Tag Archives: Bradford City

Wembley half full, half empty after the Carling Cup Final 2011

Ten years ago

The photo at the top of this post is the one that I used on my very first post on this blog. I had been listening to the 2013 League Cup Final as I set up my website and I wrote that I hoped Bradford fans had stayed to applaud their team, who had lost to Swansea. When Arsenal lost to us, most of their fans left quickly and Birmingham City fans found ourselves in a stadium of two halves. One half filled with Blues fans and the other half almost empty. I hoped that, if we had lost, we would have stayed to thank our team for the effort they had made.

I think that supporting a team means supporting them when they lose as well as when they win.That is why I stayed to the end of our 0-8 loss to Bournemouth in October 2014.  And I was more upset by the many Blues fans who left before the end than I was by the way the team collapsed.

I’m hoping for a decent performance this afternoon and will be delighted if Blues win.  It would be a good way to mark the tenth anniversary of winning the League Cup.

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The g word

It’s interesting how one word can transform your perception. When I first heard about Birmingham City’s loan deal for Kyle Lafferty I felt encouraged.  It was a signal that the club intended to keep trying to get into the playoffs. That seemed preferable to just settling for a mid table position. Then the club said that they thought getting him was “worth the gamble” and I started to worry. Continue reading →

End of season thoughts

A rather odd headline on a Charlton site caught my eye: it said, “The race for ninth place hots up.”  Maybe it’s a way of dealing with a mid table finish. If the last few games of the season lack any possibility of relegation or promotion you can create your own excitement by thinking of your team as racing to a mid table position. Continue reading →

Cup games

I didn’t like the result of Birmingham City’s game with West Bromwich Albion but there was a lot that I did enjoy. It felt like a real cup game, especially the second half, and like going back in time. My childhood memories of St Andrew’s are of large crowds, noise, excitement and rivalry without real animosity. Continue reading →

Bradford City v Swansea City

I’m listening to the radio commentary of the Capital One Cup Final as I set up my new website and the final whistle has just gone.  Swansea have won emphatically but it sounds as though the Bradford City fans kept supporting their team to the end.  It brings back memories of two years ago when I was there supporting another BCFC.  I went with a 13-year old friend and spent the journey up trying to prepare him for what seemed like inevitable defeat.  “You do know,” I said, “that Arsenal will probably win.”  With the optimism of youth he said that he understood that but Birmingham could win.  He was right, of course. 

I’m hoping that the Bradford City fans stayed to applaud their team and didn’t leave as quickly as the Arsenal ones did in 2011.  Back then, we Birmingham City fans found ourselves in a stadium of two halves: one full and one empty.

Wembley half full, half empty after the Carling Cup Final 2011

Wembley half full, half empty after the Carling Cup Final 2011