Tallest Pygmy in the Village

Position	Team	Played	GoalDifference	Points
View full table
No Movement1	Man City	38	64	89
No Movement2	Man Utd	38	56	89
No Movement3	Arsenal	38	25	70
No Movement4	Tottenham	38	25	69
No Movement5	Newcastle	38	5	65
No Movement6	Chelsea	38	19	64
No Movement7	Everton	38	10	56
No Movement8	Liverpool	38	7	52
No Movement9	Fulham	38	-3	52
No Movement10	West Brom	38	-7	47
No Movement11	Swansea	38	-7	47
No Movement12	Norwich	38	-14	47
No Movement13	Sunderland	38	-1	45
No Movement14	Stoke	38	-17	45
No Movement15	Wigan	38	-20	43
No Movement16	Aston Villa	38	-16	38
No Movement17	QPR	38	-23	37
No Movement18	Bolton	38	-31	36
No Movement19	Blackburn	38	-30	31
No Movement20	Wolves	38	-42	25

This season saw the Baggies finish the top placed team in the West Midlands comfortably clear of relegated Wolves and the increasingly shambolic Villa.  You have to be quite old to remember the last time we achieved this distinction it was back in 1978/79 over 30 years ago. During the intervening years we have often been ahead of the Wolves but never been able to finish higher than arch Birmingham rivals Villa and for many of those years we were quite literally not in the same league. As recently 2008/2009 I was beginning to think we would never beat the Villa yet alone finish above them sometimes we might join them in the Premier League but with Martin O'Neil in charge and being bankrolled by Randy Lerner's millions it looked like Villa were on the verge of gatecrashing the elite of English football and leaving their local rivals trailing in their wake.

Things changed last season we beat the Villa for the first time in ages and the post O'Neil decline has been spectacular. Crippled with debt and an owner who has turned off the financial succour which kept Villa top of the pile. To compound their problems Lerner made a disastrous management appointment in Alex McLeish which not only generated fan discontent but also led to a flirtation with relegation.

Wolves are in some ways stronger in that they are financially sound however a combination of mismanagement and poor performances from key players led to their relegation. They will regroup in the Championship under Stale Solbakken who will be under intense pressure to achieve a speedy return. Steve Morgan has invested heavily in the club and the cost base is a premier league one even if the team isn't.

Wolves join Birmingham City in the championship. Not long ago fueled by Carson Yueng's money Birmingham looked like they would be the challengers to Villa for supremency in the West Midlands however their star faded faster than you can say "lets sign Nicola Zigic".

When we were not top of the heap many an envious glance was cast particularly at Wolves and Birmingham.  Some fans saw the headline grabbing purchases of Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Kevin Doyle, Jamie O'Hara and Nicola Zigic and asked the question why not us? In short we could afford neither the wages nor the fees. In fact neither could the Blues whose current position off the pitch is grave.

We now find ourselves at the apex of West Midlands football at the point when it is at a nadir. Blues and Wolves are licking their wounds in the Championship and Aston Villa are a mess. I do not want to decry the club's achievements and for a us a top 10 finish represents real progress but let us not get ahead of ourselves.Finishing above two poor teams is a bit like being the tallest pygmy in the village. Being ahead of Stoke and Sunderland feels like an achievement doing so again next year will ensure a solid mid table position finishing ahead of Villa might mean we are relegated in 18th.