Pauli, or Villa vs Birmingham (and, Wednesday plug alert, Everton vs Liverpool at 3:15pm ET live on NBCSN and online via ). This, perhaps, is an integral component of what makes derby days so special, whether Celtic vs Rangers, Hamburg vs St.

For Villa now, it’s rising back up through the stratosphere to the days of regular top-six finishes (and for sure, for so many, the 1980-81 top-flight title). With Celtic and Rangers, it’s when the Scottish giants hit the European scene with marvelous national chips on their shoulders. In fact, whether Newcastle, Glasgow, and to some extent Hamburg and Dortmund, that overriding feeling of what the area’s biggest teams were versus what they are and could become led me to an emphatic empathy with the supporters’ hope and the clubs’ sense of duty to punch through the current ceiling. Once the site of a World’s Fair, then a punch line, and now very much on the upswing again. Wonder what else is out there and if we’re reaching our very bestĪnd those will all be on display in varying degrees Wednesday at Villa Park.įor as long as I can remember, there’s been a spirit around Aston Villa of a dormant giant in a big city.īirmingham’s story, in some ways, often made me think of my home city of Buffalo. Springsteen’s lyrics do more than a few things that fit Grealish’s story so well:Ĭelebrate the ties that bind us, for better or worse, to homeĭetail the desire to get the heck out of town What makes Springsteen’s songs - and his concerts! - so special is that they force you to run the emotional gamut in addition to the full-body exercise of singing along and, yes, even dancing awkwardly on the floor while the E Street Band drives you throw two-plus hours of rock and roll. Even if Grealish doesn’t play - he faces a late fitness test - he’ll still be in the building in a mentally-charged state. It’s the humanity of Grealish, the faith of the Villa fans, the power of Man City, and the sociology of it all that makes Wednesday’s Aston Villa vs Man City match even more fascinating to me than the Merseyside derby occurring 45 minutes later about 100 miles northwest.

I’m a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, and I’d argue that the music of the man from New Jersey is oddly fitting to score the physical and possible (probable) playing return of Jack Grealish to Villa Park (watch live 3:15 pm ET on Peacock Premium).

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