Second city's 16-year wait is over

One of football's oldest rivalries is about to be rekindled as Birmingham City tackle Aston Villa for first time in top flight since 1986

The year is 1879. Small Heath Alliance, soon to reinvent themselves as Birmingham City, are facing Aston Villa for the first time. The result of the match, which is nominally a friendly, is recorded in an unusual way, though one calculated to coax a knowing smile from all who will comprise the capacity crowd at the clubs' 97th League derby on Monday. The Heathens won "by one goal and one disputed goal to nil".

The Second City rivalry, heightened by West Bromwich Albion's arrival in the Premiership on its very boundary with the Black Country, is no less disputatious for the fact that Birmingham and Villa last met in the top flight in 1986. For Birmingham's supporters, better acquainted with places like Brentford and Burslem than with B6 since Wayne Clarke's two goals led John Bond's team to a 3-0 win en route to relegation, absence will make the heart beat faster come kick-off time at St Andrew's.

To these self-proclaimed Bluenoses, who tend to be concentrated in the east of the conurbation, Birmingham is "the people's club", to coin a phrase which has gained currency in Liverpool among Evertonians. The view is based on a feeling that Villa, with all their relative riches, trophies and traditions, as well as their spectator appeal along the M5 corridor and the affluent towns of Worcestershire and even Gloucestershire, have grown remote from their roots in the north of Birmingham.

This theory, which also has echoes of how Manchester City fans perceive themselves and their club in relation to United, also owes more than a little to a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. While Villa paraded the European Cup and big-money signings (albeit too small for Doug Ellis' critics), Birmingham supporters endured an unglamorous struggle in a rusting, ramshackle ground.

Then along came David Sullivan and the Gold brothers. Using fortunes made in soft porn and sex shops respectively, they financed the rebuilding of the stadium and the squad. Now, having finally risen via the play-offs under the managership of Steve Bruce, Birmingham are settling well in the Premiership.

Intriguingly, given their followers' theories about the comparative authenticity of the clubs as representatives of a community, Birmingham's 16 for the match on Monday could well contain fewer Brummies than Villa's. Graham Taylor, who was in his first spell at Villa Park when the claret and blue prevailed 2-1 in the last meeting, in the old Second Division 15 years ago next December, can call on Lee Hendrie, Darius Vassell and Ian Taylor. Hendrie's father, Paul, played for Blues, while Lee supported them as a child and was on their books as a 14-year-old.

Birmingham, meanwhile, have just Paul Devlin and Darren Carter. Devlin grew up as a Birmingham supporter in the suburb of Erdington, which historically leans towards Villa. "I've got mates who are Blues fans and some that support the Villa, so I know how much this game means to the city," said the 30-year-old midfielder, who returned to the club from Sheffield United during the summer. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the first fixture I looked for when they were published.

"I played in the Sheffield derby against Wednesday so I've got a taste of what it'll be like, except this time I'm not an outsider. You get it off the fans. Before we drew 2-2 at Liverpool, Robbie Savage told me he had bumped into a guy at a petrol station who said: 'I don't care if you lose 25-0 at Anfield as long as you beat the Villa'. I think that's the attitude of most of our supporters."

Reminded that a former Birmingham player recently suggested Villa were regarded as "the bigheads up the road" in the St Andrew's dressing-room, Devlin admitted: "They've got a better record than us and have been in the top division a long time, so we're probably a little envious. But we're playing on level pegging now. We're in the Premiership on merit and hopefully we can turn them over. We're very confident. If we play like we did at home to Leeds [a 2-1 victory], then we will win."

Did it concern him that those less well acquainted with Crossroads country – Birmingham have a Senegalese midfielder in Aliou Cissé, for example, plus a Belgian, a Trinidadian and an Australian – may not appreciate what was at stake? "I'll make sure they do, but no one will need geeing up. The crowd will do that. The place has been electric in the first few games and I'm certain that it will be the best atmosphere the new ground has ever known. I'm sure it will be a frenetic match, with the tackles flying in in the first 15 minutes. I just hope the referee isn't trigger-happy."

Bruce is also steeped in the culture of neighbourly spats, having been raised in the North-east and become the unquenchable spirit of Old Trafford. He was never on a loser in the Manchester derby, and gave an early glimpse of the shrewdness that has characterised his nine-month reign by being injured for United's 5-1 mauling at Maine Road in 1989. "Whether it's in Scotland, London or the Midlands, these are very special matches," he said. "I can't pretend that it's just another game. When people go into work on Tuesday, they'll want their chests to be puffed out with pride."

Yet the Birmingham manager will caution his players against getting carried away. Passion, such an overworked word in football, can leave a team a man short if it is not accompanied by a clear head and cool decision-making. "If players need firing up for this one, there's something wrong with them," he said. "But we must remember that we need to play as well. We have to play the game, not the occasion."

All the same, Bruce added, it should be "one hell of a night". More hype and glory than in the fixture's formative years, but also, no doubt, the odd dispute like the Heathens and Villans of old.