Decline in West Midlands football?

All four West Midlands clubs are now Chinese owned, so in that sense we are all equal. The damage at Wolves was done during the Morgan Moxey McCarthy era and has proved impossible to repair. Villa have been on a downward trajectory ever since MON left, and Birmingham, well, what do you expect of a club taken over by a crook and then they sack their equivalent of Tony Pulis?

Yes Aries you're right. Some catastrophic decisions made by the other clubs have cost them dearly. JP made some mistakes but had the nous to rectify them before they ruined us. I suppose it just comes down to how well a club is run.

Definitely a decline.

Back in the 70s and very early 80s, there were as many as 6, 7 or even 8 Midlands teams in the top flight. And the likes of Villa, Forest and Derby were winning stuff.

Manchester and Liverpool aside, one of the biggest problems is money: football is going south (literally) and more and more 'small' clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton and so on are getting rich people take them over just because that is where the rich people like to live - close to London and in the sticks.

It's good that Chinese have bought up Midlands clubs. Over a few years it might - might! - pay off.

Fingers crossed.

No decline here....Move on.

Thank goodness for West Bromwich Albion.

Quite right Heisey.... no decline in "The Pride of the Midlands" - West Bromwich Albion.

BTW, Stoke City, although in Staffordshire, is officially classed as being a West Midlands club.

it struck me that we're now the only representatives of West Midlands football in the top tier.

It took 9 months for this to sink in?

Anyone else quite enjoying the peace and quiet for a change? Do miss the intensity of the games but don't really have any sympathy with any of them. Blues sacked their manager in years for what?

Wolves and villa made the elementary mistake of underestimating how difficult the Championship is. Villa I would have expected it from. Their delusion already knows no bounds, they haven't experienced the Championship before and with Dr Tony massaging their ego's every week on twitter, telling them they will be conquering the world in 5 years, it was never going to be that easy.

Wolves however should have known how tough the Championship is given they have been doing fck all in it for years now. Their owners fed them some bullsht though and their fans fell fell for it hook, line and sinker. Alarm bells should have been ringing when their owners put them at the mercy of a superagent practically dictating their transfer policy and taking a 20% cut while he was at it . Seen them a handful of times this season and they look wonderfully average every time.

In comparison I'm not overly convinced by our owners yet but at least they didn't promise us the world and we're not stupid enough like the other lot if they did.

That's why we are repping in the Prem and they are all stuck in our shadow.

I think the new owners are doing exactly the right thing by not messing around with the model that JP left in place. Hopefully they'll gradually start injecting some more cash into the transfer budget and we can evolve and establish ourselves as a top ten side.

I do miss the derbys and the banter we used to have with the other sides. There just doesn't seem to be any point in wumming anymore, it's like kicking a blind beggar.

Yabbadoo, I think you're right about local derbies and the wumming that goes with them which is proved by the inactivity on these boards.

Occasionally, you can throw in a 'WUM' subject and get a response but as you say, it's not that satisfying when the mans down and out for the foreseeable future.

The only localish derbys these days are Sjoke and they seem only to go on their own 'Oatcake' fanzine.