Honesty

I always admired McLeish for that.

99% of the time he was honest. About players; with fans; regarding performance; talking about controversial issues. He was honest. He said it how it was. Maybe that’s why I learnt to dislike Arsene Wenger so much, because for the past three and a half seasons the manager of the club I supported was honest to me, to the players, the club, and the rest of the fans.

That’s why I was not only shocked at him leaving, but I was surprised that he did not give us a reason. He buried his head in the sand, ignored it all and then to went and spoke to our most despised rivals a couple of days later. I felt betrayed, actually, by a man I thought I could trust because he was always so honest.

Let’s be real: the football wasn’t always that great. But I liked him. He was a good man, a good manager and someone you could tell the players loved. He helped to bring good players to the club; gems like Scott Dann and Roger Johnson and experienced professionals in Barry Ferguson, Stephen Carr and Lee Bowyer. And then he even managed to build the team spirit which we have been renowned for other the past couple of years.

He got us promoted at the first time of asking, he took us to the dizzy heights of 6th in the Premier League in a season where we finished 9th, the highest we have ever finished before. He managed the unbeaten run stretching from October to January in 2009/10. He formed ‘the unbeatables’ of Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Jerome and Chucho. He was in charge for two of the best nights down at St. Andrews against Villa and West Ham, and unforgettably led the team to a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final – the first real piece of history and silverware the club has won.

Then we got relegated. Again. But he said he’d stick with us and lead us back to the Premier League. If he had left at the end of the season and said he felt he could do no more with us, after three and a half years, I would have somewhat understood his decision. I'd be disappointed, but I'd understand. But he brought in two new players, and in the middle of deals for two more players – ALL of which were on his transfer targets list – he resigned without warning.

We’re still waiting for McLeish to tell us just why he left; surely we deserve that at least? Or a thank you, or something. He may not get on with the board but as fans who, as a majority, have stuck by him through the dire football, through the first relegation and through the second one up until Sunday when he decided to leave, surely we deserve something? I thought he was honest, but would a man with honesty really do this to the club he’d been at for years? To go to their nearest rivals? A man who has witnessed, first-hand, the fans’ hatred of each other, and the passion and jubilance when we beat them. It doesn’t feel right.

But maybe I’m too trustworthy. Maybe I’m kidding myself to think people are loyal in football anymore, but I thought I could at least trust someone, the manager of my club, to stick with us through this tough time, and not jump ship to go to our rivals.

Or maybe I should just accept that this is the way things go. He was with us for a good amount of time, not a lot of managers stay this long at clubs. Maybe, at the end of last season after having finished 9th, I was wrong to think that we might be nearing some kind of stability on and off the field. But could I be excused for being so naïve? Do we not deserve something after some of the things we’ve had to endure in the past? Well, just over twelve months later I can tell you it doesn’t work that way. Football will always find a way to kick you where it hurts, but as fans we’ll always find reasons to come back for more.

Not only has McLeish left, but he has paved the way for players to leave too, players like Barry Ferguson who would have stayed if McLeish was still manager, so it’s with a feeling of betrayal that I say goodbye to Alex McLeish. I wish it hadn’t ended like this, but it’s his own doing really. Thanks for the Carling Cup and thanks for your time here at Blues. And above all thank you for teaching me that even the most honest of men cannot be trusted, not 100% of the time anyway. I’d say best of luck in the future, but both my head and my heart hope you fail miserably.

Cheers Eck, I hope the Villa fans are right about you.

An Eventful Week In The Midlands

Amid Alex McLeish talking to Randy Lerner, online protests from adamant fans, hilarious little gatherings at Villa park and Craig Gardner making some rather questionable remarks; Blues have made another addition to the squad.

Morgaro Gomis, formally of Dundee United, completed his free transfer to the club today and will join the rest of the players when they resume training in a few weeks time. As a midfielder, Gomis played over 100 times for Dundee and has described his move to Blues as "a dream." Maybe someone should mention to him that this is the Blues of Birmingham, rather than the Blues of Chelsea!


By ways of players leaving the club, nothing else has been set in stone yet, however there are rumours that Barry Ferguson will follow McLeish in leaving the club, presumably to follow him to Aston Villa - should the Scot take up the vacant managers position there.

Elsewhere, Craig Gardner's comments have been a talking point this week, as the midfielder told Tom Ross that the Premier League is the place to be and mentioned he is "a Blues player at the moment" but he does have "a family to support," suggesting that however many thousand a week he is on clearly is not enough to support a wife and a new born baby. It just brings up the debate about money in football, and the fact players' loyalties can be bought - even self-proclaimed fans of the club - just for the sake of a few more thousand pounds per week and the promise of Premier League football. Stay and be a hero at the club he has always supported, or earn a bit more in the Premier League at a mid-table club? Your choice Craig.

Of course the one major talking point of the week that cannot be ignored is Alex McLeish. The Villa fans have certainly made it clear what they think about him managing their club, and that's that they do not want him there. The protests from the minority of their fans outside Villa Park yesterday highlighted their frustrations furhter, and it is clear to see that there will be major problems should McLeish be appointed manager - something which seems more and more possible as the days progress.

As a Blues fan, our sole concentration now should be on who we appoint as a manager and I'm putting my faith in the board to make the right decision. It's a new beginning for Blues now and it could possibly be the fresh start we need. Hopefully.

Alex McLeish: Gone.

I was quite enjoying my nice, quiet Sunday afternoon but apparently Alex McLeish wasn't having any of it. After speculation surrounding him being targeted by Aston Villa for the vacant managers job, McLeish resigned from his post as Birmingham City manager.

It doesn't mean to say the two are linked, however it would be a very big coincidence were they not. But even if he is leaving for the job up the road, it's still poor form to resign at the start of June after having already signed two players, leaving us less time to get a manager and a limited amount of time for that manager to build his team around himself.

And, as if Blues fans weren't shell-shocked enough, we then find out in a club statement that he resigned via email. Email. Such is the modern world he decided that the best way to say "it's been fun, but I'm leaving" was via email.

This saddened me. Not only has he left us in the lurch, not only is it - most likely - for our nearest rivals, but he didn't even have the balls to meet or even phone a member of the board to tell them. Gutless, is one word to describe it, and I could think of a fair few other words too, but I'll leave that to your imagination.

A lot of fans are jubilant that he's gone because of the negative tactics he employs, but I'm feeling pretty betrayed at the moment. The heart was always there with McLeish and I felt he really made the team spirit at Blues. The players wanted to sign, and stay, because of him and I'll be pretty surprised if Foster et al stick around now.

McLeish gave me the happiest day of my life on that memorable day in February but that seems a long time ago now. Promotion at the first time of asking, that unbeaten run last season, finishing ninth, winning the Carling Cup. I'll thank him for that. But he's left on a sour note and if he goes to Villa, he will have gone down in my estimations.

It is true what they say: there is no loyalty in football anymore, and today we've experienced full-on the impact of it. The reasons behind his resignation haven't yet been stated, but it is probably a mixture of lack of funds and having to sell his best players that pushed him to make the decision, and maybe the fact that there is a vacancy at Villa that further tipped the balance.

I'm not sure what I'd prefer. For the board to have told him something he doesn't like - and therefore something the fans won't like - or that he saw a nice big pay packet and Premier League football and decided to quit to go for the job at Villa - making him pretty much a judas. Whatever it is, I feel somewhat saddened by the fact he's left us and not tried to get us promoted at least; not tried to finish what he started, if you will.

I just want this whole sorry mess to be sorted quicky, but I have a feeling next season is going to be more grueling than first thought.

Half time

It could have been worse. I mean it really, really could have been worse. It could have been all over in the first half with the amount of possession and chances West Ham had, and considering how poor we played and how little we created, we were lucky to go in at half time only 1-0 down.

It wasn't a tragic first half performance, not at all, but not one you'd expect in the first leg of a Carling Cup semi-final. We played 4-5-1 which was frustrating but understandable. McLeish likes to contain and then go for it, which I do understand but then again on the flip side of things maybe we should have just gone for it and went 4-4-2 with Jerome and Derbyshire starting; with Jerome's pace and Derbyshire's knack for finding the back of the net, surely we couldn't have gone wrong?

In the past our defence has been rock solid. Last season a lot of teams struggled to get past out back five, but this season it's not been as good. The first goal we conceded highlighted this. The ball should have been cleared, Ridgewell probably should have been alert, and maybe Foster shouldn't have been beaten at his near post.


But there's no use dwelling on what could have been. In the second half Blues gave us the performance we'd all paid our money to travel down to London to see. God only knows what Alex said to them in the dressing room at half time but it certainly worked; we came out a different team and really took it to West Ham.

Blues started the half incredibly brightly and Larsson, who seems to be staying at Blues now, had a great game down the right with Carr and they both ran West Ham ragged. Hleb also had a good game, dancing through the defence whenever he pleased but my only criticism of him is that sometimes he tries to do too much. Other than that, he honestly is a joy to watch.

With free kicks, corners and crosses and most of all possession all in favour of Blues, it really was only a matter of time before the equaliser came. I cannot tell you how much relief and elation was felt amongst the travelling Blues fans at that header from Ridgewell all but broke the back of the net, and for the next 15 minutes the noise coming from the away end was terrific. It was brilliant to be part of it.


We really should have clinched a winner, especially after Obinna was sent off, but yet again our lack of clinical finishing was what let us down. That, and poor defending - which was what led to both the goals... and of course that blunder by Foster which we don't want to mention.

In a perfect world we would have grabbed an equaliser with the amount of chances we had after West Ham, pretty undeservedly, went ahead again. But it wasn't to be, and now we have to win at St. Andrews to stand a chance of getting to Wembley. It can be done, of course it can: we have a brilliant home record and West Ham have a pretty shambolic away record. It won't be easy, but then again, when is it ever easy supporting Blues?

Full Time: West Ham 2-1 Birmingham City

The negatives outweight the positives, so why am I still smiling?

You might as well laugh. It's either that or cry. I honestly don't get how we can play well in the first half and then look like we can't even be bothered in the second. We looked tired and even uninterested at times, and that's just not like us at all - especially not at home.

We did start well and the crowd really made the place intimidating, but a seemingly dodgy (I haven't seen replays but that's what it looked like) free-kick gave Arsenal the lead after just 12 minutes, which really knocked us. In all fairness the first half wasn't even bad, Cameron Jerome ran the line brilliantly and won everything in the air; the last two games he has been an improved player, we just need to find a partner for him and hopefully one will come in the January transfer window.

However much you hear Blues fans moan about today, you can;t take anything away from Arsenal. As much a it hurts me to say this - and believe me, it hurts a lot - big, big credit to Arsenal because they were superb and really cut us open quite a bit, which teams like Manchester United and Chelsea didn't do in their games at St. Andrews recently. Nasri annoys the hell out of me but he is a brilliant player, no doubt about it and will be a contender for player of the season indefinitely. The rest of the team are great as well; great counter attacks, won the midfield battle and their closing down is brilliant. When a blue shirt had the ball they'd get three men on him until they won the ball. When a red shirt had the ball, we might as well have stepped aside and offered him a free passage through on goal for all the work we were doing. We didn't turn up today and it has been coming.


I think from a Blues point of view; the less said about the second half, the better. Absolutely nothing would work when we tried, and that wasn't very often. They all looked like they'd been out on Broad Street the night before and were feeling the effects of the day after. It really was horrible to watch and it was so un-Blues like I was starting to wonder who these eleven strangers on the pitch were - I didn';t recognise a single one of them.

There has been a lot of talk about exactly what has gone wrong at Blues this season. We do have enough to stay up, and there certainly are teams in this division who are worse than us. A lot blame the manager for everything. I'm a fan that's firmly on the keep McLeish bandwagon, because to put it plainly, lose him and we are fecked. Even more fecked than we are at the moment and at 19 points from 19 games that is suitably fecked. But why oh why do we bring Zigic on so late into the game, why oh why did we get Derbyshire on loan if he is never given a chance let alone a start, and what dear Lord above is the point of bringing Kevin Phillips on with 5 minutes to go. We've done that a lot: it doesn't work, it really doesn't. Alex, I love you, but you need to change something.

However, he needs investment. We need to get those two or three quality players in January that will keep us up, but the only way we are going to secure the services of the likes of Robbie Keane is to be able to pay their wages or the fee if they are permanent. I honestly don't care how we do it, but we were told we had 40 million to spend in last January's transfer window and we haven';t even spent half of that in a year, so Carson; put your money where your mouth is and lets keep this club up.


Apart from those little moans, I can't really say much else about today. We were outclassed by a much better team and I guess it's taught us a lesson that we can';t just keep expecting to do well at home; we can't keep thinking we are going to get these draws against top clubs; and most of all we can't go on not creating chances but expecting to get something out of the game. Chances make goals and goals win games, and without the midfield giving the strike force anything, we could have Drogba and Anelka playing for us and we still wouldn't score.

Just one more thing: Hleb. That interview. To be fair on him, the ESPN (also known as Arsenal and Liverpool TV) swayed him to what she (rather, they) wanted him to say. But it doesn't make the situation any better. He stated he'd rather be at Arsenal than here, and he said that "Birmingham cannot play like Arsenal" and mumbled something about Manchester and "other teams." I honestly do not care if he would rather be back at Arsenal or not, but disrespecting the team you're at now, not the brightest thing to do. It wasn't even the biggest insult he could have made. I agree we can't really play like Arsenal, but why say it?! The whole interview was Arsenal. It was like he didn't even care about Blues. And now he has angry Brummies and a few confused players on his case... good luck mate! Want your plane back to Barca now, or wait until May so your "best friend Cesc Fabregas" can go with you. Hmm.

It's not slit your wrists time yet, but if this is an insight into what 2011 holds for Blues, then it's going to be a bloody long year! Chins up, look onto the next game. No point looking back now.

Full Time: Birmingham City 0-3 Arsenal

A game of two halves

The clique I hate the most in football and one that I swore I'd never use unless I had to... well, after today’s game I think it's safe to say: I had to use it. Because that is exactly what it was.

Due to lack of good streams (resulting in my computer getting a virus, may I add… thanks football) I had to listen to the game on the radio, but fron what I could make out, it didn’t sound good at all.

The first half was great by Blues, especially the first half an hour or so. Totally bossing the game we took the lead after a brilliant Seb Larsson freekick was tapped in on the volley by Jerome for his first goal of the campaign.

Up to half tine, Blues were calm on the ball and didn’t let up under pressure even after West Brom piled it on the Blues net just before the first 45 were up.

But then, it all seemed to change. Apparently Blues forgot that a game consists of 90 minutes, and not just 45. Apparently no one forgot to tell Scott Dann and Roger Johnson what ‘defending’ meant, as they had their worst game in a Blues shirt – which, when it’s your centre backs having a bad game, you know you’re in for a tough time.

Baggies equalised soon into the half and from then on it was all one-way traffic. The cool, casual and calm on the ball Blues we’d seen in the first half seemed to totally implode; resulting in the home side getting a further two goals which I’d prefer not to talk about as it would mean reliving the whole afternoon: something which I’d rather not do, if it’s all the same to you.

It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean we need to work extra hard to get the points out of our up and coming home games against an Everton team seemingly spiraling out of control and a Wigan team who are, well, Wigan.

On a day that the news broke that Alex McLeish had signed a new contract and that Sammy Yu had resigned from his position at the club, it has been a day of total mixed emotions, and one we are all going to have to pick ourselves up fron, and make sure doesn’t happen again. Amen to that.

Full Time: West Bromwich Albion 3-1 Birmingham City