Watching this gave me the Blues
Last night's Blues-Wolves match was a stinker and coming 24 hours after the throbbing entertainment from Old Trafford, a sobering reminder of the reality of the Championship promotion race, writes Martin Swain.
The St Andrew's result actually improved the chances of the West Midlands claiming a one-two in the automatic places which, under normal circumstances would be cause for excitement and optimism. And there will be a generous amount of both in and around the two camps.
But to attend last night's hoof-it-and-hope drudgery of, supposedly, the Championship's top fixture so quickly after the United-Villa game was to the watch Gas Street Amateur Theatre Players hack their way through an Agatha Christie Whodunnit straight after viewing the first two Godfather films.
What, I fear, Wolves and Blues are fighting to win is the right to spend as much money as they can muster, while being harangued by supporters that it is not enough, before embarking on a campaign during which it will be a minor miracle if they win more than six games.
They will most likely be relegated – and yes I know Stoke and Hull are making a splendid fist of survival, but then so did Ipswich – and return to whence they came having had to sack their manager in an effort to appease supporters and exorcise the team of its losing culture.
All of this flashed before the eyes last night as the turgid 90 minutes unfolded on a disgrace of a St Andrew's pitch which does little to change the view that Blues continue to be run on the cheap by owners now completely out of love with their Small Heath "project".
How either manager can be expected to bridge the gap between what we saw on Sunday at Old Trafford and what was offered last night is contaminating the Premier League with a dreadful imbalance. For every United-Villa there are six Middlesbrough-Boltons where the also-rans effectively dispute the right to merely stay at the party without ever being invited to the VIP tent.
Wolves and Blues fought a furious skirmish but it was, as much as it pains us to admit it, desperate, second-rate fare. If a year from now they are both still in with a chance of staying in the Premier League, it will be a major and pleasing surprise. Not much of an outlook is it?
