Unpredictable

Last minute goals, victories for the underdog, ridiculous circumstances no one thought would happen. The thing I love most about football is its unpredictability.

This weekend we watched two unpredictable ends to two important games. Wigan scoring in the 90th minute to beat top dogs Manchester City, winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history, followed the next day by the play-off semi-final second leg involving Watford and Leicester. A penalty and the follow-up saved at one end, and ten seconds later the ball in the net at the other end all in the dying seconds of the game.


Last gasp winners. Images: Sky News / Getty Images

It was fascinating to watch particularly the latter unfold. I don’t have any real affiliation to either Leicester or Watford, but I watched the events unfolding before my eyes with the hairs standing up on my arms, because this is what football is all about.

Watching both games made me remember, not for the first time, why I and millions of others are so engrossed in this sport. We go every week for moments like this. The underdogs beating a top team, not only in a competition as big as the FA Cup, but in the last minute to win the trophy like Wigan did is something special.

Being a Birmingham City fan I’ve experienced that moment with my own team; I could never forget Obafemi Martins scoring in the 89th minute to win us the League Cup against Arsenal, nor my first ever European away game against Brugge with Chris Wood scoring the winning goal in added time. And who could forget Stern John in the last minute at Villa Park?

Wembley Winners. Image: The Guardian

These instances don’t happen every week in football. Often you have to wait for wonderful, completely unscripted moments like last minute goals and unpredictable wins, but it’s worth the wait. The tough and grueling games you have to sit through to get there, the losses you suffer, the relegations you go through. The great moments make it all so worth it.

And when you're on the other end of it? I'm sure if you speak to any Leicester fan this week they'll tell you how much it hurts going from jubilation to complete despair. We've all been there, but it's the great moments, when you're the ones celebrating at the end, that make up for the heart break.

Although there will always be the Manchester Uniteds and the Arsenals of this world going for titles and Europe, and the same crop of teams battling relegation every season up and down the leagues, moments like this weekend just show that football is never completely predictable.

There will always be moments of magic, teams who take the script, rip it up and write a completely new one.

And the best thing? It happens in every league, in every competition. Wigan in the 90th minute to win the FA Cup, Didier Drogba equalising in the last minute to take the Champions League final to extra time, Brentford missing a penalty and Doncaster scoring at the other end to send them up as Champions, Martins to win the League Cup, Chris Wood to seal an away victory in Europe, Sergio Aguero to win the league.

Here’s to the teams who do the unthinkable, who threaten the top teams, who ruin bets, break hearts, make dreams come true. This is what makes football the greatest sport on earth.

"I swear you'll never see anything like this ever again"

End of Season Reflections

A week ago today saw the end of the Championship season and all the promotion and relegation decisions were made; Hull gained the last automatic promotion place, Leicester beat Nottingham Forest in the last minute to leapfrog both them and Bolton Wanderers, who could only draw at home to Blackpool, into the last play-off place. They joined Watford, Crystal Palace and Brighton, whilst at the other end of the table Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and Huddersfield all fought off relegation, condemning Peterborough and Wolverhampton Wanderers to League One alongside already relegated Bristol City.

And amongst only three matches which didn’t have a deciding factor on the race for promotion or the battle to beat the drop, were Birmingham City.

It’s been an indifferent season for the Blues to say the least. Wins were few and far between at the beginning of the campaign, and a 5-0 home defeat to Barnsley made many question to managerial abilities of Lee Clark, who was going to have a hard job as it was succeeding the much loved Chris Hughton.

Lee Clark had a tough act to follow. Image: Getty Images

But with only four wins under his belt by the end of October, Clark definitely had a lot to prove. The team were lacklustre, the defending questionable and we seemed incapable of both starting and finishing a game of the front foot. The team from last season seemed to have disappeared; even player of the season Chris Burke had lost his touch.

Injuries didn’t help Clark, especially the loss of top goal scorer Marlon King. The youngsters were drafted in, and although they managed to step up to the demands of a tough league, things were looking bleak and Blues had a definite relegation battle on their hands going into the second half of the season.

Fortunately things slowly picked up. Blues ended January in winning ways which sparked a fantastic away record, winning against the teams around them such as Peterborough as well as chalking a 4-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, live on Sky, which won performance of the season at the end of season awards – and rightly so.

Players celebrate the fourth goal at Crystal Palace. Image: Getty Images

Three consecutive wins at the end of March left Blues mid-table and slowly creeping away from relegation, but points picked up in April – most notably a hard-fought win at Bristol City followed by a 1-0 home victory against Leeds – saw Blues safe, and ironically quite close to the play-offs, which had seemed a distant memory of the season before in December.

The end of the season could have been better. Three goals down at Ipswich Town in the penultimate match of the season wasn’t a place we deserved to be in after recent performances, but 3-1 seemed a fair result after the first half defensive display.

The final game of the season saw a 1-1 draw against Blackburn, and the end to a less than enthralling season for the Blues. It was a change in scenery having nothing to be too excited or nervous about at any point during the season; only last season we saw a play-off campaign and European Tour, and previous seasons saw promotions, relegations, a Carling Cup win, and a top half finish in the Premier League.

Although it was relieving not to be involved in last-game-of-the-season drama for once, I admit I missed it. Watching the final games on the Football League Show made me miss being involved in something big for the club, and although in the end we weren’t a million miles away from the play-offs we still weren’t convincing enough, not by a long way.

The home form needs to improve drastically, as going from one of the best in the league to one of the worst is a massive change in fortunes. Ironically we have never been very good away from home, but 2013 has seen Blues flourish in away fixtures something which, if replicated at St. Andrew’s, would stand us in good stead for play-off contention next season.

Things will change between now and then. Stephen Carr has already announced his retirement, whilst the option was not taken up to retain the services of Keith Fahey – after four and a half years at the club and one of the only remaining Wembley winners – with Morgaro Gomis, Pablo Ibanez and Steven Caldwell all leaving the club too.

A host of players have been offered new deals or had their options taken up, including Chris Burke, Wade Elliott and Paul Robinson, showing that Clark wants to keep the old guard to influence the crop of young players coming through, who will also have a major part to play next season after stepping up to the first team and doing so well. Keeping hold of players like Curtis Davies, who won both player and players' player of the season, will be Clark's task before the start of the 2013/14 season, as well as building a squad fit for a play-off campaign.

Even with the financial mess still impacting the club and the team massively, hopefully next season will be a better one for Blues, and with any luck come the last game of the season, it’ll be a little more interesting with a lot more to play for – at the right end of the league of course.

 

Lee Clark will look to build on a 12th place finish. Image: Bcfc.com

At The End Of The Road

If you think back to June 2011, Birmingham City faced an extremely certain future; manager gone, players departing and Carson Yeung arrested for money laundering. The future looked bleak, that’s if there was a future, and the impending doom surrounding St. Andrew’s was hard to take. So at the start of the season, with Chris Hughton at the helm and an army of bosman free transfers at his disposal, most were expecting a top half finish, if that.

No one could have predicted just how incredible the 2011/2012 journey would be; indeed we knew we would have the excitement of a European Tour, but even the most optimistic amongst us couldn’t have imagined such an adventure. Qualifying for the group stages with an emphatic win, two away wins, a memorable night in Brugge, coming back to draw 2-2 in the reverse fixture at St. Andrew’s, and giving last year’s finalists Braga a run for their money in their own back yard. It culminated in Blues finishing just short, although acquiring a respectable tally of ten points which any other year would have seen them progress.

It was then time to turn to the league, where a swift rise up the table saw Blues finish in fourth place. A 6-0 demolishing of Milwall, an FA Cup run which saw Blues hold Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and take Sheffield United apart by four well-crafted goals, as well as fantastic end of season run in which saw multiple important away wins, and ended in a 2-0 win over champions Reading. Those were just a handful of highlights from a season where there was next to nothing to complain about. We came out of each game smiling; we supported the manager throughout; we were able to see young talent like Nathan Redmond flourish; we saw plenty of goals and attacking football, and as a result got a deserved play-off place.

But after a mammoth 60 games, their 61st and indeed their 62nd seemed one step too far. It could be labeled typical Blues that in our two most important games of the season we forgot to turn up. Yet we can most definitely call the last thirty minutes of last night’s encounter typical Blues; not giving up until the last and just when we thought they were down and out, they came back fighting like they always do with some thunderous support from the fans to drive them on. But credit to Blackpool who deserved their victory, and were the team who deserved it over the two legs.

The devastation on the players’ faces at full time was plain to see; they wanted it just as much as we did. Player of the season Chris Burke applauded the fans in floods of tears, whilst the ardent supporters applauded their team non-stop, singing loud and proud to salute what has been a fantastic season that no one could have imagined would be this good. The one thing this team, manager and all his staff have done this season, without fail, is make us proud of supporting them. Last night should not been seen as a setback, but a missed opportunity that will be there for us again next season if we work just as hard to achieve it. Players will depart, and so may the manager, but the club will always be there. A club I am – and always will be – proud to support.

Half Time: Blackpool 1-0 Blues

Just like it’s hard to be negative after witnessing some of our brilliant performances this season, it’s hard to be positive when you’ve seen something so lacklustre in one of our most important games so far this season.

But I’m going to try and be positive.

You can’t escape the fact that we were poor last night, but take nothing away from Blackpool who deserved their victory and could of – should of rather – scored two or three more. And that’s one of the positives we can take into the second leg; Blackpool only have a slender one goal lead, which manager Ian Holloway has commented upon stating that he hopes they don’t rue the day they missed their chances.

So Blues can count themselves lucky it was only one. In truth, we never really got started. Jordon Mutch had a terrible game, Guirane N’Daw stood stock still in the middle of the park for most of the game, only moving to put in half-hearted tackles, and Peter Ramage is the only player to come out the game with some credit, especially for his terrific block early in the second half to deny Blackpool their second goal of the game, which looked to be going in until Ramage flung himself in front of the ball.

Our midfield was missing. Completely. Chris Burke never really got on the ball, so the lone striker Marlon King didn’t get the service he had been hoping for – yet whenever he did, he failed to stay onside, and the one time he beat the trap he managed to hit the post when it seemed easier to score. Tom Ince, man of the match and deservedly so, ran us ragged all game; and his deflected goal, although extremely cruel, was nothing more than he, and the rest of his team, deserved throughout the ninety minutes.

The overriding positive I suppose is that we cannot play any worse than we did last night in the second leg. Surely it is impossible and the fact that Blackpool only have a one nil lead – despite having the ball in the back of the net another three or four times – is a huge advantage for Blues and shows just how important being at home in the second leg may prove.

We all know what can happen when St. Andrew’s is packed and everyone get behind the team. If 2,000 fans can create that kind of noise last night, what can St. Andrew’s create on Wednesday? Let’s make another memorable atmosphere and another memorable night. Think the late victory over Villa in the Carling Cup; think Nacional in the Europa League; think the second leg against West Ham last season, where we needed one goal to get back on level terms.

It’s only half time…

We're So Happy Following The Blues

A fantastic end to the season with a victory over Championship Champions Reading on Saturday was made even better by results elsewhere going our way, meaning Birmingham City finished fourth in the league and have the major advantage of playing at home in the second leg. Goals from Adam Rooney and Wade Elliott sealed a well-deserved three points that just saw Blues finish above Blackpool, their opponents for the two-legged play-off semi-final, in what has been an incredible season that isn’t over just yet.

A strong crowd of over 25,000 turned out to see the Blues march on to victory, helped by a following of 4,000 Reading fans who bought just as many inflatables to celebrate their return to the Premier League after a four year absence. But it was Blues who were the ones celebrating when man of the match Nathan Redmond put on a delightful performance and helped to set up the first goal, sliding the ball into Rooney’s path who scored after just five minutes of being on the pitch, after replacing Nikola Zigic who limped off with an injury. A well-earned lead for the side who stayed on top for most of the first half.

The away side almost got themselves back into it in the second half when Pablo Ibanez climbed over Alex Pearce and a penalty was awarded. But confident Colin Doyle smartly saved Ian Harte’s penalty; not the first time this season the Ireland born shot-stopper has stepped up to the mark and saved Blues.

Blues were then awarded with their own penalty just ten minutes later for a blatant hand ball. After some discussion Wade Elliott grabbed the ball and took the spot kick, sealing victory for Blues with just fifteen minutes left to play. Another penalty was than awarded but this time Elliott couldn’t get the better of Adam Federici, just before the full time whistle was blown.

As Reading players and fans celebrated what has been a mammoth season for them, Blues were also in the party mood after news came through of a 2-2 draw at The Den, meaning they had finished 4th in the league.

With off the field issues and a cloud of financial uncertainty over the club since last summer, the team has done remarkably well to pull off a fantastic season all round. From the group stages of the Europa League, to a marvelous FA Cup run – most notably drawing at Stamford Bridge – as well as a steady league run where they peaked at just the right time to finish in the play-off places, Chris Hughton deserves all the plaudits he gets for getting everyone to pull together in the right direction.

On a shoe string budget – and that’s seriously shoe string; the only money spend was on transfer deadline day for Ibanez and Elliott – Hughton and his staff have managed to exceeded expectations and put together a team oozing with attacking finesse and astute defending. In fact, it was our goal difference which helped us mathematically seal the play-offs against Brighton last week: when was the last time our goal difference helped us do anything positive?

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable season for all; I can’t think of a season where there’s been next to nothing to moan or complain about, and that’s solely due to the wonderful football we are watching and the committed players who are doing everything to try and get this club back in the Premier League. I have no idea where the club will be this time next month but you can bet all the money you have that they will fight for promotion, like they have been doing all season, to the very last. Starting with an away trip to Bloomfield Road on Friday, where earlier on in the season Blues managed a 2-2 draw with a late Nikola Zigic goal earning his side a deserved point.

The play-offs are the cruelest way to lose but the best way to get promoted; so let’s take a chance and see if we can have another memorable date at Wembley.