield United's play-off curse continues unabated - Barry Bannan's words will only fuel their anger

Having now failed to win in any of their last ten attempts to get promoted via the play-offs, Sheffield United have the worst record of any club at getting promoted by this method.

Indeed, so bad has their record in them been that it has been talked of as being the "worst curse in English football".

Only three clubs - Huddersfield Town, Brentford and Preston North End - have appeared in the play-offs on more occasions than the Blades, and each of them has managed to win promotion by this means at least once.

Saturday's defeat was their fifth in a play-off final, and it won't give much comfort to United supporters to know that at least they scored a goal on this occasion; something that they had failed to do on each of their four previous visits to Wembley.

Figures from FCHD

This year marks the centenary of the last time that United actually did win at the home of English football. This came in the 1925 FA Cup final, when they beat Cardiff City 1-0 to win the FA Cup.

It will be a bitter pill to swallow for United fans, but Bannan's words will only cause more anguish for them, with the ex-Scotland international being somewhat of the biggest enemy from the other side in recent years.