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A Month Of Stasis
With the month of May drawing to a close I thought I’d take a moment to pause and reflect on the latest chapter of the saga that is Birmingham City.
It’s been a strange old month. There seems to have been a lot happening, and yet here we are at May 31 and nothing has changed since May 1. We’re still in the Championship, Chris Hughton is still in charge, Carson still has legal problems, the club still has a transfer embargo and we’re still not suffering the “A” word.
I’ve seen mention on some forums of burnout from some fans on the whole “Chris Hughton to X” stories that have been touted around since Blues lost the playoff semi, and in honesty I can completely empathise with that view. Without going into a diatribe of how the media works etc I think June is going to be exactly the same as Blues are seen as a “troubled club” and Chris Hughton as an “upcoming manager” which equals the ingredients for some journos to link him to any job going.
Likewise, the whole transfer embargo/Carson Yeung story is starting to get even on my nerves. Today will mark another “deadline” that won’t be met for the publication of the accounts (should they not be released) and I think many fans have reached the same conclusion as I have – I’ll believe the accounts will be released when I actually see them. No doubt we will see more vague promises filtered through the press.
The biggest annoyance for me is this feeling of stasis. I watched the video Blues released for the season ticket launch this week and I will admit that it gave me goosebumps. I feel more inclined than ever to watch Blues, I really have the bug and want to go to as many games as possible. I’m looking forwards to the new season with more vigour than I have done for some time – and yet there is this wretched feeling that we still have demons of the past that should have been put to bed to be dealt with. Rather than looking forwards and thinking about new players etc, we’re still unsure what the hell is going on in the present.
I don’t want people to think that all is doom and gloom however. As much as I’m frustrated with what is happening at the moment I’m always hopeful of change. The truth is not much has to happen for things to massively improve. I’m more confident than ever in the people who look after the day-to-day running of the club; as I said previously I feel more attached than ever to the team.
Moreover, I get the impression that the club has got its soul back. It’s as if all the crap that has happened to the club over the last twelve months has galvanised the fans behind the team and created a backs-to-the-wall mentality. I do wonder if Blues fans react better when the chips are down – are we really that masochistic? Wouldn’t it be the supreme irony if things were sorted out and things went back to feeling a bit flat again?
It’s a bit strange to say this bearing in mind May has been a month of stasis but I hope June is a month where a bit of stability returns to Blues and we can truly get on with looking forwards to the new season.
Tags: Blues Fans, Optimism, The Future
18 Responses to “A Month Of Stasis”
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That is your best piece yet Almajir, truly epic. Kro4everandevernomatterwot
In an absolute nutshell!!!!
The emotional rollercoaster of May has been symptomatic of the life as a Blues supporter. Elation, belief, hope, apprehension of the unknown and damn right frustration. However, as the peaks and troughs become more extreme, I’m inclined more than ever to come back for more and more. I am categorically addicted to following the Blues. Masochistic or an incurable bug maybe, but it at times hard to comprehend why.
And that’s just me as an adult. For my 7 year old son it’s even harder to understand. As traditional club football from old has evolved to into a money orientated, high risk, low financial rewarding market place, I can no longer explain everything to him as my old man did to me. Before, everything revolved around each game. Win, lose or draw we’d be back next week and so would Birmingham.
No financial uncertainty, no wholesale of players (and no complete redecorating of bedroom walls) and certainly no individual, would be able to put the whole clubs existence at risk.
Despite this, we both, again, have loved every moment at St Andrews. This season more than ever.
Why?
KRO
So well put BlueBax it’s not even funny. Reading your words makes me yearn for the days of old when the game was so much more simpler and was actually about football instead of finance, overhyped media speculation and when football clubs were just that…football clubs that were an integral part of the community. Now (because of everybody’s favourite Uncle Rupert) a football club is just a badge of success for many with no geographical link to attach themselves to so as to feel one of “life’s winners”
Still all quiet on the Eastern front.
Don’t think the B.I.H. business plan is working at BLUES.
Makes you wonder how these so called business men/women did generate all there wealth.
If these so called business men/women invited me to a free “piss up in a brewery” I would turn up with a hip~flask in my jacket pocket.
So now we are waiting on two sets of accounts,so how long do the BLUES fans & the league have to wait for the accounts to be released ??
I think the longer we wait,the repercussions will be grave,concerning the manager & players who are trying to build a professional football team,that we fans will pay hard earned money to go & watch.
As a BIRMINGHAM CITY FAN, I’m fed up of being “kicked in the meat & 2 veg.”
But as always we will……. “K`R`O”…….!!
You are definitely right about us being at our best in the face of adversity.
My only gripe on the season gone is the attendances.
When St Andrews is full and rocking there is no other place like it but we just don’t see it often enough. The feeling it generates is so powerful. Here’s hoping for improved crowds next year
Good blog mayor,do you think we will carry on through like this until November when carsons court case starts??
My gut instinct is something has to give. Whether it will or not remains to be seen.
Do you mean “something has too give this summer” or after the court case?
Spot on – not sure how you manage to encapsulate things so well.
PS I wonder if the accounts come out on 4/5 June when everyone’s on holiday — a good time to bury bad news?
A thoughtful contemplation that is ‘club-less’ in its underlying concerns. The Premiership manager-go-round will be spinning for some weeks yet as the managerially deprived seek in turn to deprive a ‘lesser’ club as they parade their final places like trophy wives or new cars on the front drive. Wigan just missed relegation but Martinez is still feted by all, Villa just missed relegation and Eck is now classed along with McLaren as persona-non-grata in the English game. Mick McCarthy has vanished, with certain relagation deemed preferable to retaining his services and having a sporting chance of survival. Swansea were the single most overrated team in the land, and Rodgers gets a chance to spend millions on Merseyside.
It makes no sense, and it’s a wise man that puts a tenner on him not lasting 18 months as Liverpool seek to emulate faux-Braziliana in front of frustrated Kop-ites. Norwich were OK, but just OK. Mid table fare, little more, that’s Lamberts’ style. But he’s off to Villa, so who will Delia’s dozen pursue… zzzzz…..?
So, to the Championship, possibly the best league in the world for old fashioned football values, which is rendered inequitable and unfair by the presence of the Premiership and its parachute payments. End these subsidies, and we will start to approach the reality of sensibly played footballers and sensible admission charges. We might one day even (unilaterally) abolish promotion the the prem, let the select few dwell amongst the gods of high finance and billionaire bought honours and dreams of Europe.. But they can’t ever re-enter the Championship via that subsidised trap door, oh no, that is no longer an option. Let ’em suffer and stagnate in lower rungs of their elite developments, like over-mortgaged social climbers in a tatty conversion on the edge of an exclusive village.
In short let us accept the Championship is the FL, the Prem is the FA, and never should the twain meet – except on the first Saturday of January in the 3rd round of the glorious but devalued FA Cup.
Now *that* is a fantastic idea. Bring it on. Seriously, why not?
===We might one day even (unilaterally) abolish promotion the the prem, let the select few dwell amongst the gods of high finance and billionaire bought honours and dreams of Europe….. Let ‘em suffer and stagnate in lower rungs of their elite developments, like over-mortgaged social climbers in a tatty conversion on the edge of an exclusive village. ===
If there was any concern by the owners for the club to develop and move on then the accounts would have been published regardless. This would potentially enable some room to deal in the (free) transfer market. Chris now has his hands firmly tied and could potentially get left with the dregs by the time the accounts are published. I know I’m stating the obvious but there is obviously a major, major issue with these accounts which may not necessarily relate to the bottom line figure.
Just catchin’ up so apols for length.
Referring back the “Questions Questions” and in support of Smokin, the only mistake he made was to say CY loves the Blues rather than money. I’m sure he is a fan of Blues but only in the way that the SullivanGoldBrady bunch were. Fans can be fickle, especially where money’s concerned.
To answer one of almajir’s questions questions:
“The chief one for me revolves around what the asset freeze order covers – does it cover the shareholding that Carson has in BIH either via his own name or via his investment vehicle “Great Luck Management” – and if it does, does that mean that those shares cannot be sold or traded if and when the shares are relisted?”
“The court ordered a freeze on all of Yeung’s assets, as well as those belonging to his company, father and ex-wife.” (China Times, 30/5/12), so that would be a yes, but with the following proviso:
“b. Seizure of assets during domestic criminal proceedings
…
These orders against a person’s property can be made by the Court of First Instance after proceedings for a ‘drug trafficking offence’ or ‘specified offence’ have been instituted and the judge is satisfied that there is reasonable cause to believe that the person has benefited from the relevant offence. The orders are broad as they apply to all the realisable property of the accused (i.e. property which may be used to realise a confiscation order) and not only property traceable to the relevant offence.
Once a restraint order is made, the court can appoint an interim receiver to take possession of realizable property and manage and deal with the property. Private accounting firms have typically been appointed as interim and enforcement receivers. Charging orders are enforceable in the same way as equitable charges. …” (International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR)).
BCFC is solvent and will tick over without big wages or transfer fees next year. BIHL is the entity in trouble and only the HK courts, stock exchange, BIHL directors and creditors can sort that out.
It may take a while, so keep taking the prozac as we enter the silly season.
Can’t do bold formatting as well as smiley faces :( The bolding should have stopped before “… Charging orders…”, apols.
Ahhhhh (sound of penny dropping). Nope, can’t do sounds!!
Reminds me of a conversation I had with a fellow blues fan of how as fans we have had so much heartache that we have built a protective shell around ourselves so we are always pessimistic and expecting to fail. That way if we fail it hurts less and if we are successful the highs are just unexpected and so much more glorious.
Isn’t it hilarious how our football club has a senior board who has lost all concept of management and accountability and is so publically ridiculed that’s it’s become a fact of life! Then we have a manager who rolls up his sleeves and probably does his job for the good of the game, the fans and the teamwork of those he works with ..the backroom staff and the team themselves ..and we fans have got to be the most passionate around.
Isn’t it normally the other way around for most clubs???
Proud to be a bluenose!