Birmingham City has invited representatives of supporters groups to a meeting in April. The invitation said that they would be happy to discuss off field matters such as ticketing, catering and safety. Understandably they will not be answering questions about what happens on the pitch or in Hong Kong. I have no complaints about them limiting the scope of the meeting; the Birmingham based club staff may be as much in the dark about the owners as we fans are. However, I do believe that there needs to be some way that fans can get answers to their questions about the ownership of their club. And I agree with those who say that since football has failed to regulate itself, it is time for the government to step in. Continue reading
Category Archives: Supporters Direct
Supporters Direct job vacancy
Junior Casework Officer
Salary £20K – based North West England Continue reading
Would you mind if Birmingham City FC was renamed Birmingham Bulls?
Do we judge club owners and directors just on how much money they put into or take out of our club? Or do we also care about their respect for our traditions? Continue reading
Strutting or mopping up the mess?
While browsing online I came across a couple of articles about two very different men.
One article1 was about Tim Lovejoy, the TV presenter who announced that BT Sport had secured the rights to show Champions League games and described it as “really good news for football fans”. It doesn’t seem like good news for any fan who wants to watch top-class football on terrestrial television. Continue reading
Should you trust the trust?
“Yes and no,” is my answer to the question in the title. Continue reading
#BCFCACV – the value of connecting at St Andrew’s
I think that the Blues Trust #BCFCACV Twitter campaign is a good idea but I’m too old for Twitter. Everything I want to say about football grounds as assets of community value requires more than 140 characters to say it. Continue reading
Silver lining
There’s no doubt that there’s a huge cloud over Birmingham City; The Two Unfortunates described it as “at ticking time bomb”.1 But I caught a glimpse of the silver lining at the game yesterday. Continue reading
All together now
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about football in the last few days. I went to the Supporters Summit1 on Saturday and to an associated workshop on Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) on Friday. On Sunday I went to the Blues Trust Open Meeting. I don’t have time to write about all the ideas that are buzzing round my brain at the moment so I will just note some of the things that stood out. Continue reading
Life of Brian
I just read an excellent article about a man who got involved in fan activism early in life. His name is Brian Lomax. When he was young he supported Altrincham and when financial problems threatened its existence he wrote a six-page letter to the local paper, pleading for someone to save the club. Two men read his letter and bought the club. Lomax was 11 years old at the time.
Blues Trust meets with other Championship trusts
I was pleased to read that representatives of Blues Trust were among those who met at the Championship Trusts Group meeting last Saturday. This group was set up by Supporters Direct as a network where members from different trusts can share knowledge and identify issues that are important for all football supporters. Representatives from trusts in the group meet several times a year and keep in contact between meetings.
Blues Trust: join or jeer?
Blues Trust continues to provoke different reactions from Birmingham City fans; some join and others jeer. I am one of those who joined so I’m not writing from a neutral standpoint. My name is Margaret Decker; I was involved in helping to set the group up and was interim secretary for a while. I had to stand down from that position when my life got too busy with other things but I still support what they are trying to do. I know more about the history of the group than most members do but don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes now. I’m writing as an individual member expressing my own opinion and not as a representative of the trust.
What do Birmingham City fans need to know?
I can understand why Birmingham City fans want to know what’s happening in Hong Kong. The decisions made by Birmingham International Holdings will determine the future of our club so it’s natural to be interested. I’m as curious as the next person and regularly check the web to see if any more snippets of information have come to light.
Why the Green Bay Packers are unique
I’ve never been very keen on American football; it always seems to take more time for the players to talk about what they’re going to do next than it takes for them to actually do it. However I did watch quite a few games on TV when I lived in the USA and learned a few things about the Green Bay Packers. I knew that they are one of the most successful football teams in America, they play in green and gold, their fans are called cheeseheads and all their games are sell outs. I now know that they’ve sold out all their season tickets since 1960 and have over 100,000 on the waiting list to buy any season tickets that become available.