I want you to imagine that you are a life-long supporter of Birmingham City Football Club. Every week during the football season, you go to watch the team play. You wear a blue shirt, and a blue and white scarf and a blue and white hat. (Yes, you probably guessed that blue is the Birmingham City colour). If you can’t go to a match, you stay at home or go to the pub to watch it on television. And you wear your blue and white football kit even when you watch a match on TV. This is strange behaviour, but Blues fans are dedicated people.

　　You live in Birmingham, and many of your friends are Blues supporters like you. But Birmingham is a divided city, because another tribe of people live here too. They are the supporters of Birmingham’s other big football club, Aston Villa. Both Birmingham City and Aston Villa play in the Premier League, or the Premiership, which is the top division in English football, made up of the 20 top clubs in the country.

　　And I need to mention too that there is a third football club. It isn’t actually in Birmingham, because its football ground is just over the border in the town of Sandwell. This third club is West Bromwich Albion, though everyone calls them the Baggies. (No, I don’t know why they are called the Baggies.) When West Brom score a goal, their supporters celebrate by jumping up and down and shouting “Boing Boing”; and I don’t know why they do that either. Unlike Birmingham City and Aston Villa, the Baggies play in the Championship, which is the division below the Premier League.

　　It is getting towards the end of the English football season. Since the beginning of the season, at the end of last August, most clubs in the Premiership have played 34 games. They each have only have four more games to go. Aston Villa are 7th from the top of the Premiership. They are not going to win the Premiership, but they will definitely still play in the Premiership next year. And the Baggies are at present top of the Championship, so it is very likely that they will be promoted at the end of the season, and will play in the Premiership next year along with Aston Villa.

　　And Birmingham City? Well, poor old Birmingham are fourth from the bottom of the Premiership. They could still win sufficient matches to stay in the Premiership next year; but equally they could be relegated at the end of the season. And how would that make you feel, Birmingham City supporter? You would feel awful. You would be depressed. You might even be suicidal. You can imagine the smirks on the faces of the Villa and Baggies fans.

　　On Sunday, the Blues and their blue and white supporters will travel across Birmingham to play Aston Villa. The Blues really need to win this game if they are to be sure of staying in the Premiership. If you were a Birmingham City supporter, what words could you use to describe the atmosphere before the match – nervous, perhaps; or tense; or even “nail-biting”. If something is “nail-biting” , we mean that it is very tense and exciting, and all we can do is to wait for it to finish, and bite our nails while we are waiting. So, we can talk about a “nail-biting” atmosphere; or we can say that the last 15 minutes of the match was “nail-biting”; or that you had a “nail-biting” wait for the results of your exam.

　　Finally, can I remind you of two vital football phrases. If Birmingham win on Sunday, you will be “over the moon”. And if they lose, you will be “sick as a parrot”. I will tell you in the next podcast which you are.