The last time Birmingham City were in the Premier League, just two years ago, their fate was sealed before the last day of the season; at least this time they have delayed the decision until the final game, even if the outcome turns out to be the same.
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Defeat at fellow relegation candidates Fulham last week has put Birmingham's brief stay in the top division into the hands of others. They can do no more than beat Blackburn at St Andrew's tomorrow, and hope both Fulham and Reading fail to win their games at Portsmouth and Derby.
"There is nothing we can physically do apart from win our game," Stephen Kelly, the Birmingham defender, said yesterday.
"At the end of the game we could be getting the best news of our lives, or we could be told another team have won and we are getting relegated. We have to prepare properly and make sure we win."
Losing at Craven Cottage wasn't part of the survival plan. "Everyone was downbeat after Fulham as we knew we had put ourselves in a position where it was out of our hands," Kelly added.
"We wanted to be in a position where what happened this weekend was in our own hands. We haven't got that opportunity now.
"You can't help but look back at what mistakes have been made and what might have been done differently. We have lost games 1-0 and you think back to little tiny incidents and things that swung it away. There is a tiny little thin line which we need to get right."
Birmingham's record at St Andrew's under Alex McLeish has been solid, if unspectacular: they have lost only once, to Chelsea, and won three of 11 games. However, they have drawn more home matches, eight all season, than any other team in the Premier League, bar Portsmouth.
"We have shown confidence here, albeit we've let a couple of leads slip against teams who we certainly punched above our weight against, the likes of Liverpool," the manager said.
"But not winning them is the cause of where we are at the moment. If we'd won a couple of them we'd be four points better off and that's a big difference in the Premier League. Take care of your home games and you stay in the Premier League."
Kelly, who has played every minute of every league game this season, the only outfield player in the country to do so, added: "Last year we came up with quite a young team, and the team have improved this year, and if we can hold on to the players, we could bounce straight back if the worst comes to the worst."
