Habib Beye hopes Villa fans will soon be singing his song
The 31-year-old has been criticised for his performances against Wigan and Rapid Vienna in the opening leg of the Europa League qualifier, which will reach a climax at Villa Park tonight.
A much-improved performance against Liverpool on Monday has initially silenced his doubters and now Beye wants to win them over completely starting against the Austrians in the return leg.
“That was a good time for me when the Newcastle fans were singing my song,’’ he recalled. “It was great to hear it.
“A fan created a website for me and just asked people to send in songs for me. The ‘Happy Days’ one was sent in but with the words changed to Habib Beye
“People in the crowd started to sing it – it was amazing.”
Beye, a French-born Senagalese international, had not heard of Henry Winkler’s cult character or the theme song before his own tribute version launched.
“It was after I heard fans singing the song I found out who he was,” he said.
“It is a great song and maybe one day I will hear the Villa fans sing it. Then I know I will have made them proud.”
Beye, meanwhile, is convinced that astonishing 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Monday has given Villa confidence ahead of the game tonight.
“We have a great team here,” he said. “We had a bad start and perhaps everyone thought we would beat Wigan and lose to Liverpool but we did it the other way.
‘‘We have quality here and are determined to do well in Europe.”
