Image via WikipediaThe West Midlands Police together with the money grabbing thieves of the Premier League have conspired to rob the good citizens of Brum of their usual Sunday pint of mild followed by a roast dinner by arranging for Blues to play the Vile at some ungodly hour of the day. This master stroke is supposed to prevent hordes of fans from pouring out of the pubs for a bit of fisticuffs before the match whilst totally ignoring the wishes of the fans who pay the dosh to watch the match at a civilised hour..
Meanwhile the actual thuggery and maiming will be taking place on the pitch at Vill Park and overpaid cheats will be mugging the poor referee to gain some undeserved advantage and recovering from the effects of the high class brothel that they visited on Saturday night.. The contest will contain little or no artistry and will be unrecognisable from Pele's beautiful game.
With the whiff of blood in their nostrils the media will be there to dissect what will resemble a gladiatorial contest and pour over every tasty crunching tackle and hypocritically wag fingers and tell us how distasteful it all is. Villa are odds on favourites to win and I am not optimistic about our chances but I will, as I have been for fifty three years, be waiting there at the end of the road, not in expectation of anything arriving but because there is no success like failure and failure is no success at all[i], and taking part but not winning is the thing and all that crap. There is a faint possibility that the chuffers will win something before I pop off but the current lot can't score goals or provide excitement and both the crowds and the atmosphere at St. Andrews these days reflect that.
We did win the League Cup in some far off year in a two legged final against the Villa and I was fortunate enough to have seen both matches. I was also spoilt by years of watching an attacking team who played with three brilliant strikers in the Bob's Hatton and Latchford respectively added to the genius of Trevor Francis which was a potent mixture and made for heady days. The ride has been bumpy and undulating ever since. In those days when we played Villa, or anyone else for that matter the crowds mingled, although there was usually an end where the home fans congregated but there was no aggravation.
I'm not sure when rivalry turned into hatred but it was probably sometime in the 70's or 80's when football hooliganism and racism was at its peak. I remember being ashamed of being a Blues fan for the first time at West Brom where our fans chanted racist sounds and threw bananas at Cyril Regis. The irony is that now most of the top Premiership teams consist of black players who are the new now heroes but it must have been very difficult for those early black players who were constantly abused and spat at.
Anyway most true Brummies support the Blues whilst The Villa, which was not even part of Birmingham at one stage, draw lots of their their support from the leafier parts Staffordshire and Worcestershire. We are so used to being the underdogs and being pleasantly delighted when we win a match, or score more than two goals, that I am not sure how we would handle success, even in the unlikely event that it should come our way. Anyway somewhere in deepest Kernow one voice at least will be urging "Come on you Blue Boys.
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Notes [i] I first read this phrase in a book by Somerset Maughan but he probably nicked it from somewhere as did that well know plagiarist Bob Dylan who used it in one of his songs.
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