Two tribes go to thaw as City reign supreme
Tribal enmity is a dish best served refrigerated, and when the Yeung Ones met the Young Ones, the rivalry was, as ever, icier than an igloo.
From the bluenose mascot wearing a replica shirt with the inscription ‘We 8 Villa’ to the snowballs hurled at Gabby Agbonlahor, the air was thicker with malice than snowflakes.
But as icy winds whistled through that well-known colony of Hong Kong called St Andrew's, there was no mistaking a shift in the balance of power.
For an hour, the evidence of a feisty evening in the Midlands suggested Birmingham are not above their more gilded neighbours in the Premier League table by accident.
Villa we can deal with summarily.
The diplomatic version of current events is that they are a club in transition under Gerard Houllier. They look more like a club dependant on youth to ward off decline.
They need more end product from England internationals Ashley Young and Luke Young, and less patronage from plastic fans like the Prime Minister.
Where estranged Newcastle supporter Tony Blair claimed to have watched Jackie Milburn from the Gallowgate end, David Cameron says he was first taken to Villa Park as a 13-year-old by his uncle, former chairman Sir William Dugdale.
No offence to Villa’s diehard rump, but Cameron has more plums in his mouth than strangled vowels.
But what of dear old Brum? It was not always easy to love them when the club was run by sultans of top-shelf magazines.
Since oriental businessman Carson Yeung took office as president, however, they have been upwardly mobile and, yes, more likeable.
Gone are the days when the patron saint of wisecracks, Jasper Carrott, would greet each barren weekend with the line, “You draw some, you lose some.”
On the pitch, Alex McLeish has instilled a pleasing brand of Big Ecky thump.
After years of suffering at the hands of Martin O’Neill, also his Old Firm nemesis, McLeish can in future dispense with any inferiority complex Birmingham brought to this fixture.
And if they ever finish unravelling Spaghetti Junction, Big Eck may yet live to be top dog in this town.
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