New Moody Blues
Is it me or is there a lot of head-nodding going on in relation to Blues recent actions, and a quiet feeling of optimism?
Six players have been signed, a deal for Lee Bowyer agreed, and there's promise of more to come by the board.
And there was the dabble for Patrick Vieira too.
When Blues announced their '10 point-pledge' the cynical among us had a field day. Yeah, right, heard it all before was the take.
But maybe it's not so wrong after all to at least give Blues the benefit of the doubt thus far.
St Andrew's is never going to be as palatial as most stadiums around the country yet Blues have been addressing certain aspects: the pitch and track surround, big
screen/scoreboard.
It would be nice to think they would just knock down the Main Stand and have done with it, but there you go.
Season ticket prices are inviting, especially when you see what's materialised in the restructuring of the squad, although sales remain under 10,000.
Blues have gone in early and done business. They have been decisive and don't seem to be heading for that late transfer window panic in the last week of August, which marked the last two Premier League preparations.
David Gold rang me this afternoon just for a general chat, during which he confirmed that the Vieira attempt was a long shot, with the tag that if you don't try you will
never know.
The chairman was interested to guage the reaction to the new players and he said he was enthused about the months ahead.
He won't take anything for granted, however, with those memories post-Blackburn Rovers popping up in his memory from time to time.
He said Blues still had plenty to do.
Gold yesterday issued a statement to the club website patting people on the back, not least his fellow key director David Sullivan.
And Sullivan, often considered the Big Bad Wolf of Theydon Bois, also seems reinvigorated. In our conversations, he has talked like a fan about players Blues
have got and the type they are still trying to get, and not banged on about money. Well, not too much anyway.
In fact, Sullivan and the Golds have both loaned Blues their own cash to help fund ground improvements and player purchases.
An announcement to the Stock Exchange on June 9 showed that Sullivan put in £1 million, matched by David Gold.
Then, today, it was revealed to the City that Sullivan has loaned another £1.5 million, David Gold £750,000 and Ralph Gold £750,000.
The loans are all payable by September 1, with an interest of 0.5 per cent per month. So they are going to get something back for their trouble.
Basically, the money was pumped in to tide Blues over until the Sky television windfall lands in the bank account in August. They didn't want to miss out on Christian Benitez, Scott Dann and Roger Johnson.
Without doubt, there does seem a fresh approach, a more engaged and harmonious attitude, which has been been picked up by people.
Maybe it was the ordeal of the Championship last season, maybe lessons of past Premier League relegations have been taken on board, maybe it's starting a top-flight season with a new manager.
This week, Sullivan made this remark: "It will probably be a tough season, but I hope everybody has some fun and enjoys themselves - that's the key for me."
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Colin Tattum - Mail man Colin Tattum’s view of what’s going on at Birmingham City FC.
I've been a long-time supporter of the Board, and am convinced they've done an amazing job but it's a bit odd that the Board are charging the club interest for their loans at all. Is it a business law thing? You know, they can't lend money without charging at least a half a percent interest rate? Surely, if they know the club is good for the money on September the first, it's a risk-free loan, and they will end up paying themselves back without loss? Ah, well. A great batch of signings that I don't think any single Blues fan believed would happen. After Espinoza and Dann were signed, I didn't think they'd be able to justify the £5m for Johnson.
Maybe with Michael, Andy and Damien already having donned the shirt, we needed to sell more 'Johnson' shirts, so we had no choice? :)
Theydon Bois - a village with no street lighting. Perhaps that's due to get upgraded with the Main Stand in future? :)
Patrick Viera. He hasn't said no, yet. Strange that it's not yet (that I've noticed) received any national attention. I'm guessing that was its purpose? I'm just wondering why the Board would want his identity revealed, otherwise. If they thought he was coming, I imagine he'd have only been named when he was 'unveiled'.... Great that Bowyer has signed, but bcfc.com hasn't yet confirmed it. What's the deal with the Birmingham Mail getting the 'scoop'? Sure, I'm happy to read it on here, but it's kind of at odds with their ten point pledge to tell fans on the club website first??
Can't wait to find out who else we're getting in. Hopefully Armand Traore, Viera and a couple of others! I've got my season ticket (when do they post them out? and why haven't more than 10,000 taken advantage?) and am really looking forward to the new season!
Keep Right On!
Colin, what do you mean they should knock the Main Stan down and have done with it? Are you proposing that we lose a massive percentage of our ground and it's were the majority of the season ticket holders sit and houses the hospitality packages? Bit annoyed with that comment uncalled for and off the beat.
....and rebuild it Nathan. You don't think I'd advocate an open space on one side of the ground do you?!
Vieira has turned us down Russell. Nationals not picked up on it because they lag behind the Evening Mail on Blues all the time. That bit in the 10 point plan putting news on website first was never going to work as people like Tatts have jobs to do ie get the stories which he has done first all summer. He missed the Flamini story - shame on him lol
The new mood of optimism is refreshing. But the 'Blues' are never more than a few days away.
Today's Sun suggests McLeish is very unhappy that Espinoza has been ourchased against his will, by Mr. Sullivan after yet another deal with Barry Silkman. AM's comments on BCFC.COM about defenders are lenghty and full of praise for Johnson and along the lines of 'the club thought it would be a good deal within the budget' and 'i've watched him play many times' He didn't say if he thought he was any good though. The only attribute he mentioned was 'experienced'.
Mr Gold contributes to the official site with a wordy tribute to Mr Sullivan about all the incredible hard work put in by him to sign players. Alex's only mention is that he's on holiday and will come back to enjoy tyhe benefits of Mr Sullivans efforts. No mention about the hard work Alex and his staff may have put in identifying the targets. Even the Club Secretary got a mention over Alex.
I presume this may have riled the manager because he makes a point of commenting how much work was put in before last season ended and up until the end of May travelling and identifying players at the end of his comments about finding a midfield general.
So, a good start, but a predictable cloud will always hover over the club whilst these self promoting, rent a quote, owners preside over the club.
And yes, less than 10,000 season tickets. I'm obviously not the only one to get too excited about signing a 'worth a punt' South American forward, an ex retired full back, 2 nationwide centre halves, loaning a keeper with potential and making silly offers to a 33 year old who only played a handful of games last season because of injury problems.
and along the lines of 'the club thought it would be a good deal within the budget' and 'i've watched him play many times' He didn't say if he thought he was any good though. The only attribute he mentioned was 'experienced'.
The latter was about Espinoza
I think Stella you have to accept that we are not Man City and can't spend unlimited amounts on virtually any player. What we've done so far is good business considering. The Sun seem to be stirring things up and looking for a ruck story as they always do with our club owners.
the sun is just a rag. after what they said about Martin Taylor I have not bought it. don't intend to ever again. ban their so-called reporters from the ground
The sun is a rag. Same paper that did a job on Martin Taylor, you know the thug, 10 yellow cards in ten years. A centre half with 10 yellow cards in as many seasons? You know the one, the one anybody who watches him thinks is a touch slow and too soft for his stature. Not the Sun and not Wenger.
The sun. The paper that printed a villa fan tragically killed at the last derby was the work of Blues thug fans. No apology.
The sun, the paper our MD writes a very unfunny column in, a self promoting column that last season nearly tore the club apart as we entered the vital last few weeks of a promotion challenge.
Yes, the sun is a rag.
Can someone tell our MD please.
Trouble with buying national newspapers is that they are either printed in london or Manchester and therefore have a strong south east or north west bias in their reporting. Brum gets a very bad deal, even the birmingham mail has started printing national news instead of local interest.
"The loans are all payable by September 1, with an interest of 0.5 per cent per month. So they are going to get something back for their trouble."
You can bet that where ever this money was previously invested it was at a much more attractive rate than half of one percent. So they are loosing money by advancing it to BCFC NOT making it.
Oh my god what am i reading, how can anyone slate our owners for making £7,500 after loaning the club £1.5 million??? its chicken feed compared to the sum they have pumped in. Im assuming people here have absolute no business knowledge what so ever as surely you would of realised that them not having that money in their accounts would result in them losing money from things like interest or anything. 0.5% is a small charge and we should appluad them if anything. Before this pre season i was not a fan of the boards at all and even debated if it was worth us coming up and then me spending my money going to all this rip off grounds and not even half looking like getting a result. But fair play to them i have presumed they have seen newcastle and middlesbrough go down who are 2 teams that no matter what side they have out, getting a result away is still a good result. They have then been replaced in my eyes by hull and stoke so as long as we built a team that can compete we would have more of a stronger chance of survival than ever before. I can honestly say there would not be more than a few players of both their sides that could get into our sude. Our team that came up bar fahey have played the majority of the last 7/8 years in the premiership so purchasing premiership experience was not so much a priority. Well done to the board and lets start selling even more season tickets as that is the only way to really show your appreciation.
@ The Scottish Player: very true, well thought out....
The key phrase here is 0.5% A MONTH - which is 6% per annum (more if interest is compounded - sorry to be an anorak).
The board would not get 6% p.a for their money anywhere at present and the club would probably pay about the same from the Bank (base + 5 would be a guess) but with fees and hassle on top.
I think its a win win for board and club.
Michael, I don't think ANYONE slated the owners for charging money. As far as I'm concerned, I just said it's a bit odd. If it were my club, and it was just to 'tide the club over' I'd have said nothing about it. I even speculated that it may have had something to do with business law, to prevent money laundering, or something? It's not the amount - be it half a percent per month or per year - it's the fact we had to know at all that I found odd. Never mind, at least we've been a lot more active than our local rivals. Their owner doesn't seem to want to buy anybody as yet. Other clubs could have stolen a march on their targets by now....
Well that's what came across. How are Blues supposed to build a new stand in three months though? The Kop was never re-built just refurbished which is what's happening to the Main Stand I don't see what the point would be in knocking it down? Bear in mind as well that we are currently in a recession and banks are refusing to lend money. I don't think you you've thought about the implications Colin.