Express & Star

Dean Smith and family ready for his first Second City derby as Aston Villa boss

The previous Second City derby at Villa Park was a much more relaxing affair for Dean Smith than this one promises to be.

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Back in February, the then Brentford boss watched his boyhood club secure a 2-0 win over their rivals from the comfort of a hospitality suite.

Tomorrow he will be right in the thick of it, stood in the technical area as looks to guide Villa to victory in the sixth and comfortably biggest game to date of his tenure.

That this will be a special occasion for Smith, who can still remember jumping for joy when David Geddis scored two to help Villa to a 3-0 victory over Blues on their way to the First Division title nearly 40 years ago, goes without saying.

With the possible exception of managing Walsall in a Wembley cup final, there has not been an occasion in his career either on or off the pitch which will quite compare to this.

And though he yesterday tried to play down the significance for his family, which is mostly Villa-supporting but contains the odd Blues fan or two, there was still sufficient insight on some of the strained loyalties such a fixture creates among his closest supporters.

“My mum’s cousin supports Blues, but he will be supporting me on Sunday!” remarked Smith, with more than a hint of a smile.

“It’s funny, I recently met up with a couple of lads who I was an apprentice with at Walsall, Martin Goldsmith and Stuart Sadler, who is a big Blues fan.

“Stuart says he finds it very hard looking at the Villa result and hoping they have won. Though come to think of it he did say he wanted to keep that quiet!”

There are, at least, no such agonies in the immediate Smith household.

“Back in February I had to be quite impartial because I was head coach of Brentford at the time and preparing to play Birmingham City in a few weeks,” he explained.

“I had my coaching head on while my daughter was jumping and dancing around me when Villa scored twice.

“She has kind of grown into it. She wasn’t interested for a year or two. She can’t remember me playing but she can watch me managing the team. Has she given me any advice on the team? Not yet. She is keeping her opinions firmly to herself and my wife!”

For Smith, the familiar faces will not only extend to the crowd.

Blues skipper Harlee Dean, Maxime Colin and Jota are all well-known to the Villa boss, having played under him at Brentford before making the switch to St Andrew’s.

So too is visiting boss Garry Monk, who for a few short weeks in early 2003 was Smith’s central defensive partner at Sheffield Wednesday.

“I’d just signed and he had joined on loan from Southampton,” explained Smith. “We were stuck in a hotel together for a month or two and got on really well.

“We have kept in touch and I have a lot of respect for what he has done after moving to Swansea as a player, then manager and his career since.

“I’ve already faced Blues once this season with Brentford. We will have to be on our game to win the game.”

For Villa, who impressed in beating Derby prior to the international break, the game starts a big week which also includes games against Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough.

Smith said: “Before we played Derby everyone outside the club was fearing the fixtures ahead. Now after Derby they see them as exciting. I always saw this as an opportunity.

“But we have to be on our game to win against Birmingham.”