Last year Millwall won the Family Club of the Year award but fans still chant, “No one likes us.” Some of them probably deserve their reputation as hooligans but the majority go to watch the football not to fight. Many feel that their reputation is not deserved and one fan, Bill May, blames the BBC. Continue reading
Category Archives: Birmingham City FC
Friday thoughts
It was freezing cold on Tuesday night and we lost 1-4 but I didn’t regret going to the game. Birmingham City played well for the first 90 minutes though they ran out of steam in time added on. The attendance of 13,175 wasn’t brilliant but it was good to have Blues fans in the Tilton as well as the Kop. Continue reading
Departures
Birmingham City published an article noting the contrast between previous transfer windows and the one that has just ended, which saw departures but no arrivals. Continue reading
Betting and football
The name of the league in which Birmingham City plays, the Sky Bet Championship, indicates the close relationship between betting and football. The 888 on the shirt reinforces the impression. Continue reading
Preston
Our away fans have been magnificent this season and I’d like to express my respect and good wishes to all Birmingham City fans travelling up to watch the game at Preston today. I hope you see our team put in a similar performance to the one against Derby but get a better result. We lost to a better team, but I don’t think we deserved that scoreline. Continue reading
Cyrille Regis
I was shocked to hear of the sudden death of Cyrille Regis. He was a great footballer and gentleman. I met him once at a meeting and it was an honour to shake his hand. He was subjected to racist abuse as a player but didn’t become bitter. Continue reading
Expectations
After Birmingham City’s run of poor results, I had got to the point of expecting the worst when I went to games. Then we won three in a row and my hopes have been revived. I’m not expecting a win tomorrow but am hoping to see the players put in a decent performance. Continue reading
On the same side
As usual, I am looking forward to Birmingham City’s game at Reading with a mixture of hope and trepidation. The rollercoaster mixture of joys and sorrows that my team deliver has made that a lifelong habit and it would take more than one win to change it. But the win against Leeds did boost the hope. Continue reading
Staggeringly incompetent
I just came across a cutting of an article in which Birmingham City were described as a “a graceless, over-physical and, in certain positions, staggeringly incompetent team”. It was describing a Blues team from the 1980’s. Continue reading
Norwich
A Tweet by Roy Smiljanic led me to an article about Canaries fans turning on Delia Smith. This reported that, towards the end of Norwich’s loss against Brentford on Friday, some fans were chanting, “We want Delia out.” Continue reading
Darkest day
The solstice, when the sun reaches its southern-most position, is at 4:28 pm. In the Northern Hemisphere, today will be the shortest and therefore the darkest day . From tomorrow, the days will start getting longer. Unfortunately, we don’t know if we have also reached Birmingham City’s darkest day and whether things will start to get a little bit brighter from now on. Continue reading
Made in Brum and Graham Potter
Big Dave Thomas produced the first copy of Made in Brum for the first leg of Birmingham City’s playoff semi-final against Barnsley in 2000. Amazingly, that game didn’t stop his production of the fanzine. (You may recall that game wasn’t Blues’ finest hour and the headlines said things like “Brilliant Barnsley crush Blues.”) Continue reading
Thoughts on consistency, Sheffield and finding your way out of the toilet
I’m trying to look at the positive side of Birmingham City’s inconsistency. There are two kinds of teams that get consistent results. The very good teams consistently win games and the very bad teams consistently lose. Blues were consistently losing away and they got a draw at Sheffield United so that means they are no longer consistent losers. Continue reading
Exhaustion and exhilaration
The game on Saturday reminded me of why I love football. When I watch a game like that, I forget about everything else for a couple of hours. That everything else includes more important concerns and it’s good to get a break from thinking about them. Over twenty years ago, I went through a very difficult period, when I had serious concerns about the health and well-being of the two people I loved most in the world. The only break I got from worrying about them was watching football; watching Birmingham City play took my complete capacity for worrying and I forgot about everything else. Continue reading
Why I stay to the end
I don’t stay to the end of games because I’m a better person than someone who chooses to leave early. I stay because I view fans as participants, not just spectators. Continue reading