O’Neill staying quiet on Blues

Martin O’Neill has refused to say whether Birmingham will stay up – for fear of providing ammunition to Blues before the Second City derby.

The Villa boss, who has banned his players from talking about Sunday’s noon showdown, believes that anything he says about Blues’ hopes could be plastered all over the visitors’ dressing room walls and used as an incentive.

Blues go into Sunday’s clash without an away win in 10 since they won at Tottenham on December 2 and two points clear of the drop before Bolton get the chance to climb above them when they visit Middlesbrough tomorrow. But O’Neill insists he won’t make his opinions public on whether Blues can win their survival battle.

“There’s no point me commenting because it could be termed inflammatory,” said O’Neill.

O’Neill locks horns with McLeish for the first time since 2005 when they were managers of Celtic and Rangers respectively.

But the Villa chief insists he has nothing but respect for the former Scotland manager. “I have the utmost regard for him,” said O’Neill.