On the Nest
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 . . .
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13 Comments
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Colin Tattum - Mail man Colin Tattum's view of what's going on at Birmingham City FC.
It's a far cry from Nigel Gleghorn being presented with a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale as man of the match in Athlone, Ireland 1991. We've already doen the double, the rest of the season is a wind down.
Sounds like some under prepared journalists to me!!! Didnt you have power points in your hotel rooms?
The stadium was prepared for a football match, not for some journalists who lets face it, arent really that important : )
PeteBlue, Tatts is important to a lot of us Bluenoses.
KRO Tatts
LongLongRoad, why?
All i heard yesterday on the live blog was how much of a shambles the organisation was for the journalists. With all due respect, the important matters are on the pitch and if the Birmingham Mail cannot prepare itself properly, Tatts or anybody else, then whose fault is that?
I think the Birmingham Mail were fully prepared mate, they are hardly going to report on a match by being miles away in their hotel room and you would think a stadium that hosted the Olympics might have remembered to put the power points back in. I don't think the guys out there every think they are important than what goes on the pitch.They are doing a bloody good job and sending us back interesting, insightful and entertaining reports films and blogs
Johnny Zulu, most laptops have batteries which can be charged so that they are mobile and do not require access to power points.
they maybe sending back good reports, blogs etc etc but i think the moaning about 'shambles' etc is a slight on the club which they are reporting on. Not acceptable if you ask me. Hard work has gone into the preparation of the tour from many members of staff so to hear somebody moaning about no power points and not being prepared for journalists is a bit of a joke.
Peteblue - get over yourself. It's a blog abou the birds nest. It's a blog which is generally about personal opinion and experiences, In this case Colin is giving his account of the stadium and that involved searching for a power source. Laptop batteries do not last forever, in fact most laptops that I have had don't have a long battery life at all. From the game report that I read from Mr. Walker it was mostly people asking for the score or the team sheet both of which were available with the use of eyes. I guess if you have a problem with Mr. Tattum you could make a complaint to the newspaper and then watch whilst they screw it up and bin it. We could have had the blessing of trying to find our information out from the snippets on Sky Sports News or courtesy of a journalist at the Birmingham Mail with far less experience and love for the club than Colin. Keep up the good work Mr. Tattum & Walker.
TimD- Are you Tattum in disguise? Read the live blog again and you might see the word 'shambles' written many a time. This blog is an account of Tatts day at the Birds Nest which is a good read BUT when you have so many people put their efforts into making a go of this trip which is the biggest promotional venture the club have ever taken by the way and has taken plenty of man hours to prepare, then i dont take lightly to throw away comments like 'shambolic'
If the journalists in questions had done the research that we had to do to prepare this trip then maybe it would not have been 'shambolic' or a 'shambles'
Pete - I'm not Colin - I have hair. I'm not going to read through the live blog again. As fascinating as it was at the time, I'm not so interested in reading it again. Just a point to note, Colin does accept blame for the laptop in the above blog "Hence my inability to participate in our live match blog as the battery in my laptop died, for which I apologise".
With regards to the facilities- is it not the responsibility of the hosts to ensure that the stadium is up to scratch? In a stadium that has gained such an iconic status as the birds nest they were probably expecting a plug in an area that two years ago hosted the great and the good of the worlds media for the greatest show on earth. I imagine that any complaints are probably borne of being let down that they can't complete the job that they are paid to do in a stadium that should be at least adequate. I don't think that their preparation would have included asking for a plug socket, they probably should have called ahead to see if the doors had handles and the stadium had seats?
Sorry guys for taking it out on you.
I've always had in for journo's though, it's probably because I wanted to be one. But I realized when I left school I wasn't clever enough. So I worked at Rover and when they went bust I've been unemployed since and take it out on everyone especially journalists. : )
Chaps, particularly Pete, this is no big deal. As stated a blog is something a bit different, a personal opinion/experience with humour (hopefully) and bits of snippets of information thrown in. Fact is that nobody knew the situation at the Bird's Nest, BCFC staff were furious and thought it as big a shambles as we did because it affected them too. They were not the organisers. The stadium isn't used, it has been basically left gathering dust apart from one off events. There was not one power point that we could plug into AND see the pitch. So short of writing about a brick wall, Andy did the blog relying on his battery and then having info relayed back to him by me when he had to charge it under the stands. My battery obviously needs to be changed. I am off to the Chinese Ever Ready factory.
No worries Tatts. Most of us Bluenoses appreciate the superb coverage you provide, but to paraphrase Bob Marley - "You can plaese some people sometimes, but you can't please all the people all the time".
I read a good book last year that touches upon the type of problems you've experienced in China, by a sports-journalist who had similar problems covering the 2002 world cup in Japan. It's "Behind the Back Page: The Adventures of a Sports Writer" by Christopher Davies.
What? No second battery, or a current bush to be found?!