Blues - Our favourite neighbour?

I have to admit that I've always felt something of an affinity with Blues and their supporters,my best mate at school was one of only a couple of "Blue Noses" in our year and I worked with a guy who was a massive Blues fan and in my youth I went to a few Blues matches with mates such as the day when Leeds tore the Tilton Road apart and that kid was killed by the falling wall in the 80's.

Always wanted Blues to beat Leeds,Villa and Wolves and still do.

I've always felt there's a close corulation between Blues and Albion and fans of a similar ilk with no delusions of grandeur and a realism about their plight.

That said I've always found it an intimidating place to play,especially in the 70's and 80's as Blues support was always very fierce compared to the other local sides.

I hope they pull out of their present nose dive,I love the Derby at St Andrews.

They are a club I couldn't care less about, which sort of makes them my favourite local side.
I am always happy to see villa struggle, enjoy it when they lose.
Wolves? Just a team somewhere up north. I was never taken there as a lad by my dad, too far away.

I'm quite relaxed about the Noses and enjoyed their recent spell with 'Arry. I was disappointed to see him go.
I also keep an eye on the Saddlers.

Growing up there was always a very intense rivalry with the Villa. It was the big game and we just had to win it. (Some of my best mates were Villa fans). Never the case with the Blues, maybe because there were not so many fans amongst us. There was a branch of my family who were Blues fans and they used to wind me up but it still didn't matter that much. In my ****s I went 'steady' with a girl from a staunch Blues family and it was never an issue except for the 1968 semi final.

The first away ground I ever went to was St Andrews. I thought it was dark and depressing place.

Who remembers the Latchford game on the Wednesday night in 1972 when we drew 2-2? All 3 brothers played I believe, I wuz there. Sadly being so young ;D I hardly remember any of it. What I do remember tho was Bob scoring for Blues and their passionate fans singing 'Birmingham' from 3 sides of the hawthorns. They had taken over the ground that night.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Q165

Growing up there was always a very intense rivalry with the Villa. It was the big game and we just had to win it. (Some of my best mates were Villa fans). Never the case with the Blues, maybe because there were not so many fans amongst us. There was a branch of my family who were Blues fans and they used to wind me up but it still didn't matter that much. In my ****s I went 'steady' with a girl from a staunch Blues family and it was never an issue except for the 1968 semi final.

The first away ground I ever went to was St Andrews. I thought it was dark and depressing place.

---

I remember the Villa match in the 70's was always our biggest game in terms of rivalry. A few on the Villa board dismissed this taking the view that it was down to us being a small club and them being the European giants etc etc. I think the Wolves rivalry gathered pace when both them and us fell from grace and ended up playing each other with little else to play for apart from local bragging rights.

Never had a problem with Blues as their fans seem to retain a sense of perspective unlike Villa and Wolves who constantly believed they were on a par with Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Seems a bit daft to me getting rid of Arry as even if his best days are behind him I'd have thought getting Cotteril back and having Arry advisinbg him behind the scenes with a view to next season would have been the best option considering they'll have to pay Arry a reported £1.75M severence in any case but what do I know eh?

Never had an issue with the Blues, albeit always wanted to beat them.

Absolutely despise the Vile and it always feels very intense playing the Wo1Ve5, despite having bossed them for years. It would be great having all four of us in the top flight again for the pure angst of local derbies and the only one I wouldnt want there is the Vile, because of their previous contempt and billy big b*llocks mentality. However, in a perverse way I'm glad its just us right now.

Or is it because we never see Walsall and blues as a threat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by albion68

Or is it because we never see Walsall and blues as a threat.

---

Like.
We have played both Blues and Villa in Cup finals and semi finals, but never Wolves. Yet we have beaten Wolves about eight times in Cup ties and they have beaten us just the once. We are also way ahead of Wolves in league wins and seasons in the top flight.
Villa are and always have been our main rivals, historically, geographically and competitively, and yet despite them being tha bigger and more successful club than us, i have never had the dislike for them that i have for Wolves.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WBA1955

Like.
We have played both Blues and Villa in Cup finals and semi finals, but never Wolves. Yet we have beaten Wolves about eight times in Cup ties and they have beaten us just the once. We are also way ahead of Wolves in league wins and seasons in the top flight.
Villa are and always have been our main rivals, historically, geographically and competitively, and yet despite them being tha bigger and more successful club than us, i have never had the dislike for them that i have for Wolves.

---

When we were kids and that was a long time ago I might add,we regularly went to the old fellows park,to watch Walsall,when the baggies were away never even thought to go to villa or wolves.