Keep Right On

I decided I wan't going to sit here and write and match report on a game that I never, ever want to re-live again (although we'll all be laughing at this if we end up surviving). So I decided to write this instead.


Dear players of Birmingham City Football Club,

I like many other fans put my heart, soul and not to mention a shit load of money into watching you every week, so first of all I would like to thank you for the memorable performances this season, such as Villa and West Ham in the Carling Cup, and then the Carling Cup final itself – three games which will go down in history, no doubt about it. The passion, fight and determination you showed in those three games – let alone in a lot of league games this season like Chelsea at home – was second to none. You really fought for the shirt and played like it really, really meant the world to you.

So why, in one of the biggest games of the season, did this passion suddenly disappear? You looked like you didn’t want to win it today. You honestly looked for all the world like you didn’t know each other. Like eleven little rabbits caught in headlights from the word ‘go’. I can’t fathom a reason as to what on earth happened. You literally lay down and said ‘go on then, you have the points’ to a team who are pretty much on holiday right now. We played better in a handful on ‘nothing’ games at the end of last season than we have in six pointers such as todays disaster of a game this season.

It’s not good enough. As fans of Birmingham City we don’t expect a lot, we’re not Arsenal or Manchester United. We’re Birmingham City and all we’ve ever asked for is passion, fight and bottle when playing in the royal blue shirt. For us, to see you battle out there on the pitch for 90 minutes is enough. Today we didn’t even get that, and that’s what hurts the most.

If we had lost 2-0 today but played with fight and passion, I’d be sitting here now saying you know what? I’m still proud of you. You can never be ashamed of a battling performance. I wasn’t ashamed today though, I was just completely and utterly disappointed and I feel so let down by eleven men I thought I could trust to win one fucking game of football. For a few weeks now we’ve been saying ”there’s always the next game” but now you have one game in which to better the result of Blackpool and probably Wigan too or so help us we are going down. It was in our own hands at the start of play today but now we have to do everything we can to pick up points and just pray that the other results go our way.

Football is so bloody cruel at times lads, but it is you the players who have completely shot yourselves in the foot. Like I said, it was in our hands. A win today and we were all but mathematically safe. But we made Fulham look a bit too close to Barcelona for my liking today and they could have had four or five, were it not for some piss poor finishing. We could have conceded four or five goals at home in a must win game. That speaks volumes.

It is simply not good enough and that was a performance that warrants relegation. If I supported Fulham and watched that today I’d be hoping Birmingham City went down because if the season was based on today then we don’t even deserve to be in this league. Thankfully, it isn’t, and you have one more game left to prove that this game was just a blip, that you let all the pressure get to you and that for one thing you’re sorry for what you did today.

I’m trying to find something that will give me a boost of confidence for next week. The ‘you know what, fuck it, let’s have it’ kind of optimism that we had before we played Arsenal in the final. At full time today and especially after hearing that Wigan had won in the last minute made most of us feel like the end was nigh. But after a bit of thinking, the one thing I can count on is that over the past few seasons there is one thing you haven't done, and that is that you haven't let me down. We've lost some stupid games, done some really fucking annoying things but one thing you lot have never done is let me down. Please don't let me down again like you did when we were relegated in 2007/08. Because that's the last time I felt really, really let down by you.

I will never ever boo you at any point in the game but I don’t begrudge those that did boo today, because you really were awful and I know you don’t need people like me writing degrading shit like this to tell you that but I just want to drum into you how much this means to us as fans. You say that you’re hurting – multiply that by 100. You say that you want this – times that by 1000 while you’re at it. Some of you won’t be here next season. A lot more of you will go onto pastures new if we get relegated. But we the fans will be here forever. No questions, no regrets, just undying love for a team that has kick us where it hurts the most so many times that a lot of people question why we’re still here. Then we have nights like West Ham, days like Wembley, and that puts to rest the questions, it stops the piss taking and it renews our faith in the team that we put so much into.

So just one last time, all of you, whether you’re here for the long run or know that you will be playing your last game for Blues next Sunday, just play with a bit of passion so at least if we go down, at least we can say we went down fighting.

May the footballing gods be with you next weekend and the best of luck to you all. I shall be making my way down to London to watch you and whatever happens I will applaud every single one of you off that pitch when the 90 minutes are up. Let’s just hope it’s because we escaped relegation.

You’re doing this in true Birmingham City style you know boys, I just wish you knew how to break the fucking trend!

Keep Right On, it's far from over yet and you are the ones who can do something about that.

A point in London

Who would have thunked it. It's not that we always play bad against London teams, it's that we never get rewarded. Time and time again we play London teams and come back to Birmingham empty handed, but today we finally picked up a point in the Big Smoke, and on the first half performance and the second half defending it was a deserved one at that.

It took us just 19 minutes to break the deadlock; against the run of play too. Alexander Hleb showed his real class for probably the first time this season, and broke from the half way line on a solo-run and unselfishly fed the ball to Seb Larsson who expertly found the back of the net. I have not yet seen this goal but apparently Hleb's run was absolutely magnificent.


The goal really stunned the home fans, and Blues went marginally on top then for the rest of the first half. Ben Foster and his defence were superb and their positioning was excellent as ever; Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, who have been talked up big time for England call-ups this week, dealing with everything in the air that came their way - surely just another reason to add to the list of why Fabio should take notice of them. Blues dealt with the onslaught of Fulham attacks well, and fought back with a few attacks of our own, none of which came to any avail. With Zigic dropped to the bench to make way for Hleb, Cameron Jerome was having to lead the line on his own, and didn't get too many sniffs of a goal himself as the game went on.

The second half started just as the first half with Fulham the brighter team. The two teams are relatively easily matched on paper, but with Fulham's good home form at Craven Cottage - disregarding last weeks heavy loss against Man City - and the fact that they were 1-0 down, they had an incentive to play better in the season half and to go on to find the equaliser: which they eventually found in the 53rd minute.


Blues failed to clear a Fulham corner and Clint Dempsey was there to put it into the back of the net to make it 1-1. It got a little worse for the away side some time after too, as Hleb, who had just hit his form and got back to full fitness, picked up an injury that led him to be stretchered off the pitch. Zigic filled the gap Hleb left and Blues went 4-4-2, but it was very much backs against the wall stuff as Fulham continued a barrage of attacks. It didn't go all Fulham's way in the second half though, as we still had a handful of attacks, with a penalty claim being turned down by referee Howard Webb after Jerome was brought down, and the corner following that being hit against the crossbar by Scott Dann.

Blues kept their heads though and defended till the death. - something which we have just come to take as normality with Blues. They coped with everything Fulham threw at them, and went on to pick up a well deserved point to move them up to 14th in the table - one place above their bitter rivals from 'up the road'.

A point in London? Well, it's more than we got in all our games down there last season!

Full Time: Fulham 1-1 Birmingham City