I always like topics like this, its nice to see different views from generations, areas, etc.
We are in the middle a bit, in that if all 4 teams were in the same league and fans were asked who they wanted to beat the most, the vast majority would say -
Blues would say Villa
Villa would say Blues
Wolves would say Albion
However Albion would say Villa or Wolves as this forum shows as a guide, its each to their own.
Going on my own experiences, Villa do hate us (despite pretending not too) but i dont think its the same level as they have for Blues, but i think given the choice they would want to beat Blues more than us.
The same as i think the Wolves as a whole hate us on another level to what we hate them because a number of our fans see Villa as the rivals, but those that do hate the Wolves, do so with a passion.
I started going 86/87 (think Villa got promoted that year) so all my schooldays Villa were better than us, i think we only played them twice in the FA cup and they battered us. They were always a bit arrogant but they did win cup finals, challenged for the league, played in europe so at least there was something to back it up, nowadays as league positions show they are worse than us and have been for many years now.
However it was Wolves i couldnt stand and still cant, back in the late 80's / 90's they were very flash and full of themselves, we were the peasants, yet they never seemed to achieve anything and we often beat them on the pitch. Under Sir Jack i remember Wolves school mates were giving it large to Man United fans about how Wolves were the next Blackburn, then in the 2000's, out round the pubs, Steve Morgan took over and they were the next Chelsea. Now Fosun (who the signs are good so far) they are going to be the next Man City, law of averages they may be right this time because the first two times round they were just very ordinary.
I know some good lads who are Wolves fans and they are enjoying taking the p**s at the moment as i did with them, but they do seem to have more than most type of fans who just go from being normal to deluded very quick, instead of enjoying it, they are already setting themselves up for a fall.
To give a recent example, i went out for a few saturday night to celebrate, big group of us (including a couple of Vilers) was all good fun, another group came in who i knew a few of them and 3 of them were Dingles. 1 of the Dingle lads who i knew was a good laugh, plenty of banter, however the other 2 come over then and the atmosphere turned a bit, we lost them a couple of times but they piped up again.
I am a easy going person but the one was just gobbing off so much nonsense i ended up explaining things to him like a kid because he was too think to understand.
(1) Me and the Vilers were talking about Robson-Kanu, all of a sudden the Dingle pipes up saying Albion fans were a embarrassment for singing the song we do about him as we nicked off it Wolves that they sing for Neves, i pointed out we had signed Kanu a year before they had Neves and had been singing it long before Neves had set foot in Wolverhampton, he still couldnt do the maths.
(2) He said we live in the past and go no better banter than the 1-5 at the Molineux, again i pointed out because until this season we have spent the previous seasons since then in a higher league, again he didnt seem to get it.
(3) The one lad (an acquaintance not a mate) i saw him a few years ago and he no longer went to games, had no interest in them, he said he didnt even look out for the results. I saw him saturday and he looked like had robbed the Wolves club shop and all of a sudden he went everywhere, had done all his life, he was there to witness the bad times (he wasnt born til 82 so didnt see the real bad times and he also had no idea who Stole Solbakken was) but now he is enjoying the 'glory days' as he suffered!
Just to give an idea he was telling the Villa lads and me to 'mind the gap' and what Wolves are achieving in the modern day game, after hearing it for the hundreth time i asked what exactly have they achieved as of now that Albion hadnt, that Villa hadnt, that Blues hadnt. It was all what they were going to do, so i said basically as of now, you have achieved nothing new (whilst pointing out Blues won the carling cup) Wolves may break into europe this season, they may win the FA Cup, they may end up conquering the world but until they do, i wish they would shut the f**k up.
If Wolves do as the Fosuns are saying, they will be lauding it for years to come, however see where they are in a few years, if they dont sell their best players (ie - Mendes who wants to make money), if they do attract another 20k fans for the ground upgrade, if they do win something and break europe then thats when they can act like they are doing now.
But i would say over 50% of the Wolves fans i have met / know were like the ones above, maybe i have just been unlucky but from my experience they do seem to have more than most clubs who are just general bell***s.
As a end note (didnt realise how much saturday annoyed me til i typed this!) when we left it looked like the dingle (acquaintance) was going to get a battering off a spurs fan (season ticket holder but a fruitcake) i went over to try and calm things down for his own sake, everyone in the pub had had enough of him by then and the spurs fan i knew and he is ok, but the dingle wouldnt listen, i tried to get him to leave but he then proceeded to start gobbing off even more so i just thought sod him!