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Let’s Face the Music and Dance
The last four days have seen Blues pick up four points and score four goals in two games. It’s been a good return that has seen Birmingham close the gap with the teams immediately above them and with fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers next up there is a hope that Blues can push on in their quest for points.
The week between Christmas and New Year is a funny old time of year. You lose track of what day it is, there seems to be another game every other day and you’re in that kind of post-Christmas lull before it all seems to kick back into reality in the New Year. It certainly doesn’t seem to have been very real for Blues of late; forced into playing more youngsters than ever before yet the points return has slowly started to improve with eight points now coming from the last five games despite the inexperience within the side. With the mob over the expressway getting stuffed more than the average Christmas turkey, letting in a dozen goals in a mere three hours of football one has to say it’s been a good festive season for us Blues fans.
However, I fear that festive fun is going to come to an end soon. There are already a plethora of rumours building of potential players leaving in the national newspapers (along with quotes from Peter Pannu lifted from this site without attribution in one particular tabloid) and the grapevine is awash with stories of “definite” deals already being done to see Blues lose more of their senior players to ease cashflow concerns. Whilst I fully expected Peter Pannu to say that players would probably have to be sold in the window if no investment came in I will admit that it’s still hard to take that we’re going to see more departures from Blues in January.
As every passing day draws on the silence regarding the takeover just becomes that bit more deafening. By my reckoning it’s now virtually impossible to complete a purchase of BCFC by January 31 and I think that it’s now almost inevitable that Gianni Paladini’s Italian-backed consortium will step away from the table as they seemed to almost require the deal to be done before the end of January. If they do indeed pull out it leaves us with just (if we take Pannu at his word) an unnamed HK consortium who are interested in the club – which I will tell you now doesn’t fill me with confidence whatsoever.
I fear for Blues in January. Despite Peter Pannu’s comments, I think Blues fans have been remarkably restrained this season despite all the crap that has gone on. Yes, we saw a bedsheet against Middlesbrough but that was a one-off rather than the norm and on the whole I think Blues fans have done what they can to back the team during games – the last couple especially, you can see how it’s lifted the players when the Tilton has been at its vocal best. However if more players are moved on without replacement and the takeover process drags on more I do wonder how much more Blues’ fans patience can be tested. What’s worse is that if open rebellion does happen it won’t be heard by those that matter – I understand Pannu is due to fly back to HK on December 30 meaning he won’t be around for the next home game, let alone the next month.
Despite all this, I’m looking forwards to 2013. Whilst it might be painful, I think there has to be a resolution soon to the money issues at Blues and like many Blues fans, I’m tired of waiting to see what is going to happen – I just want it over and done with now. As much as there may be trouble ahead, I’m with Nat King Cole. Let’s face the music and dance.
Tags: Peter Pannu, Takeover, The Future
38 Responses to “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”
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I know we are all begging for 1st of Feb to come along & we still have the same squad as now with maybe 1 or 2 additions & that probably isn’t gonna happen, but (and maybe i’m looking through rose tinted glasses here), neither do I believe there will be any sort of fire sale. There has been speculation about Redmond & in particular Butland since last summer, there hasn’t been a week gone by that they haven’t been linked with someone or other, We’re now into silly season where so called newspapers print stories without any foundation whatsoever, it’s gonna be a long month for us Bluenoses & it’s gonna be difficult to ignore all the crap that is written but I think until anything concrete happens that’s what we should do.
Too many people use this site & other blogs for scaremongering just so if something bad does happen they can say “I told you so” & for me the rumor mill should just be ignored. Chins up lads we’re on the up & even if we get a draw against Bolton on Saturday it will be another point away from home. KRO
A good festive period for Blues and I do believe we can get a positive result from Bolton. Is PP being out of the country a good thing. If he was here then maybe he would be selling players but surely he won’t be conducting selling players from a far away land. KRO
Enjoy yesterdays results and quit worrying about what you can’t do anything about. The 826 of us yesterday weren’t worrying.
I don’t want our better players to go either but it has always been thus.
If they go, they go or just like our fans if they don’t go they don’t go.
We just back those that are left.
Loads of tickets left for Bolton, easy to get to and on a Saturday so come on all you loyal Blues fans lets get backing the team we all write about.
KRO
If we lost Butland and Redmond that probably wouldn’t be so bad. Doyle is ok in goal, he can do a decent job at this level and we could probably put in a reserve for 3rd keeper as we’d need one. Redmond hasn’t really fired this season so we might not even notice so much. If we play it sensible we could even sell to someone who will loan them straight back to us.
The kids are doing very well and we will soon have some of the seniors back. Redmond’s recent form has probably dampened some of the interest in him. Talk is that Houghton will make a bid for Curtis. I think we can overcome his loss should it happen. My biggest concern is for the sale of Butand. He seems to make a couple of brilliant saves in every game, which are probably beyond the skillsets of our alternative keepers. Despite that, with players back, the improving form of Burke and the evolving brilliance of Hall, we can still maintain the “10 point gap”, which will give time for the potential buyers to sort their *rses from their elbows! KRO
Do you know any details as to why pannu couldn’t strike a deal with paladini?
A breath of fresh air in this acrid murky world we live in at the moment. But I fear that the desperate hope we have of surviving relegation, administration and a fire sale will be beaten into the ground over the January period. Lets hope that things are sorted before long and order is restored.
I don’t what the fuss is about in regards to butland, yes his a brilliant shot stopper but he doesn’t organise his defence and doesn’t demand his box well, hence why we have seen more goals conceded this season than any other season over the past 5 years at st andrews, iI would feel more comftable with Doyle in goal!!
If we get 6 million plus for butland I would let him go, good business for the club and I think it will have a positive impact on the pitch with a more experienced keeper!
Zigic won’t be one of them I bet :). Butland we have played him to sell on for big money.Past caring now anyway. Just stick another kid into the team instead!
Oh and most of the squad will be gone by the summer anyway as they are out of contract. For example I think fahey has played his last game for us
Great result at Barnsley…no doubt..
Financial Future Miserable…..Pannu a busted flush now… administration beckons.
But whatever ….we are Birmingham City…KRO
My son and I were part of the 826 yesterday braving the rain and the watery Bovril at a dismal Oakwell….. The game was much of a dreary meeting of two pretty shambolic teams which luckily saw Blues prevail. Barnsley might well be feeling just a little upset in that they controlled the game for most of the match and , if it hadn’t been for two brilliant saves from Butland, could well have won… We lacked quality and pace but I’ll accept that the rain and water logged (almost) pitch didn’t help.. Enough has been said here about the dressing room atmosphere but I fear that until all the off field tarradiddle is sorted we are destined for much sorrow rather than joy in the coming months… KRO (PS.. If I win the Euromillions I’ll be buying the club!!)
what a crazy league is this championship. If any team can put in a decent run of form they will run away with the title. they are now forecasting ten million for butland crazy money for one who is still an apprentice. i now have more confidence in LC as he has shown that he can make mid-match changes which will influence the game, while we still have zigi we can have hope. KRO
This graph tells you all you need to know about our club:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birmingham_City_F.C._league_posns.png
We have never been any great shakes unfortunately and, after a few great years above our natural station, we are now back slightly below it. Players come and players go, as do managers, owners and directors. The true fans, like Dave Shaw and his lad in comment above, will always be here.
Does anyone happen to know a reliable local manufacturer of Voodoo dolls? I can’t take much more of Pannu,and as a man of peaceful non violent revolution think that this may be my last chance to rid us of this curse.Cash up front and minimum orders not a problem.KRO We will survive this.
Why Ohh Why are any of us surprised at whats happening at the moment – IT was always gonna happen like this – Peter Pann strolling in to the club for a few days – lay down the law – skip back to the Barber of Hong Kong – set up a few money making deals – try and look the staight guy in the shambollic takeover talks – try and divide the support with blame laying inneuendos on others ( Paladini ) try and placate with an alleged email ( no disrespect Al ) but that could have been fired off by anybody ?????? and also if any of us were innocent of any crime we would try and get into court sharpish and show all to the world – not keep pleading for more time etc etc
It would seem that PP came back to the UK to check whether the Paladini bid was going to be viable and acceptable to him and CY.
Obviously not.
He always knew that the alternative was selling yet more players because he has not managed to secure any investment despite his ‘trying’.
Butland will more than likely go as he is the only one worth multi-millions and trying to replace one player or even putting Doyle there, will not be as difficult as trying to cover for several if Redmond, King, Davies, Burke etc.. were moved on. If PP has learnt anything from past transfer dealings, then he should try and get Butland immediately loaned back for the remainder of the season and insist on a sell-on clause but then again I suppose it all depends on whether he gives a s***.
It is all a crying shame just to think where we were less than 2 years ago and how it all fell apart so spectacularly.
Almajir, doesn’t Yang Yuezhou’s loans and the opportunity for him to get his stake in the club come up for debate soon??
August 31
On the short term positive side, if the kids play the way the OAPs played against cardiff last time round then it’ll be a win or an entertaining draw at the least.
Allowing for players’ salaries plus those for management, backroom staff, office staff etc plus all utilities bills,probably need £6m to get through rest of season. Gate receipts plus other commercial income will probably only contribute a third of this. Player sales therefore look inevitable and if first instalment on,say, Butland no more than £2-3m then another departure is likely.
Thanks for the info true blue, I had been wondering what the financial numbers were, is your information an educated guess or do you have some knowledge of the finances?
In theory then we only really need to lose a couple of players and I would suspect that both King and Davies will be on their way out the door, which aside from bringing in some cash should significantly reduce the wage bill (I would think). But my fear us that the board will pretty much sell anyone that they get a half decent offer and not just sell what they need to balance the books.
Our club is being financially raped by a man who claims to be a fan who demands loyalty but doesn’t even have the common curtesey to respond to emails from those who support the club.He plays on the loyalty of decent hard working fans who want to see this great club survive and to have a stable future.
Under his control he will never get a penny more from me.
Good riddance Mr P -sooner rather than later I hope.
There will be stuff from Pannu in the Birmingham Mail and on Free Radio tomorrow apparently.
But he doesn’t get a penny from you anyway Art
Yes he does Paul and again you have jumped to the wrong assumptions and if you are a fan of PP I question your sanity.
And you are making assumptions about Pannu, but thats ok is it Art? If you give it out, you should be prepared to take it?
Fact….I have sent Pannu 3 emails without receiving a reply.
Fact….he has recently criticised some of the Blues fans for not being supportive at the home games.
Fact…..he’s about to sell one if not two or three of our key players.
Fact….I pay for my grand children’s season tickets every year and go to the home games when in the UK
Paul seems to think that expats or anyone not going to the games shouldn’t have a say in club matters.I probably pay more into the club than he does.
Sorry -that was an assumption which I withdraw.
It is really good to see the team starting to gel and play with confidence, and getting that win was an important 3 points for us. Now, I think I’m right in assuming that PP’s response to OP was nothing short of arrogant and dismissive. In fact it shows how much of a divide between the blues fans and himself. It also seems pretty clear now that there will be no sale of BCFC (which I presumed anyway) and itself has meant PP and CY have shown their true colours in this whole sorry mess. Things are going to get very bleak now, and it will be a shame to see our players in someone elses team very soon (just like the last fire sale).
As for PP and him blaming the fans ..well, I’m sure he is going to get it both barrels now from plenty of bluenoses, and the worse it gets, the more songs will be sung. We are the ones who spend our hard earned wages on following blues, and without us, the fans, our club would struggle to survive. Yet I have never known of the hatred that is brewing right now between the fans and the board(s) here, right now.
What’s up with Fahey?
He’s on compassionate leave.
We all know the official line on Fahey is that he is on compassionate leave for family and personal reasons. Do we think that by continually asking the same question the answers will change?
I think the problem with the Paladini bid is that the buy out is offered by installments with a £17 million downpayment and the the rest depends on promotion. You cant blame Pannu if he rejects it and i cant understand why the buy out has to be installments? Just offer the full £30 million! What a farce.
Tarradiddle!
We can afford to sell Butland as long as we ensure a decent fee and garaunteed sell on clause is negotiated. Doyle is a good keeper who will fill that gap. Others may be more difficult to replace so we may be reliant on our youngsters this season. Survival in this division must be achieved to ensure any value is maintained, if we are relegated PP will be lucky to get £3million never mind 30!
So who replaces Doyle if he get injured?
Any players sold will just weaken a thread bare team even further.
I think there is one of two scenarios here:
1 PP and CY have no intention of selling and are working on CY clearing his name and then managing the club back to prosperity from wherever we end up over the coming months. We have already seen that youth talent can hold its own in this league (So far) so a survival end to the season would be good for PP and CY assuming all goes well in the courts. then the re build can start for next Season.
2 It is quite obvious that it is a buyers market and the desperation of wanting to keep the club afloat will force PP to sell any amount of players to achieve that aim irrespective of relegation. However I think all prospective buyers have made there bids and are now waiting for the admin penny to drop and get the club for a song. Hence the desperation of keeping us a float at any cost.
At the end of it what will be will be as always with Blues we will get a glint of success and then back on our heads again,.
Dream on!,
at last some proper news in the birmingham mail. ps whats up with fahey?
How many times do people need to be told he’s on compassionate leave?