July 2010 Archives

With a day left, Blues finished off with a double training session, including a full-scale practice match on the afternoon.

Word had got round Guangzhou and a sizeable crowd of locals turned up to see them.

Vico Hui also made it down, for once in his civvies. Whenever the chairman has been spotted around the camp or in hotels, he is invariably wearing a Blues shirt and looking as proud as punch.

When Blues arrived in Hong Kong, Hui had flown back from the World Cup in South Africa and touched down at the same time.

Not for him a businessman's sharp suit; instead he bumped into the squad on the main airport concourse in Blues' green goalkeeper jersey.

Throughout the tour, the players who have attracted the most attention have been Ben Foster, Cameron Jerome and Nikola Zigic.

The tattoos have also been eyed, somewhat suspiciously.

In China, a tattooed person usually equates to someone on the wrong side of the law. In short, a gangster.

So Garry O'Connor and Liam Ridgewell have been able to walk about and not be pestered by the crowds due to the 15-yard exclusion zone around them.

Blues attended a gala farewell dinner after their last training stint, ahead of the morning transfer to Hong Kong.

It was the third such of the tour and on this occasion was to celebrate the announcement of a link up with local side Mingzhu for a soccer academy.

Once back at their hotel, the Marina Plaza, the manager, backroom staff and players gathered in the bar for a sing-song.

Not any old sing-song, but a tour tradition: those on their first Blues pre-season had to get up in front of the others and belt out a tune.

Ben Foster absolutely murdered Beyonce's Halo (at least he knew he was doing so), Fraser Kerr went for 500 Miles and Nikola Zigic caused amusement with a Serbian ballad. Not so much the song, but his OTT impressions of a crooner trying to be ultra smooth.

Michel, too, wasn't afraid to muck in and be ridiculed. He sang what was believed to be the Spanish national anthem, with his arm rigid across his chest and his hand pressed to his heart, before ending with a mock salute.

It was a long and sometimes arduous tour but nevertheless a worthwhile exercise, and the experience of a lifetime.

For as long as Carson Yeung is going to be at the helm, Blues will go out to Hong Kong and China, so it is something everyone will have to get used to.

The Chinese owners have, understandably, been keen to show off Blues and the demands on their time may be better structured and organised in future years.

But putting aside the early starts, transfers and travelling, Blues got what they wanted to get out of it football wise and they trained hard in the heat and humidity.

And although it may only be baby steps, the awareness and interest in Blues is there. Yeung's contacts and influence - and his wealth - seen at first hand, is very real.

Without doubt the standing of the club, both among the general public and in the fields of commerce, business and officialdom in the People's Republic, can be enhanced further.

This first, landmark, tour to the Far East has laid the platform for progress.

It was a polished and professional performance that did for Liaoning Hongyun in Shenyang.

Garry O'Connor's appetite and nose for goal remained, Michel was elegant and Craig Gardner - for me Blues player of the tour - continued in dynamic mood.

If Alex McLeish is going to persist with Gardner in the centre of the park, which he has done here in the friendlies, then Lee Bowyer has cause for concern considering the way Gardner has started pre-season.

There was also the sight of a sublime goal by Sebastian Larsson, who made a run beyond the full-back, was spotted by Gardner, and lofted the ball over the 'keeper.

Larsson's contractual situation remains deadlocked, but it doesn't seem to be affecting his approach and commitment to the cause in any way. In fact, he has been very sprightly this pre-season.

At the end, a water container was sprayed over Peter Pannu's head in celebration of victory at the trackside awards ceremony.

That kind of thing maybe all right in American sports, to douse the coach in Gatorade, and even at Spurs (Harry Redknapp at the Manchester City game) but Pannu got the hump that his expensive suit was soaked.

It was therefore a good job he didn't opt for the kind of retribution dished out at the Shenyang Stadium before it was transformed into the impressive Olympic venue it is today.

Several years ago Shenyang's deputy major was caught up to no good and was executed, with a bullet to the back of the head, in the centre circle during a half-time interval. Allegedly.

The tour moved to Guangzhou, formerly Canton, following Blues third successive tour win.

There was a nice touch by the staff at the Royal Marina Plaza Hotel, who erected a banner welcoming Blues to Panyu.

No, not Pannu, but the first known city built at the site of Guangzhou and now a district.

It's a massive, sprawling place, China's third biggest city about 75 miles north west of Hong Kong on the Pearl River.

Travelling into Guangzhou on the coach from the airport you got the perfect sense of how huge China is.

When you thought you were entering the central business and commercial district, with all the skyscrapers and high rise blocks, you realised it was just another suburb and we were passing through.

Without doubt, there is a massive, massive market here for Blues to tap into. And the work has only just started with this pre-season tour.

I doubt if Blues have ever let the train take the strain before, but that was the latest mode of transport utilised here.

A 400-mile journey to Shenyang, China's biggest city in the north west, was quicker than catching a plane from Beijing. Apparently.

Well, it certainly wasn't a 'bullet' train as it took four hours to cover the distance.

A first class carriage had been booked for the squad, yet it seemed no different to the regular kind of compartment you would get back home.

Nikola Zigic passed the hours by burying his nose in an English phrasebook and Maik Taylor fell asleep and woke to find he had been bound up in tape.

Suffice to say, as the tour has gone on and the moving and mileage has totted up, the players and travelling party in general have become a little fractious.

As they shuffled down the carriage towards the exit to the platform at the journey's end, lumping their suitcases and bags along, someone began whistling 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' and a fair few joined in the ironic ditty.

Alex McLeish was accosted by a television crew as soon as he got off the train.

Patient and courteous, Big Eck agreed to an interview and then must have wondered what on earth it that was about: he was asked three questions - what did you think of the train, what did you have for breakfast, what do you think of the weather - then they were off!

Blues were then transferred to the Sheraton in Shenyang, an hotel which seems to be plonked in the middle of a big shopping mall.

Shenyang is a city trying to reinvent itself. Once an enconomic giant, its heavy industries fell into decline during the 1980s and unemployment was rife.

There are new buildings and hotels being built and an accent being put on software, the services sector and auto and aerospace concerns.

The Shenyang Olympic Stadium is an impressive venue. Built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it hosted the football tournament.

Blues found it and the pitch to their liking, although there was a definite feel that someone was watching over your shoulder all the time.

We were told that the handful of men in purple polo shirts who were casually suantering around us and the stadium at the first training session here were Chinese secret police.

And back at the hotel two unsmiling figures lounged on a sofa 10 yards away, pretending not to look at myself, Andy Walker and the Blues commercial, marketing and media team, as we had a nightcap at the Mezza bar.

They only left when we left, and there was no-one else around in the lobby at all. Spooky.

It was John Trewick who supposedly famously said 'seen one wall, seen them all' when Albion visited China and took to the Great Wall.

Knowing him, it would have been a tongue in cheek comment but it has been interpreted a different way and gone down in folklore as an example of how uncultured footballers supposedly are.

When Blues visited the Juyong Pass, 45-minutes from Beijing, they were genuinely impressed by one of the wonders of the world.

Not many people realise that in some places the steps towards the ceiling where it levels out are at a frighteningly steep angle, and there's not much room to squeeze past tourists coming the other way.

Throw in a boiling hot day as well, and the sweat was pouring off all and sundry as they made their way onwards and upwards.

I count myself fortunate as this was my second visit to the Great Wall and I came prepared.

Stuart Parnaby and David Murphy were but two who regretted wearing flip-flops - but it didn't matter to Big Zig.

Nikola Zigic was particularly enthused, as was Michel. Both are real culture vultures and have taken a keen interest in the surroundings on this pre-season tour.

Zigic was a bit miffed that he didn't get as long exploring as everyone else as he had been booked in to do a photoshoot and film a television commercial for Xtep.

Zigic, Michel, Roger Johnson and Ben Foster was taken to a massive warehouse and shot a sequence of footballing moves that with the help of computer generated images will be turned into the kind of trendy and macho advert that stars Wayne Rooney.

The storyboard apparently involves the Blues players, in normal attire, looking demoralised and defeated in a game. Then, all of a sudden, Zigic lets out a huge roar, Xtep Blues shirts appear on their backs from nowhere, and they are transformed into world beaters. Or something like that.

After the Great Wall visit, Xtep transferred Blues to their flagship store in down town Beijing.

It wasn't so much a promotional event as the store manager promptly shut the doors, barred the public and invited everyone to help themselves to anything they wanted.

Kevin Phillips promptly lifted up one of the mannequins modelling Blues new kit and made for the exit, causing plenty of laughter.

Not being used to the rock star kind of treatment, there was then some awkwardness. Nobody wanted to be the first to pick up and try on a pair of trainers.

By the end, someone remarked that it was like Supermarket Sweep and they expected Dale Winton to appear and put a stop to it.

The cups runneth over for Blues following another victory on the Hong Kong and China tour.

Stephen Carr is getting used to hoisting aloft silverware, in the sort of venue Blues are not used to playing.

The 1-0 defeat of Beijing Guoan at the Bird's Nest Stadium was a landmark match for Blues.

They have never played in front of such a big crowd in pre-season- 'official' figures said it was 73,000 - and ironically probably not on a pitch as bad.

The 2009 Chinese Super League Champions play their home games elsewhere; this was a specially arranged showpiece event at the People's Republic showpiece venue.

The turf moved underfoot and the ball took unpredictable high bounces, as if rearing off a length on a dodgy Edgbaston track.

Alex McLeish and his players were seriously concerned for their well being after training on it the night before.

To Blues credit, they adopted 'the show must go on' approach and turned in a fine and professional performance.

Since the 2008Olympics, the Chinese have basically left the Bird's Nest idle.

We were told it has held just four events since, the last a pop concert.

Some White Elephant. But that's their way.They wanted to build the biggest and the best to show the world for the Olympics.

The Water Cube, which hosted the acquatic events, another iconic structure, is just over the way and it is not even open to the public.

One of the knock-on effects of this was the total lack of power points in the Bird's Nest.

There were no plug sockets in the press area - which was still behind the 100m finishing straight - nor pitchside or in the VIP areas.

Hence my inability to participate in our live match blog as the battery in my laptop died, for which I apologise.

Now I have blagged my way in dressing rooms, executive areas and all sorts of strange places in the line of duty all over the world, but the Bird's Nest had me beaten.

Myself and Andy Walker - who held the fort superbly as usual on the live blog - spent almost two hours trying to source somewhere to work with power that had a view of the game.

The executive boxes were the best bet but not even with the imposing help of one of Carson Yeung's bodyguards Kumar - he's the one you often see in the directors areas at St Andrew's - could do the trick.

And believe me, when he's marching up and down barking orders at the Chinese, you jump. (Yueng's box was off limits, so to speak. He was entertaining senior Communist Party officials and other movers and shakers).

Most stadium officials just looked at you blankly, shrugged - 'no English' - and the military cadets designated to provide tunnel and inner sanctum security were too busy taking pictures of us on their mobile phones.

Well, that's when they were not all made to sit down in two rows, cross legged, facing a blank wall in silence. Bizarre way to spend your break.

Guoan play Barcelona at the Bird's Nest in a couple of weeks in another friendly.

I'd better warn the Catalan Evening News in advance, although the pitch won't necessarily affect their style of play as it might have Blues passing game . . .

Don't forget to follow the action from Blues latest pre-season friendly in Beijing, at the Bird's Nest Stadium, on our live match blog feed.

It's on www.birminghammail.net and myself and Andy Walker will be online from noon today, Wednesday.

Blues take on Beijing Guoan, the 2009 Chinese Super League Champions, and a crowd in excess of 50,000 is being predicted.

A day of contrast, to say the least. The ancient and modern

Up bright and early into a baking hot Beijing day for a visit to the Forbidden City.

Every player went to see the famous palace of the emperors during Imperial rule, and the only shame was that it had to be a whistle-stop visit.

You can't do it justice in the hour we had, and a visit to Tiananmen Square had to be crossed off the list too.

Some Blues players thought they would see the Terracotta Army - they are in central China.

Built between 1406 and 1420 by 100,000 artisans and a million labourers as a palace for the Ming and Qing Emperors, it has 8,600 rooms and lies on more than 178 acres.

It's pretty incredible and Blues squad and staff played the tourist with their cameras, just like the rest of the daily 40,000 visitors.

On the way back to the hotel there was a stop-off at one of the Silk Alley markets, where brand names - real or knock-offs, are pedalled to the visitor.

The idea is to drive a hard bargain and be prepared to barter although Cameron Jeremy was told to 'get out of my shop' by one irate woman after offering a rather cheeky £10 for a Louis Vuitton bag!

Blues new Xtep kit has not yet become a counterfeit favourite of the stallholders and hustlers.

It was officially launched in China at a rather grand ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Alex McLeish, Vico Hui and Peter Pannu were joined by Xtep vice president Ye Qi and Yeung Si Yu, their brand marketing director.

Speeches were made in Chinese and Scottish to a very hearty crowd of around 100 Chinese media.

And Big Eck was up to his tricks again with the odd dry quip.

Scott Dann and Kevin Phillips were designated to show off the 2010-11 home and away kits, and McLeish talked about 'the lovely models sitting on the front row with their lovely Xtep jerseys and pants, so I'm sure you'd love to see the strip'.

The thing was, Xtep had four models flanking the stage in T-shirts and short denim shorts, who were due to come forward first in the new jerseys. So who exactly McLeish was referring to, and in what context of 'strip', wasn't quite clear!

Eventually, Dann and Phillips were corralled with the girls for photo opportunities and the event compere insisted that arms had to be linked.

After what seemed like an age, the pair were allowed back to their seats and on his way Super Kev turned to the top table and joked 'make sure that's not on Sky'!

It shouldn't be as this was for the Chinese and Far East market.

It was interesting to see how Xtep staged such a set-piece event, and it was no small gathering, or low key.

Ye spoke passionately about Xtep, their plans to become a major sports and leisurewear brand, and the link up with Blues.

And they even tailored Carson Yeung with the white silk suit he wore to Blues first friendly game.

We've hardly heard of them in England but from what we saw and heard they do seem to be an emerging, young company - a bit raw perhaps - with a will to succeed.

Blues arrived in a smoggy and rainy Beijing today after lifting silverware - sorry, make that the first silverware of the season.

The Xtep Cup safely in the bag after the 3-2 victory over the Hong Kong League Select, it was a four-hour flight to mainland China and the capital, 1,200 miles to the north east.

Blues trained at the National Stadium next door to the magnificent Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium, where Wednesday's friendly against Beijing Guoan will be held.

There was a muggy feel about the afternoon, the Beijing weather a lot different to the mainly hot and sunny Hong Kong.

The squad were just glad to get out on the pitch and go through their routines after an early start to the day and a mix-up over baggage handling at Beijing's airport.

Ben Foster, Garry O'Connor, Keith Fahey and Craig Gardner kept everyone waiting and feared their luggage had been lost.

It transpired eager staff had already hoisted them off and stored them on the connecting coach to the hotel.

At immigration, Blues pretty much sailed through the VIP channel although Jordon Mutch might want to remember the correct etiquette in such a country as this. Any country, in fact.

Having handed over his arrival card to the grim-faced official sitting behind his desk, he then just waltzed through, passport in hand, into the distance.

Poor Enric Valles was next in line and ordered to get him back by the now very sternly-faced official. His plaintive cries of 'Jor-dan' in broken English didn't have the desired result so he scurried through to drag him back.

The night before, after the victory over the Hong Kong League Select, Blues were required to attend a charity dinner with Alex McLeish a top table guest next to Carson Yeung.

It was a 10 course affair - yes, 10. The starter was suckling pig, then shredded smoked chicken, ginger scallops with asparagus, sliced alberoni fillet in oyster sauce, the feast continued with other delicacies including shark fin soup with crab meat, shrimp dumpling with noodles, mango sago and the finest Chinese petits fours.

The half-time catering at St Andrew's should be interesting this season, then . . .

Cameron Jerome and Liam Ridgewell left quids in - if not squids in - after it was announced they had been named striker of the match and defender of the match for Blues. They were each were presented with a cheque for HK$ 3,000.

Nice work if you can get it, although Blues midfield contingent were less than impressed - what about us, they grumbled.

About 13,000 attended the opening tour friendly, and there was keen media interest as well as enthusiastic local support.

Nikola Zigic was particulalry mobbed by autograph hunters and, from the way he carried himself and was treated, Yeung is a powerful figure in Hong Kong circles.

He donated HK$ 1.25 million to the Hong Kong FA at half-time, handing over a giant cheque to their president Timothy Fok - for Fok's sake, you might say - and presented the Xtep Cup to Stephen Carr.

Carson Yeung's largesse has been a striking feature of the Far East tour already.

The Blues president and owner has gone out of his way to ensure Alex McLeish and his squad have received a warm welcome, as mine host.

Saturday's scheduled afternoon off saw McLeish and two of his management team, Watsons Dave and Andy, take up an invite for a trip on Yeung's £8 million yacht.

It represented a definite perk of having a Hong Kong based multi-millionaire as your boss, who also treated the St Andrew's staff to cruise.

In the true traditions of investigative journalism, myself and colleague Andy Walker decided our arms could be twisted to attend as well.

Unfortunately the jacuzzi was covered, and we opted not to go skinny dipping for the risk of an international incident.

And on that note, it was just as well Blues head of retail Wayne Cowen's John Smith's-style 'top bombing' off the side of the yacht was not witnessed by the harbour sea patrols.

In the cabins below deck, Yeung had littered the walls with photographs of himself and various celebrities, and the big cheeses of Chinese.

There was also a picture of him hob-nobbing with NBA star Kobe Bryant.

It costs £15,000 just to fill the luxury liner up with fuel and his three-man crew couldn't do enough to attend to passengers needs.

Earlier in the day Big Eck gave another press conference, after training at the Hong Kong Stadium ahead of Sunday's opening friendly.

He was joined on stage by Liam Ridgewell, who thought I was serious when I told him he would be expected to respond in Chinese out of courtesy to questions from the local media: 'Can't they get a translator?'.

The event produced some funny moments, not least when a Hong Kong journalist asked McLeish about his likely team.

'Will the newcomer Nicholas play with last season top-scorer Jeremy to entertain the fans?'

Zigic and Jerome the men in question, of course, and the latter is to be forthwith known as Jeremy as every Chinese person who has mentioned his name pronounces it phonetically.

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Blues face the Hong Kong League XI on Sunday (8am GMT) and you can follow the action and join in with the banter and dicussion on our www.birminghammail.net live blog.

Blues have come a long way, baby.

I still shudder at the memory of pre-season tours back in day, in Ireland 1991 to be precise.

Being asked to drive the mini bus Blues were given for winning the Leyland DAF Cup across country, stuffed full of players and suitcases and kit . . . it resembled a Sunday league team outing.

Sitting in the plush lobby of the Harbour Grand Hotel, Hong Kong, as I write this, watching the odd junk boat go by; yes, Blues have come a long way, baby.

Carson Yeung's takeover of the club meant a pre-season tour of the former colony and mainland China was inevitable.

Blues are by no means the biggest name or draw in these parts, but without doubt it is dawning on everyone present here - from management, players, club staff - that they have credibility and their standing is on an upward curve.

When Alex McLeish and his squad came through the arrivals gate at Hong Kong airport, there were television crews, reporters and cameramen waiting for them.

McLeish was presented with a bouquet of flowers by local model and celebrity Jenny Wong as a welcome gift organised by Yeung.

You may remember Jenny: she was the lady pictued next to Yeung at the Emirates caught yawning as Blues fell to defeat to Arsenal.

Following a brief training session to effectively enable the squad to stretch their legs after the 12-hour flight, Blues were detailed to attend a PR event at the apm shopping mall, a huge complex of a similar tiered design to the Pavilions.

Organised by apm, who were celebrating their fifth anniversary, Xtep and the Hong Kong Football Association, it was to introduce the English visitors and publicise Sunday's match against the Hong Kong League XI (10,000 tickets sold to date, apparently).

Nikola Zigic attracted the most curious looks, as you might imagine, and McLeish did a star turn on stage when interviewd by MC Sarah Lee.

She noticed that he was sweating and mopped his brow, Eck said they had come straight from training and after another flirty interchange he made a quip aside: 'hey, I think I'm in here!'

McLeish is great for Blues in this way. He projects himself and the club in the right manner, and people warm to him. He has the Hong Kong public and press as fans already.

But he knows when to make a firm point, and to stress that the trip may be great for 'Carson's China connection' and Blues future projection and business, but it is about work and preparation for his players.

He has been careful to manage expectation here too.

When asked what the aims were for next season by Lee, and whether Blues could finish higher than ninth, he said 'why not think Champions League' and when the audience applauded he realised he needed to clarify what was really a tongue in cheek answer.

He talked about why a club at Blues stage of development had to aim to simply avoid relegation initially.

"If we can stay in the Premier League for three seasons then you can grow in stature, grow financially, have a bit of stability. Too many high demands too early, it can be dangerous."