Villa ace Grant Holt ready to turn the tables on taunters
Grant Holt today insisted he can handle the abuse as he prepares to face Norwich for the first time since leaving the Canaries.
The striker is ready to turn the tables on any terrace taunts from the fans who idolised him at Carrow Road.
Holt was subjected to abuse on Twitter after he joined Villa from Wigan on loan in January with one angry Norwich fan writing an offensive message on his shirt and posting the hitman a picture.
There is still bad blood between the Canaries and Villa after Paul Lambert's move from Norfolk to Birmingham in 2012.
But ahead of Sunday's crunch showdown ex-City hero Holt, who is an active tweeter, is ready for the flak.
"There's always one, but that's football. Everyone's got an opinion. I'm sure back in the day when I was on the Carlisle terraces I slagged a few players off as well," said Holt, who scored 78 goals in 168 games for the Canaries.
"I think a lot of people disapproved about the move on my Twitter account, but that's football.
"The thing I love about my Twitter is it's so diverse. I get a lot of good messages and do a lot of good work on it by tweeting charities and this and that. I enjoy it anyway.
"I think anyone can tell you, they can come to me as much as they want. If any fan wants to abuse me all game, I'm not bothered as long as at the end I can walk off smiling having won the game."
But after four successful years at Carrow Road – where he helped Paul Lambert's side from League One to the Premier League – Holt admitted it will be strange to face them.
"It will be very, very weird," said the 32-year-old, who left Norwich for Wigan for £2m last summer.
"I didn't think I'd be playing them as soon as I might be, but I'm looking forward to it.
"Obviously, I'll know quite a lot about them because there are a lot of lads I've played with. But I've got to try and get in the team and hopefully be ready to play."
