Relegation Blues
Well, at least it's never dull, is it?
I've had to let the emotions subside somewhat before posting again.
And I think anyone who has charted this season, which ended on the lowest of high notes against Blackburn (if you know what I mean) understands.
Kapo - in my view among the top three or four most naturally gifted footballers to ever play for Blues - and Zarate performing in such a freewheeling, vibrant style, four goals, an absolutely raucous atmosphere.
But Blues are down. The fans are down on the owners. To be honest, no shock there. What did they expect on Sunday? That said, you can't condone some of the viciousness.
The national media have loved it, all the aggro surrounding Sullivan/Gold/Brady, the kids, the tears, the threats to quit.
Next season, they won't bother covering Blues unless they have lost four on the spin and there's a 'crisis'.
The reasons for relegation have been covered elsewhere, certainly at length in the Birmingham Mail.
It's the recriminations that have dominated since.
David Sullivan, like him or loathe him, will say what he feels. He's like one of those Spanish presidents who doesn't give a hoot who he upsets by what he says because he's picking up the tab.
Over there, his recent outbursts would be the norm. Here, they are eye-popping.
Even if he felt Steve Bruce's signings were a 'pile of rubbish' he shouldn't have said it publicly.
It not only hurt Franck Queudrue - who is a really decent bloke, with possibly the best Franglais accent ever - but all the others who came in the summer, and there were 12 of them.
Richard Kingson more so than any. Another courteous, nice man. 'Waste of space'? That was awful.
Bruce has turned down a very lucrative offer from a Sunday newspaper to respond and go to town on the Blues board.
Sullivan has apologised and I just detect that he has been galvanised to provide Alex McLeish with what he needs to make sure that Blues win promotion.
I have always thought that for all his 'I've had enough', 'where is the Sultan of Brunei?' comments, he gets a buzz out running a football club, even despite all the stick and aggravation.
And his lads, David jnr and Jack, are at an age where they are so into their football that if daddy walked away, they would be distraught. Forget your Panini stickers, this is the real thing.
David jnr was frightened by what happened on Sunday, but when the crowds had dispersed (and the crossbar had been snapped - idiots) he was running around kicking a ball on the pitch without a care in the world.
The next night, at the player-of-the-season awards, I was struck by how calm it was.
Two years ago, following relegation, there was an edge to events. David Gold got heckled, people wanted blood, the players wanted out of there. It wasn't nice.
This time it was more sober and respectful. Maybe people were sheepish because of some of the scenes on Sunday, maybe it was because there's a new manager, maybe it was because the players are a decent, honest bunch, maybe it was because the alcohol was watered down.
Whatever, there still remains a significant shifting in the dynamic among fans. For the first time in 15 years the board are facing up to serious examination of their actions and policy and, as Sunday showed, patience has disappeared.
As McLeish says, they have the power to inspire again. They are the people who can affect change for the better.
PS: great credit to Jessica Birch and her team for organising such a slick event at the ICC, given the circumstances.
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Colin Tattum - Mail man Colin Tattum’s view of what’s going on at Birmingham City FC.
Good article Tatts, but why the mention of Jessica Birch at the end? Did you get a free dinner perchance?
I reckon Tatts had something much nicer than a free meal ;o) K.I.S.S.I.N.G.
Nice article Tatts.
Just listened to Sullivan on Capital Gold, giving his response to the fans critisism. Same old spin from him.
We were going to sign a Brazillian International but its fell through due to relegation.
He says he never promises anything and dosnt deliver. It must be a different DS who sends me that letter every summer selling me season tickets based on us buying 10 million pound players.
Not his fault the admission is so high, its cause we have a small ground!!
The best bit was when he claimed Blackburn and I quote "in ther whole lives" have never spent more than Birmingham City. Must have got Shearer, Sutton, Batty ect. on frees then. Didnt they buy a forward of Bayern last year why we were picking up frees from Middlesborough.
He'd do better if he just kept quite.
Nice article there is a point i would like to make if you want to make big statements about buying a player for £10 million and then having a go at players about how they performed then you have to expect fans and player to have a reaction. i think Mr Sullivan says the things he doeas to provoke reaction. unfortunatley that went badly wrong on sunday. any one who bleeds blue and white like me would find the actions of some fans disgusting and it was very sad if anyone thought it acceptable to reduce children to tears and say what was said. i love the blues. i think we got relagated before we even kicked a ball this season and the club needs to take a collective responsibilty and learn from what happened. in my veiw the cataylist for our season was the chaos that the takeover caused. and publiv comments by Mr sullivan have been unhelpfull to say the least. wanting the board to go is not the right thing either i remember the state we where in before the present owners came if David Sullivan wants to sell his shares and go then all i can say is please dont just sell them to the first person who looks like a used car salesmen to come a long.i meet David Gold once and all i can say is what a niceman he seemed to be. have some thought for us fans please because we love our club.
one final point its easy to blame this person or that person or the ex manager, but at the end of the day the board agreed to buy the players some of whom played in the premership. if they had doubts why agree to buy them if they wernt 100% sure. would you buy a used car if you thought it wouldnt take you to where you want to go, i wouldnt. keep right on
What gets me is that he (Mr Sullivan)appeared to be trying to shift the blame to Brucey a couple of nights ago in the Mail. Saying that "he wanted numbers - and maybe we should have gone for 3 better quality players" (quality over quantity) Well David, 3 quality players for just over £10million?? Maybe 10 years ago. The guy is the master of excuses. The reason we got relegated was we didn't invest enough in the summer. End of.
hi, criminal thats what it is. lies, lies and then more lies ! sullivan, golds and brady couldn't get rid of the club fast enough in oct/nov. the season gets ruined because no one knew if the manager would be here tomorrow, certainly, all i can say is good luck to to the LONDON METROPOLITAN BOBBIES !
Forget kapo/zarate/mcfadden etc etc the truth is the money needed to be sent on a couple of decent centre backs, ever since Upson went you have been miles short. Anyway ther mighty Baggies might take the above quality players off your hands/wage bill!
Up the baggies...enjoy the Championship
"a pile of rubbish" is debatable but you get what you pay for. What sort of squad was he expecting SB to assemble with just £8m.