Summertime Blues
As Bogart said to Bergman, we will always have Paris.
In this case Wembley, February 27, 2011.
There will always be the glorious memory of the Carling Cup to warm the heart when, in years to come, we look back on this season.
Heck, you can do it now if you want if it means blocking out the depressing pain of the slide to the Championship that followed after Blues defeat of Arsenal.
All that said, we will only be able to recall a day that tends to comes round once every 50-odd years with deep satisfaction as long as Blues do now not go backwards as a club.
Everyone has kind of got used to the yo-yo effect in recent seasons. It's been akin to 'oh well, never mind, at least we will win some games in the Championship and come back up'.
I'm am not so sure it's going to be that easy this time round.
Blues have to do things right this summer, from boardroom to manager's office to dressing room.
The financial implications of relegation are far greater than ever before.
The £30 million - £40 million drop in revenue may be offset by the initial parachute payment of £16 million next season.
But there would still be a considerable income shortfall, despite the axing of high wage earners already (Obafemi Martins, David Bentley, Aleksandr Hleb and Matt Derbyshire accounted for £200,000-a-week).
And as there remains such uncertainty over the state of Blues health, primarily based on announcements over the past months from Birmingham International Holdings, it is only natural to be worried.
There may be plenty going on in the background by Carson Yeung to try and improve the situation. And only one person knows the exact state of affairs, and that's Yeung himself.
For all the digging and sniffing about the media at large has done, it has proven impossible to get to the nub.
As was found when Nanjing took over MG Rover, the Chinese make no apologies for being secretive when it comes to such things. Our culture and way of doing business is different and that has only added to the intrigue and concern.
Most articles and interpretations of where Blues stand are based on information that has been in the public domain via the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the riches that Premier League status provides.
And when Peter Pannu, in his robust way, comes out and offers a defence of Yeung, it has not been good enough for some observers, which has helped fuel a bit of an anti-Blues feeling.
In some quarters there was a real sense of disappointment when Blues received their UEFA licence to play in the Europa League. It's a better story if they do a Portsmouth, after all.
When out in Hong Kong and China in pre-season, there was no outward signs of a lack of wealth. And when I pressed him on such matters he didn't so much take offence than fail to understand the reasoning for the questions; in essence it was 'mind your own business, let me get on with it - and tell the fans to trust me'.
If there is an 'everything must go' clearing of the decks this summer then the alarm bells should start ringing.
I have been assured twice these past few days, on and off the record, that Blues are not about to stage a firesale of their top talents.
My view is that, without putting the club in absolute peril, Blues simply have to keep a nucleus together, make additions around them, and then they could win promotion at the first attempt.
Sixteen players have left St Andrew's already. If Ben Foster, Scott Dann, Roger Johnson, Craig Gardner and Cameron Jerome go, for instance, then how on earth would Blues expect to win promotion?
The squad was not the deepest last season and with a minimum of 46 league games ahead, plus cup and European commitments, there needs to be enough bodies, and of better standard than the rest.
I know this has been a significant tenet of the talks Alex McLeish had with Pannu, and the board have to show some bravery and strength here to resist the predators and hold players to their contracts if it comes to that.
Pannu''s comment that there was 'by and large, consensus in the way we believe we should proceed' was interesting and suggested that more talking will be done.
The announcement that McLeish was being kept in his job came less than 24 hours after Blues fate was sealed at Spurs. It was hardly an unequivocal backing.
Then he was effectively undermined by the removal of chief scout Paul Montgomery who, to my eyes, was a political victim of the relegation.
With still no Academy manager in place, it's not an ideal scenario going into potentially one of the most important close seasons in club history.
Sure, McLeish has to be accountable for Blues relegation too and learn the lessons. The team has to be vibrant, energetic and be threatening.
Yeung and the board are less patient and more demanding than their predecessors, and have yet to appoint their own man. They could argue, quite reasonably, that funds have been made available, more than the previous regime provided - excuse the pun - pound for pound.
I suspect McLeish would have been more at risk had Blues avoided the drop, for financial reasons and that it would have been easier to attract a good replacement.
But it is imperative that they do work together for the greater good now and provide a united front as Blues are going to be under pressure next season and shot at from all sides, not just the footballing ones.
This is uncharted territory for Yeung and Pannu. They have never been at the helm of a relegated club and the current bosses of West Ham United were dab hands at it, and tended to know what had to be done.
That's another reason why this relegation is different to the ones before.
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Colin Tattum - Mail man Colin Tattum's view of what's going on at Birmingham City FC.
I've had a bash at the financials - see here for some detail - http://rockerjedi.livejournal.com/ -
Basically we had 56m income the season before last, 42m of that from TV & prize money, the other 14m from tickets and commercial.
Of the 56m income, about 40m went on player wages.
We've let players go already, which should bring the wages down to about 20m or so.
But income from TV will go down from 42m to 16m, other income will fall too, lets say to 10m, giving us 26m.
So we have 26m income against 20m wages, add on other costs and we might just about break even.
Consider we've barely got a squad left or a striker worthy of the name and there are problems.
For me I'd be inclined to sell Foster, Johnson and Zigic, get about 20-25m for them altogether and save about another 5m in annual wages. We could rebuild the squad from that, get some pace, flair and a couple of goalscorers.
I've had a bash at the financials - see here for some detail - http://rockerjedi.livejournal.com/ -
Basically we had 56m income the season before last, 42m of that from TV & prize money, the other 14m from tickets and commercial.
Of the 56m income, about 40m went on player wages.
We've let players go already, which should bring the wages down to about 20m or so.
But income from TV will go down from 42m to 16m, other income will fall too, lets say to 10m, giving us 26m.
So we have 26m income against 20m wages, add on other costs and we might just about break even.
Consider we've barely got a squad left or a striker worthy of the name and there are problems.
For me I'd be inclined to sell Foster, Johnson and Zigic, get about 20-25m for them altogether and save about another 5m in annual wages. We could rebuild the squad from that, get some pace, flair and a couple of goalscorers.
Interesting Matt and I think we're all aware of the financial impact the problem is we don't know what Yeung is doing and how much clout he has. I fear a fire sale too and if that happens we are absolutely stuffed. Yeung has to take a punt and keep our best players because if we don't there are none out there better to come in that we could afford. Sell Foster and then what? Play Doyle? If Yeung doesn't show some cajones and doesn't stop players leaving then we could head for League One
I've been relegated a number of times with blues and this time I am not confident of going back up any time soon. I am sorry, My support is everlasting, I am a STH but I can see the club in the championship maybe for another ten years. Our better players will go, if not this season, then next. Bills must be paid. Does this sound pessimistic ? I'm sorry, its just how I feel, and I've been supporting Blues through thin and thinner for a helluva long time. KRO.
Simply we MUST keep the best players. If not we won't get promotion and we will know the club is in financial dire straits.