A small rambling on Keith, and what’s wrong in the stands
I originally intended to write a blog following the Braga trip, but obviously time has passed since then and I didn’t get round to it, and now there is very little I can add to what has already been said.
I therefore decided to wait to write again when something took my attention, and following the game on Saturday – Doncaster, I have now got the proverbial bee in my bonnet about something else – two bees in fact, the first being Keith Fahey and secondly “We Don’t Care about Carson”.
Both of these things are, in my opinion, areas of negativity we could really do without.
Number 1 – Keith Fahey. Now, I have been critical of Fahey in the past and am not saying by any stretch he is Ronaldo, but the constant relentless barracking of him is getting ridiculous and quite frankly embarrassing.
Most teams have the comedy villain character, the type that if he scored a volley from the halfway line people would say he “should’ve passed” e.g. Arshavin at Arsenal and Mikel at Chelsea, and Fahey is ours.
Criticising a player is part of being a fan, and I share most other fans frustrations at times when it comes to Keith, but for the life of me I can’t think of a single reason why we would boo a player as he is coming on as a substitute for our team, especially when Ridgewell has not had such treatment from the stands in the way Fahey has.
For what it’s worth, I think he is doing his job in the middle and I would like to see him with N’Daw, which would allow him to get further forward in a way he can’t do when playing with Spector.
However, Blues play down the wings this year, and play down them well. In order to do this, we have to be a little more static in the middle and not press too much, as this would leave us exposed, I therefore believe Fahey is a bit of a victim of these tactics. I do think that at times the gap in the middle to the front 2 has been wide enough for a small island to pop up in, so yes we do need to get forward a little more, but I think we need to change our expectations a little and stop thinking we will have a midfielder bursting forward into the box, because at the moment that’s not going to happen. So with that in mind, as a deep sitting central midfielder, it’s hard to deny Fahey has done his job this season.
There is a large amount of frustration at the club these days, understandably so, and it seems Fahey is taking the brunt of it, and this leads me on to another point……the song……
I understand why it’s sang each game as it is the symbolism of the frustration at what’s going on and the complete lack of clarity from the board, and indeed all we care about is BCFC and for that reason I am behind what the song says from the perspective.
But…..what I do disagree with is the fact all it really seems to do is add to the ever increasing gap between board and fan which from a player and managers perspective must be unsettling. Obviously, the way CH and the players (with 1 notable exception) have carried themselves this season is admirable in the highest regard, though I don’t believe that constant barracking is going to help us get anywhere with the board, but I don’t really see what will get us any answers anyway.
The recent Carson developments continue to add to the mystery and despair, and the “A” word will not go away and in all honesty, I don’t really think it will until either we get new investment or Carson gets cleared and turns up back at St Andrews with another few suitcases filled with pounds.
With attendances at the levels they are, the finances and the infinite uncertainty, fans sticking together and getting behind the team is the most important thing this season.
The players that are playing for our club every week need to be applauded, we are there to get behind our club not heckle them and this sniping at Fahey does absolutely nothing good what so ever. The song – as mentioned, I can see why it is sang, but wouldn’t it be nice if just occasionally we replaced its chorus with a rendition of SOTV or ask about tins of Salmon.
Anyway, I know I have said nothing new and offered no new insight, I just thought it was important for me to say lay off Keith, get behind the team and despite everything being so damn worrying and concerning lets at least try and pretend, during the matches, that everything is OK and we’re there to get behind the boys.
And even if all does go wrong further down the line, all we care about is BCFC and no matter what, we’ll be there……
KRO
It’s just like watching Brazil!
It has been quite some time since my last blog, so for my unreliability in actually getting round to writing again I apologise and hang my head in shame!
However, there is so much to reflect on I am a little confused where to start, so I will begin simply, yet as always, rather long winded….
Our wonderful club, Birmingham City FC, are unbeaten in 6 games and have won the last 5, have scored 12 goals in the process and conceded only 4, there is the small fact we have also won 2 games AWAY in European competition as well, all of which has been done amongst some very pleasant football indeed which resulted in the emergence of the chant “It’s just like watching Brazil”, not to mention that I am quite frankly getting sick of chanting “ole ole ole” every time I watch us play!!!
Overall, it’s a great time to be a Blues fan, made all the better by the poundings we took over the last few months, but if this is what it was all for, then it all tastes that much sweeter!
Unfortunately I did not attend Bristol City today, due to the fact I have only just got back from Belgium with a mammoth sized hangover, about 9 hours sleep in 4 days and an empty wallet, so I can’t say too much about that game apart from we won again!
But Brugge, well, that was rather good wasn’t it?!? It’s a beautiful city, it really is, and having stayed on the day after to see a bit of it, it really sank in what an experience it was being out there with so many brilliant fans!
The square where Bluenoses played the longest and loudest game of “one bounce” amongst a backdrop of an ancient tower is very nice, relentless renditions of Keep Right On, SOTV and thousands of pints being sank added to the superb and fantastic vibe!
I happened to be enjoying myself so much I missed the fact almost everyone else had left for the game, so with an hour (ish) to go we all decided to walk – HUGE ERROR, as it was miles away and I still missed the 1st 5 minutes – in hindsight though that was a good thing!
BUT here was what I did experience on my walk….various locals and tourists hanging out of windows taking pictures, cheering and clapping the “trouble making hooligans” of Brum, several groups of Police who were only too happy to wave us on – laughing at the fact we had decided to take a stroll – we were also pointed to a shop where bottles of “KWAK” could be purchased to make our walk more bearable, all of which made me think the people of Brugge genuinely did love us being there after all!
The friendly atmosphere from ‘Noses and locals made the occasion all the more special, and to experience all of this in city which is actually “like a fairy tale, with the Swans and that” made it a trip nobody will ever forget!
The day after, there were a few bleary eyed Bluenoses strolling around but it was mostly filled with tourists taking pictures, horse and carts giving tours (may I add, a horse trotting on cobbles is a terrible noise when hungover), barman and waiters coming up saying well done and that they didn’t realise how good we were – brilliant!
I shall not go into the match really as there is very little I will say that has not been said already, apart from we really did play very well, and the racket made by the fans was like nothing I have ever experienced before….. this had nothing to do with me spending the day experiencing the delights of the local liquid cuisine either!
So Brugge was excellent, Blues won and won again today – which all in all is quite an achievement!
So in my haze today I watched Manchester United v Manchester City, but with it I also listened to the relentless smoke being blown up the backside of Roberto Mancini and how he has transformed City from being a boring defensive, go for the 1-0, style team into one of the most exciting teams around at the moment – all within 1 pre-season!!!!
How has he achieved such a feat?
Well, this has been done by spending enough money to clear the Greek debt twice over, the purchase of more players than anyone really needs resulting in a “subs” bench of blokes that would actually get into any team in the world, yes he has done well, but a settled pre-season of building on what was already quite a squad has helped matters, as has the fact United were so damn awful today I think the ‘Noses kicking the ball in Brugge could have beaten them!
The achievements of Mancini I think only highlight further what Chris Hughton is doing for us this year. He has really rebuilt a squad, not just added to it, has brought through a couple of young players whilst also sending out some others on loan who look the business – thus, developing the club, and we are now in a situation where we are rotating players between games but still playing well and getting results!
A Villa friend of mine was talking about players having heart (probably brought on by yesterday’s defeat at home) and the fact Villa don’t seem to have any, which also made me think how pretty much every one at Blues this year is playing with passion I haven’t seen for some time, including those in the squad who get dropped when I thought they should have kept their places (e.g. Murphy and N’Daw).
And again, this is being done under a footballing revolution 10 times that of Manchester City (we have gone from scratch my eyes out boring to so damn exciting I can’t help but snigger) and the passionate Manchester City fans haven’t got a thing on those I saw in Brugge, those who continue to turn up at St Andrews week after week year after year – not to mention the 1500 of every die hard that made that journey to Bristol, for which you are all stronger people than me!
It’s sad that we still get no credit at all for this, our result today was hidden down the side and dwarfed by Southampton’s headline 1-1 draw with Reading on a particular website, even the Brugge game got as good as zero coverage I hear, but such is life as a ‘Nose.
Maybe one day this season Blues fans will actually be applauded instead of being vilified or at best ignored totally, but I hope this piece has got my point across on how good I thought Belgium was, why Hughton is better than Mancini and how this season it really is just like watching Brazil!!!
K.R.O
A word please Mr Peter Pannu!
I always like to think I am one to go against the grain of spreading panic and endorsing the calls of “crisis at St Andrews”, and I am still very much going along that school of thought, however I can no longer help but think the time has come for some genuine action and clarity from the goings on in the rooms above the car park and some real answers from the board!
No more simple protests, phone in’s or discussions through a “the board know best” Goal Zone and Tom Ross, we need to form a plan to pin Pannu down and get some answers, mostly by cutting out the middle man (Tom) and going straight from terrace to board room in a respectable capacity!
The ignition of my anger – the Stuart Parnaby debacle!
A player who wanted to play for Blues and would have loved to come back, passed a medical and also agreed personal terms (he was also wanted by our manager), more importantly not to mention the fact he would have done a genuine job for us, yet at the last minute the deal was pulled!!
- To all with any sense, the Parnaby comeback deal was an absolute no brainer, which is why it is so damn baffling it hasn’t gone through!
I am not naïve enough to think the only reason could have been a board change of heart, yet I am also wise enough to think this is a perfectly plausible, if not the main reason, as to why the deal was pulled.
Agents etc is a likely excuse that will be put forward (not by Hughton), but at our level, I do not believe such an excuse will hold any validity what so ever, there is a basic, fundamental reason (likely to be 100% financial) that he has not re-signed for us!
Right, my rant is over, apart from the fact this symbolises the mucky and misty waters that the club is currently operating under!
I know I am simply saying what everyone already thinks and knows, yet for those who follow me on twitter (@mrbluesky1875), you will know I am a staunch supporter of Chris Hughton and a shameless plugger of @often_partisan.
Therefore, when the time comes that I feel board action is preventing Chrissy H from doing his job, and bureaucratic ignorance is preventing the fans from being given a recognised voice to get answers from the board, well consider my apple cart well and truly upset!!!!
My plan is thus, when he finally lands back in the UK, (Pannu not Carson obviously as I haven’t got decades to wait) a formal plan of action is put together for a representative of Birmingham City Football Club supporters to get Pannu sat down and ask him what the hell is going on!
I will not get bogged down in the Supporters Trust idea, for which I could write a text book (but for what it is worth I think it a great one and one I intend to be part of) simply as I don’t think we have the time for such an establishment to be set up – with regards to basic answers my curiosity / desperation is calling for!
Now, I am one of the enormous majority who replied to the request from @often_partisan to see if we would believe a word Pannu said, and we / I wouldn’t, not one single letter. BUT, some basic questions have got to be delivered and then answered by him.
His air of mystery and feeding vague ideas to us should not be allowed to dilute the fact we have a right as fans to test him and ask the questions we want answers too! This very sense of “we don’t really know where the money is from, and Carson will fund us” façade has clearly gone on for far too long, without substantial challenge.
He may lie and tell us what we want to hear, but nailing him down for answers has to be better than letting him swan off business class to Hong Kong with my season ticket money when our club haven’t got the proverbial pot to you know what in!
So here is my idea….we get a group, a respectable majority of fans, enough so they can’t possibly ignore us anymore, to sign up and get together to sit down with Pannu and ask him the most testing questions we all want answers to!
We have many forums and respectable bloggers much more qualified than I to run such a task, and to actually go to Mr Pannu with the questions.
If we can simply start here, at the ground, and generate numbers of fans who want this to happen then Phase 1 of #operationclaritybcfc will be achieved.
In order to achieve this, we need to get either/or #operationclaritybcfc OR #answersbcfc trending on twitter.
I will also monitor my hit rate on here to see how this is developing. Also, mentions on the many and respectable Faceboook groups will be good, and also, any mentions to me @mrbluesky1875 or direct comments on this blog, will be a great start.
Any questions or comments will also be massively and hugely appreciated as they can be moved forward into phase 2 – #themeetingphasebcfc.
Then once we have enough support, they can no longer ignore the request that a Bluenose has to sit down with the board and ask the very questions we as supporters want to ask!
I have read that a similar request has been sent to the Press Office and subsequently rejected, but we DO NOT WANT journalists asking questions, which was the reason the previous credible request was ignored.
As Blues fans, and pretty much the only source of income to our beloved club these days, we have a right to ask these unedited yet respectable questions ourselves and get real, raw answers.
Therefore, such requests from respected bloggers and the logical voice of fans from all corners of STAN’s, should be embraced by the press office (you can clearly guess where my vote will go to give us such representation and it will not be for me, it shall be solely @often_partisan).
I do appreciate the fact I am going into quite a Che Guevara style rant, this is the fact I am in holiday mode and have disrupted my trip to instigate this plan of action, but needs must and KRO!
We must now support this blog, get the above trends going on twitter, get the relevant mentions on Facebook and such blogs and forums, and from there, if we can really get enough rumblings going on, maybe, when Pannu is back, if we get enough support they will actually bow to such a request!
Please re-tweet the hell out of this blog, send it on to your family, your cat, dog and budgie, even the squirrels in the garden if they have phones, but anyone that will help out.
My intention is not to create any form of disharmony, or upset anything Chris Hughton is doing as we need to be backing him. And if the majority of you think that by making such a request it will disrupt our club – leave the squirrels alone and ignore this request.
But I really do believe we need clarity and support for Chris Hughton and the job he is doing. We need some answers and backing for him and the players, as I do not think there is an entire manager on the planet who would take this job and do better than CH is doing right now!!
At the end of the day though, I am just a supporter that will continue to go and travel for the Boys in Royal Blue no matter what, and this blog is a result of one disjointed performance and a crazy cancelled deal that has confused the hell out of me.
Therefore, please do any/all of the above, let me know your thoughts on twitter and on here in the comments (credible ones only please @mrblusky1875) and hopefully we will then get the clarity that we deserve, and it may also help us to get a clearer path to the End of The Road!
KRO
The season so far for Birmingham, and why we shouldn’t be screaming in panic just yet!
I accept that a season review after only 6 games is rather erratic and premature, however, following the Southampton game and subsequent reactions I have read / heard, it appears that such reviews are currently taking place anyway so I have decided to put my own thoughts down!
After Southampton, I couldn’t help but feel it was a rather strange game where after 10 minutes we could’ve been 1 – 0 up, 5 – 0 down at half time, 4-3 up after 60 minutes but still lost 4 – 1……and then my thoughts turned to what went wrong and I began to read reactions from some fans which I think were harsh to say the least.
I then read @often_partisan “Bipolar Football” and agreed 100% with everything that was in there.
All points in that article on @often_partisan are the basis of what I have wrote this on, and those made regarding the transition our club is going through and the team settling down are points every Bluenose should remember.
I will not repeat the valid points made in “Bipolar Football” but here are my own thoughts on the season so far…..
Sunday
We got tanked, end of story, but as I have mentioned I think it was a rather odd game and the score line was a little strange, especially as in the first 15 minutes of the second half it was perfectly possible we may come back.
The corner the penalty came from was an awful decision, and the 2nd and 3rd goal especially was, I think, the fault of Ridgewell, who had a poor game, but as did Carr…..which leads me nicely to the idea of reflection!
Player Criticism
Carr has had 2 poor games, which as a footballer is allowed and expected, especially when he has had 2 years of mostly solid, impressive games week after week. His age etc does indicate time isn’t on his side, yet thoughts that he is now finished and should be dropped are excessive. Yes he stormed off the pitch yesterday but he clapped the fans first, and as captain of a team that has been smashed 4 – 1 ( he had also been booked, was lucky not to get a red and had an overall disappointing day) if he looked happy with himself and full of the joys would this not a bigger concern?
He is our captain and has only fell short of his self imposed high standards for 2 games out of the 4.5million he has played over the last few seasons!
The turnover of 37 players that we have seen going into this season was always going to be worrying, especially when those coming in are free and loans – which is not necessarily a bad thing i.e Chris Wood.
What has changed is the fact that patience in some sections seems to be wearing thin already and I have no idea why!?!?!?!?
To say that players who have played 3 games in some cases, and only 60 minutes in others (N’Daw), should now be dropped seems unfair, especially when some claims are offering no alternatives apart from “drop him, him, him and him”. We are watching a completely new team / squad of players from front to back trying to gel together, and common sense tells you these will need time to bed in.
For what it’s worth, Elliott I think is a right little coup, as is Gomis, Caldwell has been solid overall, King is showing flashes of something good, Burke has got something as well etc etc….in short, there are plenty of reasons to be positive with what we have got, but they need time!
Forget the Premier League squad we had that won us the cup, we shouldn’t be comparing then and now as we are in a different situation to that we were in then, and the type of player Hughton is able to attract and afford is different!
The Games so far
We have won our home games and have only lost at Stans to the Europa League runners up, which, with a team of new players and debutants is not a disgrace – especially as again, I think we did OK.
Braga have to be favourites for the group, they are a very good team with better players than us. They scored an early wonder goal, an offside second, and a third where we were chasing them and left gaps.
We had chances, put them under serious pressure in the second half and went at them, but yes we lost.
So why is this being used as a result to beat us with? We lost but were hardly disgraceful, and if Rooney had buried that early chance then who knows…..
This is another game where the result doesn’t tell the full story, and really, the result is not that important in my opinion as long as there were positive signs to take from it – we are not going to win the Europa so we should enjoy it!
We have won the other 2 home games (4-0 overall for both of them) so I need say nothing more!
Our away games clearly have not been great results wise, so here is the BUT………..
We have lost to the top 2 in the league and fourth placed Derby, all of whom are flying, so it is fair to say they are difficult fixtures for us to take on with a new team / club and a new manager with new ideas.
But instead of focusing on the scores, look at the fact we scored and played reasonably well in patches of all of them. Surrendering leads is a worry, but that is a psychological issue that can be overcome, the fact is we had a lead to defend in the first place which can only be a good thing looking forward.
A couple of goalkeeping errors from a player who hasn’t played regularly for a season or two and came to a new club is annoying (Watford) but this same keeper kept us in the Millwall game and has made at least a good save in every other match. I will not go into detail about the start Hart and even Foster had as I am not comparing them, but you get my point…….patience!
The Manager
I am very Pro-Hughton as you may know, and we are playing football that is entertaining and attacking where we are scoring goals and creating chance after chance.
We have some VERY good young players in the ranks (Redmond, Mutch, Butland for 3) that he will give opportunities to and they are all suited to his kind of football which can only be another good thing!
Yes we are conceding away from home, but again, look at the teams we have lost too; they are not exactly weak in this league are they? And Watford was an individual error, not a team spanking which would have been more of a problem.
We are starting games looking to win them (4-4-2 against Braga and away at Southampton) instead of going 4-5-1 and locking up to try and pinch a goal, and as I have mentioned, we could have won at least 2 more than those we have and had 6 more points.
I know there are lots of if’s and but’s in this piece, but such are the fine margins of the league we are playing in, these are the very margins that we will eventually start to fall on the winning side of!
The signs are good and the players need time to settle – so I reiterate the calls for some to be dropped and the rumblings of discontent already are frankly completely unfair and unjust!
We are playing with a style we enjoy watching, and when we are not playing away to the top teams in the league with a squad full of new players – maybe these defeats and last minute draws will actually turn into wins.
We have started well despite what results say, so hope I have got this across – but my point is patience and to look at the future by building with the team we have now, as opposed to demand that we play clubs like ‘Boro off the park straight away when they are used to this league and we have just started in it!
Or, at least wait a little longer until after we have played and won 2 home league games, lost in Europe to a very good technical team and away to 3 of the form teams in the new realm of the Championship!!!!!!!!
The future is still bright ‘noses, Keep Right On!
My views on BCFC in response to the Mirror causing such panic and reasons to be optimistic!
My view on the Birmingham City Circus – especially in response to the mass panic the Daily Mirror have created, days gone by, why relegation may well have been a good thing and reasons to KRO!!!
I can hear the cries already on the ludicrous claim I have made that relegation may well have been a good thing, but please let me explain the reasoning behind my daftness…..
First off I’ll discuss Mr Yeung, his sidekicks and the ever powerful Grandtop International / Birmingham International Holdings (or whatever it is called these days).
I will start this section by stating that deep down we all knew what we were letting ourselves in for from the start, even those with blue tinted spectacles of optimism knew this whole takeover by the knights in shining armour riding in from the Chinese shores was never going to work!
A Brief Recap
As we all know, Gold, Sully and Madam Brady wanted to sell ASAP!!! The club went up for sale, a mystery Chinese billionaire offered to buy and he was set a deadline to come up with the cash (Boxing Day if I am correct). It turned out this chancer didn’t have the money after all, was somewhat of a Walter Mitty type character and was sent packing back to Hong Kong.
Cue – a “revitalised” board of Porn Barons – hoorah!!!!
However – 12 / 18 months later, this very man who hadn’t got a bean is now worth £80million packed in a few suitcases, he is a credible buyer who has hands that our club can be safely placed into, he will invest in the team and may also rebuild the main stand – hoorah #2 #3 and #4!!
(Gold and Co now run into the sunset down South to West Ham with all our money…I digress)….
After digging slightly into the background of our saviour we knew that only 10 years prior he was a hairdresser (highlights and trims are expensive in Hong Kong after all you see). He owned a company registered in the Cayman Islands that did some sort of holdings, stocks or whatever in “products including sportswear”!!
Now I am no Economic expert but that really does not sound like a viable company to me and never did!!
BUT – he passed the fit and proper persons test so no need to worry my fellow Bluenoses, none at all, all will be OK – hoorah # 5 (and that is the last hoorah of this piece)!!!
In our blind optimism for glory we ignored these solid facts and embraced Yeung, I particularly remember Arsenal away and the chants of “Carson Yeung Carson Yeung Carson Yeung” etc etc!!
To the Now and why Relegation may have been a good thing……
Please calm down, I also did not want relegation and White Hart Lane almost killed me, however, in light of recent events and tales of financial woe I think going down was a good thing after all……
Financial troubles, stories of bankruptcy, re-mortaged houses, shares in Birmingham International Holdings / Birmingham City FC being offered around like a cheap toy to all and sundry in all corners of China and the Far East were happening BEFORE we got relegated.
Therefore, the financial problems we now face should be no surprise to anyone and the fact that a story ran by the Daily Mirror of all papers has caused such mass panic and calls of administration has baffled me – especially when it is a story of regurgitated facts we already knew anyway, and Pannu has said nothing new either for that matter!!!!
But, following CY’s arrest for money laundering totalling an alleged £59 million, its safe to say there must be a bit of evidence behind this, he would have been arrested and had assets frozen no matter what – time in a “correctional facility” also appears to be a very real possibility.
If we had stayed up I am fully aware we would have had zillions of extra pounds to cover us, and life on the surface would have seemed more rosey. But my view is the financial problems really do run so very deep, even all that money that comes with being in the Premier League WOULD NOT HAVE SAVED US, IT WOULD HAVE MADE IT WORSE!!!
Why??? You’re an idiot I hear you shout, but look at it like this…..imagine we have stayed up, we have loads of TV money etc etc, but our majority shareholder is arrested, assets frozen and we have no available income!
We also have players on very large contracts who need paying, so we probably sell a few of them off and keep a few whilst trying to buy others to seem credible etc etc.
(Actually, I think we would probably have had to sell most of our players anyway if we had stayed up)
The additional money we get from being in the top flight only serves to pay players wages, and the debt we are in increases and increases as the season goes on. Carson continues to be incarcerated in Hong Kong, HSBC keep up the pressure on the board of BIH – and whilst this is going on who knows what would be going on on the pitch – in all likelihood it would have been another relegation battle!!
Basically, any additional money that we would have got if we had stayed up, in my view, would only have been used to fill a continuously growing black hole of unsustainable debt and prolong the inevitable of that which we are facing today!
Yes we may have been more attractive to an investor as a Premier League club, but the type of Eastern investment we are seeking I really do not believe will take tany notice of what league we are in. Nothing changes the fact that CY would have been arrested, and to get investment in an organisation facing such a crisis is a tricky task to say the least whether you are Premier League club or Blue Square!!
My theory is yes we get huge income from being in the Prem, BUT, with that comes absolutely huge outgoings (I do believe 98% of our income last year went on wages) which are wholly unsustainable!
Therefore, running another year in the Prem on that basis where we are leaking money left right and centre, debt keeps on increasing and relegation may have followed anyway all points to one thing…..I would rather be facing this as a Championship club than a Premiership one!!
We can now strip our team, which I know is painful, but cut all the wages and get as much money as we can from transfers etc to keep us afloat for now. We take a few years in the lower leagues maybe, but if we can stay in business that is a price worth paying!
The very harsh truth is we have no money, we have no income, and the cupboards are bare – whether we had stayed up or not this would have been the case.
Facing up to this now as a Championship club with heavily reduced outgoings is much better than running the debt deeper and deeper as a Premiership club where we would have been spending money we didn’t have – if we had done this I do believe we would have “done a Portsmouth”!!
We have got out of the Prem at the right time as we couldn’t afford to be there!
So back down we go, we can try to stay afloat by taking the short term pain of watching all our stars leave. But in the long term, the money we make from these transfers and the lower wages we pay may well just save us even if the unthinkable happens and we enter Administration (which I will still be shocked about if we do go there)!
Another positive
Look at this as a genuine fresh start!
As I have repeatedly said – the fact that BIH is in a mess and Carson could be off to eat porridge would have happened anyway, but now we have not got the huge Premier League contracts and wages that we could only have afforded to keep paying with borrowed money anyway.
So we have shipped the players out – sad I know but it has to be done!
But with that comes this lovely word and awful cliche – rebuilding.
We can give the youth system a chance, we get players with a point to prove. Players who want to wear the shirt, who want to play for our club and will run with pride, not players who we have bought and who are there because we offered them a few more grand per week than some other club!!
I for one have realised I would rather support a team of players who play for us because they want to! I have no issues if we sell a player to a bigger club, if they become to good for Blues and a big club comes in – good luck to them I say! That’s what Blues are – we are not a big club that can offer regular top level football (as in Europe etc) and we probably never will be. We should be looking at getting the young lads through, young players who are GENUINELY grateful to get first team football and will give everything they can for our club, not blokes who give us a year or 2 then feel its time for a fresh challenge (Roger Johnson, Gardner etc).
The Good Old Days
The 16 years or whatever it was when we were out of the top flight, some of those days were dark….but……
Some of those days were absolutely brilliant! The type of players I talk about above, those with pride etc, we had a constant supply of them back in the day! Liam Daish, Michael Johnson, Johnny Gayle, Simon Sturridge, the one and only Louis Donowa…not to mention Mr Paul Tait!!
My list of joy goes on – Pesch, Jose, Dave Barnett, Peter Shearer, Darren Purse, Mark Ward, John McCarthy (I am sounding like a rambling drunk man in the pub I know), but these were players who at the time we thought were the greatest players in the world (a slight exaggeration, and perhaps this was just me, but you get my point)!!
I havent even mentioned Andy Saville, Ricky Otto, Steve Claridge……
The reason I am piping on here is for this….we know the hand we have been dealt, we’re broke and the Premier League is now gone. But, we are nowhere near as bad as we were when Sully and Co saved us in ‘91, yes its bad but its not that bad!
Blues will still survive, and if we do go into administration (which I dont think we will), so what – if it happens it happens!
If we can go on another journey like we have done before, and get moments like Taity pushing Mr ‘Tache of the Vile over the boards – bring them on I say!
Also, for all those years of lower league football, were they or were they not worth every second for that moment when we all watched Mr Carter tuck that penalty away…..
But lets get on with it, for all my financial arguments above, we are in a better position now by facing our money problems today as a Championship club that we would have been if we stayed up and faced them tomorrow as a Premier League club.
We may look at young players who will come through our ranks and give us some entertainment as opposed to the dross we have watched for longer than I can remember.
- On this point of good football, my biggest concern is keeping Chris Hughton. I reckon we’ve got the right man for the job, he will get the lads through and sign the “players with a point to prove” whilst playing some nice stuff, keep Chris and we’ll be ok (I know these are early calls, ask me again by Xmas what I think and I may have another opinion).
And if it does take until 2027 to go back up again, then I am not bothered in the slightest!
No matter what league we end up in, we’ll have some sort of tale to tell, some kind of player who will keep us amused in one way or the other!!
And who knows, we may just go up this season anyway and wouldn’t that be a tale!!!!!!
No matter what happens, WE’LL BE THERE………………………
KRO
