It could be the biggest story in West Midlands football for nearly 30 years. The first manager to leave Birmingham City for Aston Villa in the history of either club and the first to take the cross-city journey to Small Heath since Ron Saunders in 1982.
A stunner, indeed, with Alex McLeish's resignation from St Andrew's via email sneaked out on a Sunday teatime while an anxious nation waited for the clouds to clear above the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.
As I write, it hasn't been confirmed but there seems no other route for Villa to take than appoint McLeish, having been rejected by everyone from Carlo Ancelotti to Mark Hughes. Big Eck, meanwhile, must surely know what he's doing - I can't believe he fancies battling Steve McClaren for the task of hauling Nottingham Forest back into the top flight.
If the Scotsman does make the move, it will turn him into a hate figure across much of Birmingham while Villa's fans, having forced the club into a climbdown over McClaren, will hardly be breaking out the champagne.
Loyalty to the club McLeish took down, of course, will have disappeared out of the window at the expense of a vastly-improved salary and overweening ambition. So let's not talk about him; let's talk about real loyalty to a football club.
In all of Sunday's fuss, it may have escaped your notice that Rushden & Diamonds have been expelled from Blue Square Premier (aka Conference National, aka the division below League Two) for non-payment of debts.
Non-league fans may have their own views about a club born of a merger between two small village teams and funded by the late millionaire Max Griggs, but that's not the issue here. Their demise saves Southport from relegation and allows me to introduce you to a father-and-son duo of Southport fans who left Lancashire many years ago and now live in.......Southampton.
I met them when Southport came to Tamworth towards the end of last season. For obvious reasons, they can't get to home games but went to every one of Southport's away games south of the River Trent in 2010-11, most of which were defeats. The thought of relegation into the regional Blue Square North, the thought of having those games taken away from them next season, had them distraught when we met. I can only imagine their delight at having it given back to them at the expense of a club whose finances have been questionable, to say the least, for several seasons.
The likes of McLeish, Hughes, Ancelotti wouldn't have the first idea about loyalty at that level. But I'm really looking forward to seeing those Southport fans visit Tamworth next season. Let's hope the fixture list doesn't line it up for a Tuesday night in January.
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