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Strength in Adversity
Sky Sports News has pubished a story this morning that former Derby County Chairman and current Hull FC owner Adam Pearson has entered the race to buy Birmingham City. Pearson is reported to be in a consortium along with Mike Farnan, who was previously involved in trying to buy Leeds prior to Massimo Cellino’s successful bid.
As stories go, this one is a bit out of left-field; Pearson’s name has not cropped up as previously involved with making a bid for the club and the timing is intriguing bearing in mind we’re coming to the end of the three week exclusivity period unilaterally proclaimed by Jeremy Wray of Soccer Management Worldwide. Although as expected there has been radio silence from SMW (as there should be during a period of negotiations) my personal hunch has been for a while that deal isn’t anywhere near complete. I don’t know much about the Pearson/Farnan consortium but I would think if news has broken prior to any negotiations (and that is the way it seems to have happened) then they can be written off as serious contenders also.
With news coming from the club that it is very unlikely either Chris Burke or Nikola Zigic will extend their contracts at the club it’s understandable that there is a lot of negativity around; as much as I would love to counter that with some good news I don’t believe at this moment I can in the way some people want. I get the impression that people are holding out for an infusion of cash and a splurge on transfer fees and wages but I can’t see that happening any time soon.
However, what I do see and what I hold out hope from is that once again Blues are trying to conquer adversity by rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it. I’m actually proud that Clark hasn’t moaned about the lack of money – instead he has tried to identify players who he thinks can step up to the challenge and more importantly, he seems to want to do it with a smaller squad of players he owns rather than a bunch of loanees. Panos Pavlakis is back in the UK and from what I hear will be back for the long-term to aid the running of the club which is important in itself; as good as the work is that the backroom staff have done they need someone as a figurehead present in the UK and it appears to me Pavlakis takes his directorial role seriously.
I don’t think this season will be easy at all; I think it’ll be another fight against relegation and I think it could be some time before the ownership question is resolved; the club isn’t as close to administration as some fear (or perversely hope) and although it will be with a squad that is in many people’s eyes reduced in quality it will continue to operate as it has been for the last few years. I think we as Blues fans need to rediscover the strength in adversity that defines us – actually remembering that we’ve always had sorrows in our existence but because we face those sorrows with good humour we are the way football fans were before big money came into the sport. This might sound strange but despite all the stuff going on around the club I’m feeling more enthused for next season than I personally have been for a while.
Tags: Adam Pearson, Chris Burke, Jeremy Wray, Mike Farnan, Nikola Zigic, SMW, The Takeover
163 Responses to “Strength in Adversity”
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Cheers Dan for update, but you’ve confused me a bit, you say that you believe that this will be another relegation Dogfight, then say your more enthused for this season than you have been for a while ??
Zigic – I love it here in Birmingham; my family are settled – translates to I love the 65K a week they offer me at Birmingham, and once that stops they can kiss my %^&$.
Yeah bit disappointed about Zigic to be honest. He could at least respond to the offer, even if he doesn’t accept it. Probably off for one last pay day with Leicester or the Baggies.
Recent comments in the press and on SHA suggest Zigic was NOT offered any deal.
or maybe his agent has told him that he a better player than he thinks he is, and bcfc is simply not good enough for him on £5000 grand week……..
Or Clark has had the money to put towards his bar bill.
lol Mr Crosby whos bar bill?
Ziggy’s replacement? Great at shots?
He’s better than 5 grand a week.So is Burke.
that’s fine Steve let hope some other mugs are happy to give 65000 week good luck to him………..
No player is worth five grand not even messi football is a joke pure greed.
No there not. But in todays game ziggy amd Burke are.
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No they are not ziggy was ok at best Burke was awful all season.
Whatever
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Like it or not Zigic kept us up.
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I Agree Steve I’m not saying zigic is rubbish I like him what I’m saying no player is worth five grand they are all overpaid and overhyped.
gary in complete agreement regarding overpaid and over-hyped….if a player decides he not worth the amount offered by the club in Burke case, he knows he can pick and chose his next contract regardless how poor his season was….coming from the burke camp its his one last paid day, so he not really interested bcfc offer, I believe zig was offered a new contract but chose not to look at it?? wonder why lol
actually steve caddis did…..zig may have made a contribution to the team effort……..
I for one am not the slightest bit upset about Burke – great player for first 2 years but last year had gone stale or legs had gone a little. Zigic would still offer something.
Pete, in agreement regarding Burke methink zig ear will be bent by his agent, again one last pay out, not that he ready made a cool 4mil from us….
If zig plays like he did again bolton every game no problems from me…………shame i thought he liked living in brum, settled, family happy just have to wait and see…But Clark has already come out to say both players are on there way in BM….
He made both goals, you must have been dreamilly looking at Clark and missed that.
oh did he now, nothing like putting a big effort in for your next contract…all helps i suppose…..maybe if he put the effort in the other 45 games might have be in the play offs….you never know…………..
Clark wouldn’t play him all through the season though would he.
He is likely to be waiting on other offers before responding. Makes perfect sense.
I’ve heard his been in talks with the vile lot from over the road
What a way to quickly go from hero to zero… do not pass go, do not collect £70k.
Rather expected news from St Andrews concerning Ziggy and Burke, but on we go.
No matter what people think of LC, he has got his head down and is working towards the new season, whether he remains or not.
As for this new so called group of bidders, does anyone believe they may have jumped the gun somewhat?
Lets hope for better news towards the end of this week. KRO.
P.S. Welcome back Staffs
Cheers KB. :)
Lee Clark has been preparing for this season since before the end of the last one, I think, that’s why these deals are being done thick and fast. Due diligence already done. Certainly, with Jonathan Grounds, a transfer was more or less in agreed while he was still playing for Oldham. As punch would say, “That’s the way to do it.” :D
Well according to Dan writing in another forum Burke had up to 16 offers.
Does Adam Pearson not own the rugby club and not the football club John
Yes. Hull FC is the rugby club.
What’s FC stand for then Staffs
Pass. I’m not a rugby man. :S
DB….FC stands for Football Club. BUT they are a Rugby League Club.
Thanks Richard, that makes sense of it all then lol
There are 2 disciplines in Rugby, Rugby Union, and Rugby league the latter is played mainly by the cloth cap and whippet northerners.
Whereas union is played by public School toffs
Yes I know all that Tony but why is it Hull FC. Fc stands for Football Club in most of the teams in the football league, so why a rugby club with FC and their team are the tigersor
Probably because there are two types of football in Britain.. Association football and Rugby football. Both think they are THE football… so I suppose the rugby lot think there’s no need to put RFC after their name. It’s just a thought.
Yeah hull city is hc afc .
lol Daddy thats as much as I know
G’Day Tony and Db…you can blame Australians. Football here is League. Union is Rugby. Round ball is Soccer. Rugby League is the best funded and glamour game with mega-rich clubs. Not so much “cloth caps and whippets” (lol!) More like Ferraris and fancy WAGs.
Isn’t it Hull Kingston Rovers Rugby Football Club?
KRO+DNM
Oh my God it’s getting even more confusing , no wonder the new owner want it changed lol
Yes you’re absoloubtly right Dan and I for one can accept that were likely in for another season of fighting against relegation given the current situation.
However, what you do not address is that LC’s style of football bores the pants of the home fans and as much as I want too, for the first time in 20 years I am not commiting to go to every home game whislt he is in charge and I am sure I am not alone in that view. I followed them down to the old divison 3 and they were actually happy times because they had a team of battlers, yes low on quality but they gave us something to shout about and that was down to the manager at the time Barry Fry. LC it’s not personal, but while you are in charge I know that I am not going to be entertained and that is what I am paying for.
Do you not think he’s aware of those issues and is trying to deal with them, with the signings he’s made so far? That’s what it looks like to me. Our worst area last season was defence. Two signings so far. There was nowhere near enough creativity in midfield… another signing there. A lack of a goalscorer.. he’s looking at that issue too. For me, I’m prepared to give the guy a chance to do what’s best.
unfortunately with some fans he damn if his does, and damned if he dont staffs……….from the off he has worked out with moans or groans…. tbh i hope he has incredible season so he can stick his fingers………..;-0
I hope so too. The guy deserves a decent break. Fingers crossed.
I suppose you can say I am not Ziggy’s No one fan but it will be interesting to see who offers him a deal and for how much.
Not sure if the rumours are true that Blues never actually put anything on the table after what he has done for the club while he has been here, Wembley and Bolton immediately spring to my mind. And he did offer us another dimension when he played pus he helped out in defence regularly too when he played.
KRO+DNM
I can’t see why Clark would say they’ve both been made offers if they haven’t. I don’t take any notice of rumours when I can hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak.
True Staffs, if rumours were points we would be Champions League contenders by now.
Can’t always believe whats in the BM these days either, and of course the board at St Ans are falling over themselves to keep us up to date… :-)
KRO+DNM
Lee Clark wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. It would be easy for Burke and Zigic to turn round and refute it.. making Clark look a mug. Nah, I don’t buy it.
LC has said he has spoken to Burke and understands he has had offers from other clubs but Zig has not responded to the offer so fair play to LC he is looking elsewhere.
Zig may have gone home for a break and not received any contact from the club. Who knows how Zig works?
KRO+DNM
We already know how he works….. like a light bulb. :-)
(on, off, on, off)
More off than on Staffs and pretty dim with it too :-)
KRO+DNM
Oh well, gone but not forgotten… not until next month anyway!
Hopefully we will have a new hero come next May, Colin Doyle comes on as a last minute sub to score a hat trick in the play off final…. Now that would be funny
KRO+DNM
Shades of Jimmy Glass. :)
Carlisle 1999, kept them in the league while on loan.
Faded of the radar after that.
KRO+DNM
Ziggy was the one who scored important goals.
A match is played over 90 minutes and is a team effort.
We will agree to differ on Ziggy, I see him as a player who milked the club and played when it suited him. I found him more idle than constructive and went missing in more games than he scored. The fact that when we played him we went route one with high balls, the best way to use Ziggy was on the floor, something LC didn’t do.
KRO+DNM
Quite agree Ziggy was a technical player much better on the floor,as you say Clark couldnt see this and as a result got no where near enough from him
Thanks Tony, I do try to see the whole picture when being critical, even with Ziggy.
As you say something LC should try it too and we would probably have a half decent season.
KRO+DNM
Really impressed by how quickly the guy moving with getting these young hungry players in….tbh not too disappointment in ziggy making away, burke imo let himself down so many matches he simply could not get that ball passed the 1st man….But saying that i would like to thank both for their contribution to bcfc……….
You won’t be saying that when no one pops up to either assist or score the goal that keeps us up next year.
well i dont buy into you negativity, the season starts again with the slate clean, maybe not for you…..
those two players are not interested in bcfc Mr Crosby just accepted and move on….i could not care a jot if they can do a backward flip….my interest is the players who want to stay….
Have to agree Mark regarding Burke, he had a very poor season for me and his crosses were not as they use to be.
We have had the best from him and though not a Zig lover he did bring another dimension to our play and the odd goal or two, so I’ll join you in applause for their services.
KRO+DNM
That is not going to happen!
Don’t you think he should have been aware of a lot of other playing staff and tactical issues during our record breaking run?! Looks like we could be in for more of the same loads of enthusiasm but no nouse ! I sincerely hope I’m wrong and Clark has a remarkable turn in fortune and he leads us to the edge of success rather than the 1st division!
We’ll have to wait and see. That’s what makes it so interesting. There are so many people waiting for Clark to fall flat on his face… I would love it… love it, to see us have a good season. :)
Staffs I remember the last bloke to say that look what happened to him.
Ahhh.. you got the link then lol
Mind you… if we play half as attractive football as Newcastle did, I don’t think there’d be too many complaints.
Could do with half their crowds too Staffs, put an end to our finance worries.
KRO+DNM
Things will get better Chris, they always do. Just a matter of waiting.
If we were to do well and were in the top 8 or 10 by Xmas, how long will the stay-aways stay away then? Just a thought.
The same when we get to Wembley suddenly our support rises to 30,000+ but you never see them at the ground on match day.
We have been here before Staffs and worse, 4/5000 gates and listening to players conversation during a lull in play.
I’d love to think we were doing that well by Christmas but my head is saying the opposite somehow.
KRO+DNM
Categorically, No I don’t staffs blue! I think he’s obsessed with stopping the opposition first and relying on a bit of luck…that is ok away from home but at home, I for one want to be entertained. This season he is starting with a much weaker squad which isn’t going to help the situation in terms of his approach. More boring slow paced sideways passing football ahead of us while he is in charge.
Forgetting LC for a moment Stan, don’t you think that the successful top teams build from the back to stop the opposition scoring first and foremost. Then hope to nick a goal on the break, surely if you stop the opposition scoring you are in with a chance. Too many times last season we gave the opposition 3 or even four goal starts and in the second half we were shipping goals like a colander ships water.
I do believe Clark is doing his best to halt this and given the funds he has available can’t do much better than he has. We are not going to get a Messi or Luiz are we?
KRO+DNM
Fair enough… but I prefer to wait and see rather than pre-judge. If fans are writing the season off already, then what chance do the team have?
OP: “…we’ve always had sorrows in our existence but because we face those
sorrows with good humour we are the way football fans were before big
money came into the sport”
Humour? Not a lot of that around if you read some of the comments posted. But I agree totally, let’s get that gallows humour back, it’s what keeps us going when things are bleak. We should be used to that by now. ;)
I am always happy, Staffs. Like you , I have seen it all before and lived to tell the tale ( but only just after a close shave at Everton away one year)
would that be the 81/ 82 season chas when we lost i think 3-1 and there was rioting and fighting al over the place and i also was lucky to get back to brum in one piece myself…..happy days!! KRO.
Never boring following The Blues.
No Dave,more like 67. We drew 1-1 with Ronnie Fenton scoring the equaliser, it didn’t go down well with their Fans.
Ronnie Fenton, a blast from the past, a tenacious inside forward who popped in with the occasional goal. Signed from the baggies and mainly used as cover for geoff Vowden if I remember.
KRO+DNM
Sadly, I think I have to agree with your assessment Dan, and it is what I have believed for a while. I think we have no option but to find humour in adversity as you and Staffs elude to, because we will have to get used to it. I am not at all confident that we will be able to avoid dropping into the third tier next season. Of course, I will give LC and his newcomers my support and lets hope that they can turn us around into at least a Championship side at the end of next term, but the signs are not good in my view. I honestly believe we will still be looking at the sale of the club this time next year, all of which will mean that as good as Bolton was, it will have been futile if we are relegated, and will only have served to fill the pockets of B.I.H.L. in their transition whilst the club continues to suffer and decay. I’m sorry to be so negative, but that’s just my view.
I think we’re in for another season of struggle.All i’m hoping for this season is survival and some home wins.Without new owners coming in,i fear an even quieter than normal St Andrews.I hope the new players work out.I’ll be honest,i don’t know anything about them.The only target i,m disappointed about is Wes Thomas.
If I’m honest, just Thomas’ signing wouldn’t fill me with joy.. but the lad does have pace and power, which could go a long way to unsettling defences. It’s something we’ve lacked for quite a while. If we add Donaldson too, I would be more optimistic. Those two together could scare defences to death, but with Thomas on his own…. uh uh.
I’ll reserve judgement on the players that LC is targeting and bringing in to the club as apart from Wes they are unknown to me. I understand what you are trying to say Dan but how much longer can we take these lows without becoming completely demoralised with the whole situation. No communication out of the club apart from a major commercial announcement for a completely uninspiring sponsor. What is going on around the club for you to be enthused? It looks like we will KO the new season with BIHL still leading everyone a merry dance with LC in charge of a team that will probably be one of the favourites for the drop. Will there be movement in the next week regarding the SMW consortium. Surely if they have offered the most to BIHL and they are satisfied with everything following the due dilligence that things will move apace?
If SMW do pull out.. there appears to be at least one or two others waiting in the wings, so it’s not all bad news. That’s better than 3 or 4 months ago. At the end of the day, if it was yours or my £?m, I’d want to make sure nothing’s going to come back and bite me later too… especially with the current owners’ history.
I’d want everything checked, checked again and checked again before putting pen to paper on any deal with BIHL. The problem if SMW do pull out is that there is no guarantee that BIHL would want to do a deal with any of the other consortiums so we would be back to square one. I
Hunter;, BIH, have no real alternative mate, They cannot keep us as they have no finances of their own, They have to sell us or they go under, !!!.
That’s the part that gives me heart Hunter,, that they have to sell and new owners get a foot in the door, and then they are on the way out. Good by Chinese – worst ever owners. Anyone British has to be better!
The current Blues owners are appalling beyond belief but is there a guarantee British owners of BCFC would be better?
No guarantee whatsoever… but it’s a start. You can shout as loud as you like, but they won’t hear you in Hong Kong, but at least if they’re based here, there has to be a certain degree of accountability. Don’t you think?
No guarantees will apply to whoever comes in. From those declared whilst British they are hardly blues fans but business people looking for a trading opportunity when they sell the club onwards after a couple of years
Surely, as long as we’re in the black and on a stable footing again, they’re entitled to make a profit and sell us on to someone suitable. Remember, football is a business these days, not a sport (or so they would have us believe.)
Nothing ever does turn out exactly as people expect or predict. Isn’t there some saying about the darkest hour is just before the dawn? Keep right on! There’s nothing else we can do. It’s not up to us. It’s in the hands of fate but I do feel that we’ll be rid of this Hong Kong lot before we’re long into the season. At least we now have at least three interested parties and every one BRITISH!.
Pearson and Farnham are not particularly wealthy but will come in and manage things to their advantage then sell up and move on.
Always look on the bright side of life, (whistle)
Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad
(Come on, everyone join in. Add the next line)……
Do you ever get the feeling you’ve been had.
pretty much agree with many of the posts today, not like yesterday, that were doing the best we can under the circumstances we find ourselves in, lee seems to be signing the right positional players and there younigish and hopeing to impress so cant knock him there……..yes it does look like another struggle to look forward to next season which wont go down to well with all those young ambitious fans we have but deal with it because everybody else associated with the club as to and as they say
” things can only get better” unless our look runs out and we do go down to league one nest season…what a shot in the arm to our ambitions that would be!!!. KRO.
I,m ambitious but not very young.I can’t get excited over these signings or next season.In fact i,m dreading it. I want to watch top flight football from top flight players.I could have a long wait.Hopefully the reaper will have a longer wait for me.
with you there steve, the diffrence is we were there when things were worse than they are now, league one, gary pendrey, barry fry, though both legends we had poorer sides than we have now so lets not loose our ambition but lets put it on hold for a while, but only a while and hopefully were both be around to get exited about it. KRO.
when Fry was the boss we may have had a worse team ?(daish/poole/benno/jose/claridge/ward) but there was a feeling that we were on the up , i think some fans are so down now cos they are not sure that we have finished falling yet.
Back then, we may not have had the best manager (Fry) or the best players… but there was a lot of excitement that I wouldn’t have missed for the world. Birmingham City is all about swings and roundabouts. We’re on a roundabout (going nowhere) at the moment… but there’ll be another swing along fairly soon I’m sure.
Too true, Staffs , and they were approachable too.
My two favourites from those days, were Stevie Claridge and Jose Dominguez.
Magic and Jose . I saw Jose when he made his debut for the Reserves at St.Andrews one night. I thought he was a Mascot having a kick-about, till he controlled the ball
Problem is with swings that we might have to go down to come up again!
… and here’s me thinking that was a see-saw. :)
You are right our teams future is in the balance
Far better side than than now to be fair.
Spot on and regardless who’s fault it is-the position we are in at the moment is a disgrace.
I think Fry unearthed some good players but was surely a poor manager. Pendrey started as a bad player and improved a fair bit with some seriously strong tackling ability but was out of his depth as a manager.
dave they not interested in unity just apathy….
the thing is mark since 2001 and the worthington cup final against liverpool there use to blues being in the premiership getting to another cup final and having money to spend and signing good players, exept for the last couple of years when things have gone bad to worst, there
have to wait like the rest of us. KRO.
I think basically dave, the younger fans have been spoiled a bit, but they’ll learn in time, that being a Bluenose, you have to take the (mainly) rough with the smooth. It’s part of the job. ;)
your right staffs , but it worries me that we support a club that expects its fans to suffer and sees glory in it, ok us oldies are stuck for life , but i cant see many kids putting up with a life time of bad times and a good one every 15 years .Its too easy for kids to support other teams now in a way that nobody did in the old days ,It might be that in the very long run our fan base will wither.In not sure that a lot of the young ones will learn , i think they just wont bother.
Your spot on with that assessment Rob. But, I think today’s media are a lot to blame for that. The kids get the Prem top 6 or 7 rammed down their throats from an early age, whether it be on tv, magazines or internet. Everything’s geared to the prem.. it’s kind of “be there, or be square.” Utter b0ll0x, but that’s how it is unfortunately. The premier league and Sky have ruined it for everyone else.
A sobering thought, Rob.
You are absolutely right it’s just a pity that some of my peers on here cannot see the younger point of view nor accept that it is vital to replenish our supporter base frequently or wither and die.
Rob, we had the same problems under Coombs, Wheldon and then the Kumars . Our gates were terrible and things were very black. The best bit of luck we had, imo, was Barry Fry taking over. He might not have been the best Coach in the World, but he gave us a very high profile and the Local media couldn’t get enough of him. Some say he made us a laughing stock, but I will always believe that he gave us Fun and Publicity, two of the main things we had been lacking.We need another Fry up.
Chas, we haven’t been short of publicity the last two years, albeit for the wrong reasons, I quite liked Fry, there was never a dull moment even though he was inept as a coach.
I think the Wheldon years were the blackest I have seen, the Kumars were unlucky when the BCCI collapsed, though they always struggled to step up to the plate financially we did get to Wembley Beating Tranmere in 1991.
KRO+DNM
Yep, Chris, we are cut from the same cloth, agree completely with that. The Tranmere Match was the first chance I got to see us score at Wembley, I took my kids and my youngest(7 at the time) asked me something, I looked down to listen to her and Sturridge scored..I missed it :-(
I bet you didn’t miss Big John Gayle’s 2 belting goals later in the same match. Absolutely marvellous.
:-) No, I saw both of them.
can you be interested in apathy? isn’t that a contradiction in terms?
lol Blu dont expect a care in the community case to answer that.
it just shows how inept you are lol
Well done Mark now go away and find out what the word means
Mike Farnan formed his own consortium “Together Leeds” and was in discussions about joining forces with Leeds owner Massimo Cellino before Cellino purchased Leeds United.
Farnan offered £7m up front and a further £5m if Leeds gained promotion to the Premier League.
The derisory offer was rejected out of hand and an internal investigation into his background revealed he used to work for Sunderland as marketing director, but left under a cloud.
Give me 11 average players who form into a real Team rather than flashy individuals that play for themselves, any day. I prefer 23-25yr olds who have experience even at a lower level. They will have probably suffered from rejection at an earlier age and learnt to make the most of their ability unlike most of our loan signings last year from the so-called top teams who obviously think they have “made it” simply because they are at Man U, Man City and Liverpool. Of all our loan signings last year I think only Huws will go on to be a star although he will probably have to move to a lesser Prem Team to flourish.
Good post. Agree with all of that!
They will probably give that extra too as they will feel they ave something to prove. I would rather watch players giving 100% for the club than from some top club and going through the motions or showboating (badly) as we saw with likes of Rusnak.
KRO+DNM
Pleased with the signings LC has made so far,hopefully more to come in the form of a centre back and a goal scorer 1 or 2 decent loans and academy players stepping up to the senior squad and we should be ok till the next transfer window when maybe this Chinese nightmare will be a distant memory and new investment puts us back on the up KRO SOTV
Good summary. I’d be happy with that.
Well if we have to wait till the window we could be in big trouble. I cannot believe that any current activity is investor inspired or approved. The longer negotiations go on the greater the r,Iskenderun to the squad.
Although I think Clark is a terrible Manager, I think he is a decent bloke with proper values. I’d love nothing more than for Clark to have a storming season and by that I mean finish mid-table. I think if he’s to stay in the role he needs a strong experienced number 2. Although we had Terry Mac he didn’t come across as being that bothered, which didn’t help Clark. no idea who or if that’s possible but he needs help and guidance.
Your first sentence is wholly fair and correct. He certainly needs help but it’s he that should be the no 2 .
why should he be he prefers to be number 1……
i seriously thought about knocking it on the head because of charlie chans mob but after 50 years of suffering why should i .its our club and i agree with dan lets bring a relegation battle on lets see what were made of
I find the comment that pavlakis is here for the long term totally unacceptable .,for 3years we have had our lifes blood drained from us ,and still the board show signs of putting the fans through more fire sales …what is it that that they do not understand.they have failed to run this club in the way it should be run ,to run a football club takes a lot of knowledge of the sport ,and even more contacts .to carry on
as they are BIH are not showing the rest of the world a portfolio as a successful company which won’t bode well for their future if they continue to drag this club down
….keep your pride ,sell now
They do not understand the tradition and heritage that form the basis of our great club.They are unable to grasp the effect and importance the club has on the daily lives of many hard working fans who just want to be part of a successful and viable club…..they are money men -devoid of any compassion or any other feelings for the fans….can’t wait to see the back of them.
Think the L.C haters should read the Birmingham mail report they took from the Newcastle local rag.
Love Birmingham City we will come back stronger.
Some clues about what hand he has had.
Shame the Birmingham rag never got him to comment this way ¬¬
Chrst sake It matters not how much he loves blues hes an idiot totally inept how can anyone be prepared to give him more time.
Hes damm near wrecked us and he will complete the job next season no doubt at all. fuxxxxx clown
This is now the third week of SMW’s due diligence so maybe something will happen soon. I feel like a schoolboy waiting for his GCSE results, and I’m 72 this year! They don’t have this kind of tension and suspense over at B6 do they? It’s great being a Blues supporter. Never a dull moment!
What appears more worrying is the silence from both BIHL and HKSE as neither seems to be making any announcements. A comment to say “talks are ongoing”, “offers are still being considered” or even “offers A and B have been denounced for breaching NDA agreements” but nothing, Oh boy! is their silence deafening.
With Mr Pavlakis back at the helm I assume nothing is likely to happen anytime soon, but at least he is overseeing things at St Andrews, I presume he has sanctioned the deals and signed the cheques.
Strange how Sheffield Wednesday suddenly has new owners and we don’t even know who is in the running for our club.
Did anyone really expect Zigic to take such a huge pay cut and sign on the dotted
line, the same with Burke; I would not be surprised to see him sign for Nottingham
Forest. There is no loyalty in football anymore and someone will always pay more.
Lee Clark has to be admired for the job he is doing, as I said previously, he may
well be the first to be shown the door should we get new owners.
I predicted a mid table finish last season and until the January window looked a
safe bet. This season we start with more of our own players and hopefully a
clean bill of health with both Green and Eardley being fit. It will be a struggle but with a couple of decent loans I feel we can once again survive but not without a dogfight. I hope that new owners will be in place for the January transfer window and use it to strengthen and ensure we retain our Championship status.
KRO+DNM
A fine home truth article Dan and one that, despite being a tad deflationary, we should all read again and take on board. Only thing that worries me is that you appear to have adopted Chinese Mao-era slogan headlines! “Strength in Adversity”…”Patience and Positivity”. Or have you been at the fortune cookies again? :-)
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/birmingham-city-transfer-news-wes-7248498? look like two out two in…..
Thanks for that link Mark. With all these lanky players joining I won’t be surprised if there’s a bit o’ slam dunking coming up. 3 pointers from 20 yards? Seriously, could it be a strategy to play a more aerial game and score with heads while we are not that strong with footwork talent?
We were desperate for height in the back four after Xmas, plus Bartley and Burn were contributing goals to the cause. When we lost them, we lost their goals too. At least we’ll have an aerial presence at corners and free kicks again. Maybe that’s the thinking.
Could be Staffs; if it is then I’m all for it – and clever thinking by Clark to make the most of very poor budget.
Lanky ?? what are you a 5 8 midgit?
5’8″ is a Midget :-(
in todays trend yes afraid so
:-(
Good to see Pavlakis assisting clark and overseeing the transfers……
Does anybody have any thoughts on this morning’s claim in the local rag that Blues are “close” to signing Wes Thomas ans David Edgar on free transfers?
Or maybe Daniel might be drafting a separate piece for today.
Edgar will be a good addition I think. He’s a centre back who can play right back too. Grounds is a left back who can play centre back.. and Hall can play left or right centre back. Looks to me like Lee Clark is covering every eventuality. As for Thomas, without Donaldson, his signing doesn’t inspire me, but, we’ve got to give these lads a chance.
What’s a interesting to me in that article, is the part about Panos Pavlakis.
I think its a big mistake for any club to have a rigid wage policy.even more so if you are relying on bosman freebies which gives you a lot less of a choice you need to buy proven strikers ,which usually have higher wages …..I find it amazing how people can put millions of pounds into a football club without finding put why such a big club has not won more …to blues fans the reason stands out a mile ,we have never gone that extra mile to get strikers of the quality needed except for zigic ,in which we never protected the club in case of relegation …we have just got rid of a proven striker ,we need to replace him with a proven striker …even if we have to have one player more less in the squad
My thoughts exactly,you are so right in what you say. Blues have always bought one player without getting any back-up for him. I could post a list of players that fall into this category, and it was one of Barry bridges gripes when he left that we hadn’t backed him as promised
Personally I am not too bothered if Burke moves on because I have frequently been annoyed with him when he so often tries to beat yet another defender instead of crossing the ball and our forwards (especially Zigic) are waiting for it to try and score. It gives opposition defenders the chance to get back into position and loses us the advantage of a quick break.
When he did get a cross in it rarely beat the first man too. The problem with Burke is he became too predictable and was easily marked out of the game
Because we were so one dimensional and LC didn’t have a plan B we became totally ineffective when attacking and he was too slow getting back to defend.
We had the best years from him I think.
KRO+DNM