Laughing and joking aside (and do we Villa fans need a joke), Blues are reportedly on the brink of collapse following continued failed attempts by current owner Carsen Yeung to sell up.
A century old bitter rivalry teeters in existence: the club stands to at the very least find itself in administration. With it likely comes the prospect of League 1 football next year following a points deduction and the inevitable asset stripping of players that follows. The outlook at best could be described as bleak.
This means that Villa can once more look down upon the Bluenoses, but its with more than a little sadness that we should reflect upon the long term loss of a great derby. It’s not unforeseeable that this could be permanently.
It could be a very long time before we next stick five past them. Even longer until we snatch glorious victory in their back yard again. And this not only reduces the banter, but also the prospect of two less interesting fixtures a year. With all due respect to Reading, Fulham, QPR et al, I’d rather be getting up on a Saturday to dual with our neighbours for bragging rights.
It would be easy to make a mockery of Birmingham’s foreign owner. The jokes are innumerable but easy. But the sad fact is that for every sensible steady hand at the helm of a football club, there appears ample amounts who destroy and disrespect the efforts and history of what’s come before. At least Blues don’t have the history to lose.
Joking aside once more, they are a casualty of greed and delusion not just limited to St. Andrews. Leeds are the benchmark and Portsmouth the ongoing calamity; Blues are intent on following over the cliff edge. The leagues preposterous fit and proper test evidently doesn’t extend to querying dubious financial transactions in Hong Kong.
And the loser in all this isn’t the ridiculous notion of the football family or a shareholder. It’s the man who follows football, takes his kid, spends through thin and thinner and to whom his club means something to him.
By all means have a smile at the Blues’ plight, as they no doubt would if it were Villa. However, the powers that be must be challenged to put a stop to calamities such as this spreading throughout the game, to preserve what it is we all love about it. For it looks less and less like football as we know it each day.