The [Official] Birmingham City FC Thread

[Colamania]

Birmingham City 1875​

Following on in the footsteps of the longest-reigning active admin WrestleZone has ever had, I will be keeping WZ'ers across the globe in touch with the 2008/2009 Championship season, specifically the effort of Birmingham City to win promotion back to the Premier League, and in the process achieve what we've only done once before in our 133-year history: win a trophy. Yes, the League Cup 1963 stands alone in our trophy cabinet (although we gave it a damned good go in 2001, taking Liverpool to penalties in the final of the same tournament) and this year, we fight to claim a second major prize for the Boys in Royal Blue, along with a top-flight position next season.

The Ground: St Andrews Stadium​

St Andrews, full on matchday. One of the good qualities of Birmingham City is our fan support, with it being very rare for us to not sell every seat in the ground (expect for a brief spell 2 years ago, following a dismal run of results, during which time there were calls for the sacking of then manager Steve Bruce) and all the Bluenoses (the nickname of Birmingham fans) in attendance are usually in fine voice throughout the game.

In the above picture, it looks a fine ground, and it is, or rather, 3 quarters of it is. However, as you will see in the image below, one of the stands has not been renovated since the original ground was built in 1906. See if you can guess which one.

However, for the main, it's a pretty high standard ground, with a capacity of over 30,000 fans, and crowd trouble is very rare.

The Boss: Alex McLeish​

McLeish took over the reigns of Birmingham City last November following the departure of Steve Bruce, who left in controversial circumstances surrounding a possible takeover of the club by Asian businessman Carson Yeung. It is still unclear as to whether Bruce quit the club or was sacked from his post. However, McLeish, nicknamed "Big Eck", has been highly successful as manager of the club. Although the damage done during Steve Bruce's reign was unrectifiable, and as a result Birmingham were relegated to the Championship, McLeish signed high profile players David Murphy and James McFadden to the club, and enjoyed some memorable victories, such as "doing the double" over Tottenham Hotspur in 3-2 and 4-1 victories, and another 4-1 victory on the final day of the league, this time against Blackburn Rovers. McLeish remains one of the most popular managers Blues have ever had, despite being in only his first year at the club, and looks set to lead Birmingham back to the Premier League in 2009.

Other Points of Interest​

The Anthem and other songs:

Almost every football team has an anthem which is instantly recogniseable as a part of the team's history. Liverpool have "You'll Never Walk Alone", West Ham have "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles". Birmingham City have an adaptation of "Keep Right On to the End of the Road", usually referred to as simply "Keep Right On", and shortened to "KRO" on occasion. Other songs the fans sing include "Singing the Blues", written for the club, and song showing the hatred for local rivals Aston Villa, the highly-strung and well-mannered "Shit on the Villa", sung to the tune of "Roll Out The Barrel".

Developments so far (pre-season):

Not much has happened as far as the pre-season goes. We haven't played any pre-season friendly matches yet. However, we've been active in the transfer market. Fans were dismayed to discover one of our best players, Mikael Forssell, had left for Hannover on a free transfer, and a further blow was delivered with the departure of Daniel De Ridder. However, things are now looking up for Birmingham, as replacements have been purchased for both players, with Lee Carsley being brought in for midfielder De Ridder, and striker Forssell being replaced by high profile signing "Super" Kevin Phillips, who played in the Championship last season, scoring 24 times in 38 games and leading his club West Bromwich Albion to the trophy and promotion. However, West Bromwich Albion's contract offer to the player (who's current deal was ending) was unsatisfactory for the player, and he looked elsewhere for a deal. He didn't have to look far, as West Bromwich is a suburb on the outskirts of Birmingham itself. With his signing for Birmingham on a free transfer, he will become the first player to have played in the first team for the three top Birmingham clubs, Blues, West Brom and Aston Villa.

Stay tuned folks. Birmingham City's pre-season tour of Austria begins tomorrow, with the team heading out in preperation for the first match of the tour on Monday.

 

[CM Kev]

Im still gutted that Scotland lost McLeish to Birmingham. In hindsight it wasnt a clever move on his part.
If you can keep a hold of McFadden then you definetely have a fighting chance next season.

 

[Colamania]

Personally, I think it was a good move for McLeish to make. Our relegation was pratically confirmed by December thanks to the backroom troubles involving Steve Bruce, The Golds, Sullivan and Carson Yeung. Bruce was unable to manage to his full potential with the axe hanging over his head, and it eventually swung - but whether he swung it himself or Sullivan gave him the boot is still a mystery. McLeish had always said he wanted to manage an English team, and his coming to the club encouraged Scottish masters of the game such as Murphy and McFadden to join the club.

As for you other comment, I am in total agreement. A team isn't one man, but our chances of winning the trophy do seem to be mostly depending on whether McFadden stays with Blues or moves to a Premier League club. Thankfully, Seb Larsson appears to be staying, and the signing of Kevin Phillips will soften the blow if Fads does depart St Andrews, but still, he is a crucial player in the line-up, and a partnership of McFadden and Super Kev could be one which riots through the Championship in an Undertaker-at-WrestleMania-like certainty to score every game. The problem we still have is our defence. Murphy tightened it up a little in January, but we've still got a gaping hole through the middle thanks to Liam Ridgewell's inaptitude to... well, do anything useful.

 

[CM Kev]

I didnt even know yous had signed Phillips. He was brilliant for West Brom last year and will pretty much guarantee you 20+ goals in a Championship season. Lee Carlsley is also a good signing.

I havent seen that much of him but Liam Ridgewell was quite shite for Aston Villa.

 

[Colamania]

News so far:

Olivier Kapo has left Birmingham City to sign for (Steve Bruce's) Wigan Athletic for a fee of just over £3.5 Million, and Franck Queudrue has left St. Andrews on a free transfer, but is yet to sign for a new club. The first game of the pre-season tour of Austria was postponed for 24 hours due to heavy rainfall. If it went ahead as planned, it would have kicked off about an hour ago, but no confirmation as yet as to whether the game is playing tonight or being postponed further.

Well... we're fucked. Olivier Kapo is a major loss. The man was the first player to score past Peter Cech, arguably the world's best goalkeeper, last season. And the shot was a 22-yard 72mph smasher. It's still known amongst fans as Kapo's Rocket. And now he's gone. And Queudrue was one of our only good central defenders. McLeish better start spending soon, or quite simply, we're not going to even make the playoffs.

 

[HBK-aholic]

News so far:

Olivier Kapo has left Birmingham City to sign for (Steve Bruce's) Wigan Athletic for a fee of just over £3.5 Million, and Franck Queudrue has left St. Andrews on a free transfer, but is yet to sign for a new club. The first game of the pre-season tour of Austria was postponed for 24 hours due to heavy rainfall. If it went ahead as planned, it would have kicked off about an hour ago, but no confirmation as yet as to whether the game is playing tonight or being postponed further.

Really big loss there. I'm unsure as to who should be signed to replace him, but it better be someone good. Kapo is a good player, who played well for France a few years ago if I remember correctly.

I believe I saw him play for Monaco a couple of years ago, and he played really well there. However playing for Birmingham was the best I've seen him. Wigan will be lucky to get him. Birmingham need to focus on a relpacement as a matter of urgency.

 

[Colamania]

Well, I don't really need to say much about this match. The scoreline speaks for itself.

Kirchberg 0 Birmingham 7

In the first game of the pre-season tour, Blues well and truely smashed the shite out of opposition Kirchberg. But here's a short report, from what I gathered from the official full length recap on the club's website, bcfc.com.

The game started as a surprisingly tight affair, but the breakthrough was made on the half-hour mark when Birmingham's local wonderkid Sone Aluko broke through and was taken down in the box, leading to a penalty for Blues, which Gary McSheffrey converted for the 1-0 lead. Just nine minutes later, McSheffrey scored what could be described as a wondergoal, taking a corner which curved through the air and straight into the net without touching a player. Just before half-time, the in-form McSheffrey's cross was back-headed by Martin Taylor and Liam Ridgewell bundled it home for a 3-0 lead at half time. For the second half, 5 changes were made, including the unimpressive Cameron Jerome making way for James McFadden and Sone Aluko swapping out for new signing Kevin Phillips. This resulted in Blues fielding a three-man attack force, made of the two substitutes and last summer's signing who has failed to make much of an impression as of yet, Gary O'Connor. O'Connor made it clear that he wanted that to change, as when the Kirchberg keeper was only able to parry a McFadden shot, Gary pounced on the loose ball and slotted it home to put Blues 4-0 up. Then, on 57 minutes, newest signing "Super Kev" took the ball from an O'Connor pass and walked it into the net for 5. The sixth goal came from an unlikely target, as a corner from amazing wonderkid Jordan Mutch - just 16 years of age - was headed home with authority by right-back David Murphy, scoring only his second goal for the club, although officially he's still on one as friendly matches don't go down in official records. Near the end of the game, the scoreline was made more impressive and the final nail was stuck into the Austrian side's coffin as Phillips pounced again, taking an O'Connor cross down on his chest before driving it home and creating the final scoreline of 7-0.

In other news, due to a dispute over a fine which was owed to Birmingham by Wigan, Olivier Kapo's move has broken down and he is still a Blues player. As a great man would say: HOO-RAH!

 

[Colamania]

A short news update, financial disputes have been resolved and Olivier Kapo has officially left St. Andrews, and is now a Wigan Athletic player. The blow has been lessened by the signing of powerful striker Marcus Bent for a fee of slightly more than £1m.

Well, Bent is a hell of a signing, no doubt about that. He's a great signing, and he could score bucketloads of goals. The main worry for me is that McLeish is over-loading the squad. He's already signed 2 high profile strikers, which gives us a total of 5 forwards, all of whom are capable of being great players. In particular, Kevin Phillips, Marcus Bent and James McFadden will be competing for places, but it's not right to have any one of those three great players on the bench. The only alternative would be to regularly play as a 4-3-3 formation, but that doesn't tend to be too successful for many teams.

 

[Colamania]

Well, something of an update here, various news tidbits from Birmingham City. I've decided not to give full match reports from the pre-season friendlies, just suffice it to say that Blues have a 100% record in pre-season, winning every game, including a 3-2 victory against Championship rivals Leicester City.

The only other news to report really is that 21-year old Kemy Agustien has signed for Blues on a season-long loan, but included in the agreement is an option for Blues to sign him for 2m Euros at any time if he impresses McLeish and the team at any time. Now, I really don't have any prior knowledge of this young guy, but according to an internet profile, he's a fast young talent, and I'll see how he goes throughout the season. Also, I've booked tickets for my first match of this season, namely the first away fixture, Southampton vs. Birmingham City. I plan to watch the first of this season's games, at home to Sheffield Utd, on tv, although whether I'll watch it in Birmingham, Derby or even Leeds I'm not sure yet. Although right now, I'm hoping and planning for the latter.

 

[Booyaka]

McLeish the traitor!!

I think there gonna run away with the title but then next year? relegation again? Faddy will get at least 15-20 goals this season along with Phillips, but Bent? not really a very good scorer last season was he?

 

[Colamania]

Birmingham City vs. Sheffield United

Well, first game of the season has come and gone, and the Boys in Royal Blue picked up a dramatic victory. I watched the game live on Sky Sports, and as such will give my own review rather than relying on online reports for facts. However, it won't be too long, as, quite simply, there's not a whole lot to say.

The supporters had a pair of decisions to question in McLeish's squad selection. The first was the inclusion of Liam Ridgewell in the first 11, but some supporters reasoned that, quite simply, Blues don't have any other choices when it comes to the defensive side of things. The second was a much more pressing concern - the starting choices for strikers were James McFadden and Marcus Bent. Kevin Phillips, the Championship Player Of The Season, an man who'd bagged 24 goals during West Brom's trophy-winning 07/08 season, was left on the subs bench, which incidentally was made up of the reserve goalkeeper Colin Doyle, one defender in Franck Quedurue, and 3 strikers, Phillips joined by Cameron Jerome and Garry O'Connor. This unorthdox selection - leaving no midfield options available - was questionable, but eays to overlook when taking into account the pure striking power in Blues' current squad.

The reason for the lack of comments that can be made is that it was an evenly matched game all around. The midfield shone for the first 15 minutes or so, but there wasn't much to do for either team's defensive players. The first time that a keeper even had to handle the ball was Blues' Maik Taylor catching a simple cross at nearly 12 minutes into the game. The progress, however, was clearly going Sheffield's way, and they continued to mount pressure. Blues attacks were scarce, and this was shown by the fact that, when the game eventually arrived at half time, Birmingham City's attempts on target stood at zero. However, Sheffield's tally was only at 2, and Maik Taylor had dealt with both of them, although he'd had to quickly back-pedal to palm the second over the bar.

The second half was when the action hotted up, Birmingham lead forward by the inspirational performance of captain Lee Carsley, proving himself to be a great signing for the club. However, the real quality of McLeish's summer signings was revealed on the hour mark, when Gary McSheffrey made way for Super Kev himself, who got into the action within seconds, pushing further for the goal. However, Blues' accuracy was letting them down still, and with just 15 minutes to go, the score still stood at 0-0, and Blues still had no attempts on target. The shots kept coming, with Garry O'Conner smacking a shot wide of the post within 15 seconds of being brought on for Bent, and the slightly disappointing Sebastian Larsson hitting a free kick way over the bar. However, the pivotal moment was when Larsson came off in place of Cameron Jerome. O'Connor and Phillips joined up at the front, while McFadden and Jerome, usually strikers, took the left and right wing spots respectively. The gamble payed off, and the last ten minutes was practically all Blues. However, despite the skill of the players to get it to the front men, the shots were still going wide of the mark. When 90 minutes came and the game went into injury time, Sheffield had 4 shots on target. Blues still had none. Just on the stroke of 92 minutes, O'Connor slid a ball through to Kevin Phillips, who was almost stood on the penalty spot, facing away from the goal, 2 men marking him, one either side. He somehow ducked the pressure, turned 180 on the spot, and fired a rifle-like shot at the bottom left corner. Blues' first and only shot on target in the entire game left Sheffield keeper Paddy Kenny standing, and Phillips got the 4th debut goal of his career, roaring triumphantly off towards the frenzied Blues fans, snatching victory from the jaws of a tedious draw.

Final Score: Birmingham City 1 Sheffield United 0

Phillips being left on the bench was arguably a mistake, and he proved his worth with the match winning goal. However, doubts over Liam Ridgewell were proven wrong, as practically every Sheffield offense was halted by the towering defender, and he recieved the Man Of The Match award for his efforts. However, a much more prestigious award must still be given.

Pepsimania's Man Of The Match: Lee Carsley

Carsley was involved in every Blues attack, without exception, and was a true credit to the side's defense too, fully deserving the Captain's armband as he charged the length of the pitch again and again to help out at both ends. With his efforts, Sheffield were kept at bay and eventually Blues pulled out a winning goal.