- Home
- Birmingham City
- Current Squad
- Adam Legzdins
- Jonathan Grounds
- Paul Robinson
- Ryan Shotton
- Maikel Kieftenbeld
- Robert Tesche
- Stephen Gleeson
- Clayton Donaldson
- Diego Fabbrini
- David Cotterill
- Rhoys Wiggins
- Che Adams
- Lukas Jutkiewicz
- Viv Solomon-Otabor
- Jacques Maghoma
- Greg Stewart
- Jonathan Spector
- David Davis
- Michael Morrison
- Tomasz Kuszczak
- Paul Caddis
- Development Squad
- Academy
- Ladies Team
- Sophie Baggaley
- Alex Windell
- Meaghan Sargeant
- Jess Carter
- Kerys Harrop
- Freda Ayisi
- Kirsty Linnett
- Bella Linden
- Andrine Hegerberg
- Abbey-Leigh Stringer
- Melissa Lawley
- Charlie Wellings
- Chloe Peplow
- Rebecca Lloyd
- Connie Schofield
- Emily Westwood
- Cheryl Edwards
- Corina Schröder
- Ashlee Brown
- Coral-Jade Haines
- Aoife Mannion
- Ann-Katrin Berger
- Out on Loan
- Former Players
- Boards and Advisors
- Appearance Data 2014/2015
- Current Squad
- Factfiles
- Series
- Sponsorship
- Website Info
- Social Media
- Contact Me
The R Word
Birmingham City yesterday drew 2-2 with Brighton and Hove Albion to remain in 20th place with 31 points, five ahead of the drop zone. With just eighteen matches remaining this season relegation is looking a more and more serious threat – are Blues truly in danger?
As someone who tries to be positive, this is difficult for me to write. I truly want to believe that Blues will improve and rise to mid-table but as the matches continue it’s becoming increasingly more bleak for the club and I think it’s reflected in the flat atmosphere at the home games – it’s like we’re almost expecting the incoming defeat.
The problem is from a statistical point of view things do not make for good reading. Blues haven’t won at all since Boxing Day and haven’t won at home since the last day of November. Worst still, it’s been fourteen league games now since Blues last kept a clean sheet and in thirty-two games in all competitions this season Birmingham have only kept four. In comparison to how the team has been built over previous seasons – good home form and a solid defence – the difference is palpable.
Yet when you take it into context with the teams around us it becomes even more baffling. Of the bottom seven teams, Blues have comfortably the best goal difference (-9) and whilst only three teams have scored fewer goals than Blues – including Barnsley who stuck five past us at St Andrews – all bar two of the bottom seven have conceded more goals.
The reason for this is evident when you look at the win-draw-loss records – Blues might have only lost 11 games this season in the league but they have also only won seven – only the bottom two have won fewer games. The draws column is where Blues stand out, having drawn 10 games this year – and this is what is in my opinion killing us.
The Huddersfield game is a good example of this – but for a late, late equaliser Blues could have picked up a much-needed win. In the last ten league games there have only been two games where we have been winning at half-time (Huddersfield and Burnley) and both games we ended up with only a point – and against Burnley that was only down to Nikola Zigic equalising in the 89th minute. Against Bolton we took the lead early on but were losing by half time and finished the match losing. In that same ten match period, Blues have only won twice – with one of those (Middlesbrough) coming from a position where Blues were behind at one stage.
It’s got to the stage whereby like yesterday, even when Blues score first I personally find myself thinking that Blues need at least another one if not two goals to be remotely sure of taking the points because I can almost guarantee that we will concede at some point. I wonder how much of this is in the player’s minds too – it almost seems at times that when Blues do concede the players accept it as an inevitability – it’s going to happen. Thinking and playing like that will get us relegated.
This is the rub – this is why I (like quite a few other Blues fans judging by my Twitter timeline) felt so agitated when I saw the starting line up and saw no strikers on the pitch. For Blues to do anything they need to win games. Unlike this season, they are not going to defend stoutly and nick games, or grind out efficient 1-0 wins; this season we need to attack and score as much as possible because one knows that we will concede.
By my reckoning, Blues need 19 points or so from the remaining 18 games to have a good chance of staying up (which becomes a daunting 29 points if we do slide into administration). At this moment in time I think even the lower target is going to be a struggle and I think Clark needs to realise this – performances aren’t what matter now, it’s all about points. If it has to be long-ball, hoofed, direct football to the big bloke up top to knock down for the rest then so be it. We’re at the business end of the season now and saying “we were unlucky” or “that wasn’t deserved” no long cut it (if it ever did in the first place) – we need to start creating our own luck and start scoring some undeserved points.
Judging by my thoughts at the start of the season this season is a failure no matter what happens. The time has come for Clark and his staff to make that failure just a mere blip in our fortunes rather than a catastrophic relegation – and if they can’t do that or feel that they’re not going to be allowed to do anything to prevent it due to financial constraints etc then I honestly think that it’s down to them to hold their hands up and walk away.
Tags: Lee Clark, relegation
92 Responses to “The R Word”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Absolutely spot on.
The threat of administration looming over us and that 10 point deduction needs to be thought of… lets face it, realistically we should’ve took 3 points, not 1 from Huddersfield and that would make any deduction just 7 points to make up, instead of the 9 it currently is.
Im not bothered about performances now, they’ve been dreadful all season really, and ive personally travelled to Watford, Coventry etc! Its all about results and picking up points… I dont care if we hoof it long for 90 minutes and win 1-0 with the scrappiest of last minute tap ins off a backside, results are what matter.
If we make it to the magic survival target, administration or no administration, thats when you relax and try something different with a few different players at the end of the season, to come into play for next season.
The experiment of no strikers doesnt work… its ultimately setting us up for a fall before we even kick off, and gives off the idea that “oh we’re happy with a draw at best”. Last season we lost just THREE at home, one to the eventual European Champions in Chelsea (FA Cup replay), one to Braga in the Europa League, and a shocker against Nottingham Forest.
Now we’re desperate for any points we get, home or away, its ridiculous!
Here’s another statistic to sum up just how woeful our home form has been this yr, @ the same stage last season under C.H (14home league games) we’d scored 21 compared to Clarky’s 18 but the goals against difference is startling & frankly scary, Under Hughton we’d conceded 6 compared to 22 under L.C, if ever there was a stat that summerises how different this season is to last then this is the statistic for me.
In my opinion we’ve got a better keeper in Butland & not Myhill who nobody seemed to really rate last season & we’ve still got Caldwell & Davies, Robbo is more than adequate cover for Murphy whose performances had dropped before his injury anyway & Caddis gains pretty positive reviews so I’m left stumped, flabberghasted and distraught at the state of our home form which has to be one of the most embarassing in all of league football
The difference there, for me, is that Caldwell and Davies have been really poor. It is only one of several problems this year, but yesterday in particular, they were in a blind panick when the ball came anywhere near them in the box….. Added to that, Butland does not command his area very well and the result is……. well, very much Sunday league defending!
The difference is also how Hughton set the team out compared to how Clark does.
Under Hughton, the defence may have been more confident and more settled in the knowledge that IF they conceded one, the strikers would go and score two.
Under Clark, the defence seem unsettled and panicky as they know if they concede one, it’s highly unlikely we’ll score two.
Feck Hughton
BTW we’ve scored 2 or more in 15 games this season.
And how many times have we then conceded another or more?
And we can’t ‘feck Hughton’ as he’s our most recent comparison point…
Just out of interest Paul, do you know out of those 15games how many of them we have won?? It’s impressive to have scored more than 2 in over half our league games but it’s only a worthy and impressive stat if we have a high win percentage to follow the goals
LC will not walk away.He has shattered whatever reputation he supposedly had.I suspect that finding gainful employment in Football at any reasonable level will be a big ask for the foreseeable.Therefore he will hang on for the compensation to maintain his standard of living.Not good news for us but I guess if we are all honest many of us would do the same thing for the sake of our families or just because we had got used to nice cars and exotic holidays.Relegation is not a great option but to rid us of Pannu and co and to make a fresh start with a manager the fans support may not be such a bad thing.We are in a terrible place right now,we have been in terrible places before and survived and come back stronger.I must confess however that this time does feel different to the Kumar,Wheldon era.I suspect its the complexity of the ownership structure and their alleged behaviour which frightens me.Thanks to Almajir we have some pertinent questions which need answering and I suspect that if the protectionist libel and slander laws were not so open to abuse there would be a few more hard hitting questions being posed. Whatever questions are asked i fear that from now on they will remain unanswered.This whole debacle is now in the critical stage-Please Pannu either sell,admit you have lost control and put us into administration or just disappear like Lord Lucan.
Loved it yesterday, a cracking wintry and very english game and well done to all the staff who worked hard to get it on and a good turnout from Brighton I thought.
Personally, after Tuesday I was glad he dropped King who ambled about not trying all night but I would definitely have started Zigic and Lovenkrands. After Tuesday I would have dropped Gomis and bought in lynch mob target man Mullins who keeps the ball far better. No strikers then? I’d like to know Lees reason for doing that but I aint stressing over it. After all when we went 1 up no-one was saying anything and let’s be honest it was just as awful with the strikers on as it had been whilst they were on the bench. Who scored the goal for us again? Wasn’t the worlds worst player Caldwell was it? Oh but that was last weeks bandwagon, midweek it was Ziggys turn and right now it’s the strikerless line up.
Are we bottom of the table? No. Are we 5 points clear? Yes. Could we be 8 points clear next week? Yes. Is it nailed on that Burnley will beat us? No. Fine margins. We would be 8 clear if we had rightly beaten Huddersfield but that’s football. We could be looking forward to a lucrative home tie against Spurs in the cup but for 2 world class saves from Leeds keeper. Fine margins.
We must keep LC at all costs. Sacking him now would mean relegation for sure. If you can’t take that tough. We’d have to recruit and that wouldn’t be easy and all the muppets saying get Adkins must be on drugs. The candidates would be of the same ilk as they were prior to Lees arrival. The new man would then come in with his new team with with zero funds, have to assess the squad, teach em his new training methods and yes a new manager usually gets going quickly but not always. Wolves and Ipswich have changed managers but are only a couple of points better off than us. So I’m for sticking with Lee. Not cos he’s brilliant, not cos the footballs great but because I feel we’d drop points whilst the recruiting merry-go-round was happening.
As I say we could possibly be 8 points clear next week so I’ll carry on supporting the manager and the team if you don’t mind. We still got a point and I’m still going to Burnley and still enjoying going down the Blues ta.
Paul
I would have diagree with your comment that losing LC means certain relegation, the guy is utterly useless. His team selections leave me almost unable to begin to understand his thinking and I honestly believe that I a certain way the injuries have helped him out in that he has been left with no real choices to make, hence the kids got thrown in and have performed better than we all perhaps hoped. But let’s be clear in these cases the decisions were made FOR him not by him. As soon as players come back and we have options he once again makes baffling team selections. How many teams in the championship would leave 3 recognised strikers on the bench at home when they know they need to score goals and whether you feel MK turned in a decent performance on Tuesday or not he is one of our best hopes of doing that as the song confirms.
I do howevere agree with your concerns over what to do if we lose LC, and agree would agree that we may/would struggle to get anyone of quality in, but I am at the point now where, and I am sure you will tell be I am wrong, I honestly think anyone would be better than LC. So in my opinion Keeping LC will result in almost certain relaxation. But I am sure that he will stay on and I sincerely hope that in may you can send me a message reminding me of my view knowing then that I was wrong.
Relaxation should read relegation, bloody apple spelling police, watching Blues under LC will certainly never result in relaxation!
Dean mate
I’ve no problem with us having different opinions, I have a slight problem with you saying LC is utterly useless cos some times this season his substititions have won us games. Everything is up for debate. Had he started with 2 recognised strikers and we got belted the opinion then would be that he shouldn’t have changed the side.
There is no such thing as almost certain mate.
There are two things we need to consider and you have alluded to one. A poor replacement ( and no-one good will come) will be just as bad maybe worse so no advantage there and that our players, well most of them, know we can’t sign anybody and that they’ll get a game/be on the bench however bad they play. We can’t replace them see.
Paul,
Perhaps utterly useless was a bit harsh, my frustration coming through, but IMO he is not great, we often look under prepared, his team selections are questionable and his tactics, well I am never actually quite sure what our tactics are. I cannot recall all of his substitutions in detail, but often it seems that with his substitutions he is simply correcting his original poor team selection.
However he can be inspirational, yesterday when his per match rambling came on the screen he inspired me to go and get a coffee so I didn’t have to listen to him, so in that way he raised another £2.20 for the coffers.
Hey Dean
Dont get me wrong, am hardly on cloud nine meself here either.
I’ve just accepted the position, will play the waiting game, see what happens.
There’s nothing else we can do.
We can’t sack him due to the financial implications, he won’t walk as he’s being paid and certainly won’t get another job straight away with his showing this season, so we are definitely stuck with him.
However, I don’t think there are many people who would disagree that he’s our worst manager in over a decade and a half…
Can’t argue with that.
“Ipswich only a couple of points in front”, they were nine behind in November!!
Someone of the same ilk as LC says Paul.
Is that someone who managed in league one and championship, who is out of a job, is under 50, ran a team on a shoestring, ran a club with about 6000 fans and dealt in bargain basement buys, wonder who that would be?
i know Adkins.
A post wanting to keep Clark and play Mullins?
Deary me. The voice of treason more like.
Paul my theory about you is , you are Lee Clark….!!
If we read your posts from that perspective..they suddenly make a lot more sense . :-)
:)
Do you subscribe to my ideal that either hall or redmond should be played with lovenkrands or ziggy? I say this due to lack of strikers, we know the kids are genrally faster and tend to do better but we have no real strikers among them. The school of thought being that like King setting up wood last year the speed can be exploited by more precision passing and creativity.
Why does this muppet think we wouldn’t get Adkins when he previously managed Scunthorpe?
I think one thing that will work in our favour is there are at least three teams who are worse than us, and who will be below us at the end of the campaign. Also believe we have to keep LC, maybe a re-shuffle in his backroom staff could be a better and cheaper option than wasting money we haven’t got on over-hyped or injury prone players.
“then I honestly think that it’s down to them to hold their hands up and walk away”
Good luck with that mayor,do you honestly think they would walk without there dough?
18 games left, and LC, TM & DF cant see the woods for the trees. We have been led into this and so have the team. This is nothing short of tactical ineptitude and questionable training. I would probably add that confidence, positivity and experience has been brought into the equation as well. All factors we had in bounds last season ..all factors we don’t this one.
How to ruin a football club in under 12 months, by PP, CY, BIHL and LC.
I make no apologies, but all of those are accountable for the performance of the club, the team and the results. That’s how it works. I’ve said before, (to quote an American chap I once worked with) ‘When you’re football teams failing, you don’t fire the players’.
Right now, it’s like pushing water uphill in a sieve, and looking around for the nearest bucket. It’s hard to watch, but our team could do so much better, because we know that they could do it. We do have a team that could win so many games ..but their body language at times tells me something is making them not perform, and make stupid mistakes.
We have the word ‘administration’ looming above, and that could happen, and now we have the word ‘relegation’ as well. Our board(s) should of seen this coming, and it is disgraceful how things have come to light, but I would like to see accountabiliy being accepted by them ..and not just in a little speech over the phone to a journalist.
‘We do have a team that could win so many games ..but their body language at times tells me something is making them not perform’
Paulo it is my firm belief that the ‘something’ you allude to is the fact that the players know we have no-one to replace them and can’t buy anybody.
Paul, I agree, but it could be many things ..leadership, commitment, passion, knowing they are safely under LC’s wing and confidentiality will be respected, knowing that the owners would sell them just to make a quick pound – not for their skill or importance!
Being replaced is not high on PP’s list of priorities ..selling them is.
I wouldn’t like to work for a boss who doesn’t give a s**t about what I do, good or bad. My point is, the financial mess and HK fiasco has affected the players as it has done the fans ..and no doubt there are other reasons I havent mentioned as well.
Difficulty is Clark at this level lacks experience and tacticlal nouse and he thinks he can blag his way out of trouble.He needs to listen to his critics and may be take advice from a more senior experienced ex-manager.If he doesn’t make a step change in his thinking I think we will go down.
The players also have to take responsibility but sadly I believe Clark has lost their support -most of these guys like to win and its not happening because of Clarks mismanagement.
You have no idea if the players don’t support Clark.
None.
Neither does anyone have any idea if they do. None.
I want to jump to the defence of Paul a wee bit here because he has took a real pounding for supporting lee clark.
The way i see it is he is just a B/ham fan looking to get behind his team and his manager, whoever is in charge and thet is commendable. So well done paul
The only thing i take issue with is the ”feck hughton” and the reason I take issue with that is because he was able to get so much more from the same players.
Fo I say No need to slate hughto but i am with paul that we need to give our current manager all the support we can because it does not look like he is going anywhere soon, so we had better get behind him like paul has
The big difference at the moment is that when we were in the ” old division 3 ” previously, we had not had a taste of success for a long long time.. Now over the years since then we have gained support and supporters who did not witness those days.. Wehave supporters who were brought up on championship & premiership football down at St Andrews ( I could even add European nights in that list!! ). It is all relative, and we will have lost a lot of support, apart from the hard core who turned up tues. & sat. Some people have forgotten the halcyon days of the kumars and wheldon, Kevin Francis, Simon Sturridge Ricky Otto et al. Remember we have been there before… It hurts at the time.. We will come back up, and we will forget about this ad well. Personally, although I obviously don’t want relegation, it may be the best case?? Clear out from the top, board management etc.. Get a decent young manager in, actually sell the club for a proper price, rather than trying to re-coup carsons silly valuation. It would hurt, but we could move on
A very fair point.
Totally agree that relegation is becoming an increasing worry. Also agree yesterday’s selection was bizarre and didn’t work. Not sure if clark should get credit for rectifying his mistake at half time or not.
I tend to agree with pcvor’s outlook – I.e. changing the manager is NOT a no brainer, and the margins are incredibly thin so things could improve quite quickly. This squad is easily capable of getting the points needed. All credit to them yesterday for displaying last season’s never say die attitude which ultimately got us the valuable point.
My worry is the malaise amongst supporters. Football is all about belief and confidence. The current atmosphere at games is clearly effecting the players. In a situation where the club lacks leadership from pannu and arguably Clark, the onus on supporters more than ever is to get behind the players, back them to the hilt and make st Andrew’s intimitading again.
unfortuneately, far too many of our supporters can’t see this and would rather stay away or come and moan….
Although I admit its virtually impossible not to moan at gomis. He’s a trier, but he’s crap I’m afraid !
So LC stuck by his starting 11 and went for high tempo “but when you go behind at home you have to look at changing things”. I don’t care what anyone says you have to start a match with someone that has an eye for a goal. Yes Marlon may not be fully fit and will need game time but as the song says, he scores goals. Why not give him and Ziggy 45 mins each. Even though we played well away last week Morrison and Redmond are not the answer up front. Yes it offers something different but you might as well start with Pablo at centre half and put Davies up front cos he scores goals.
Frustrating and heart breaking times!
It is clear that we need to keep clean sheets, defensively we have been awful this season and its difficult to put your finger on why this is the case.
I agree that we should now be playing to our strengths and the most obvious being to play off the big man, get balls into him and ask the terriers, Redmond, Hall or Burke to get round him and play off the knock downs. There’s no doubt we can score goals and have scored in virtually very game of the season but because we try to play football we are being caught out at the back. It may be time to sacrifice footballing principles in the name of survival!
Defensively we concede sloppy goals but appear to have good solid defenders. Caldwell is too slow but is strong and a good leader, Curtis would walk into any Championship team and quite a few in the premier league. Robbo and Caddis? I think they’re as good as any in this division?
I wondr if it may be worth adding an extra central defender, Pablo has defensive qualities that may add strength to the team?
Butland is a concern for me, undoubtedly he will be a top class keeper but is he ready for a relegation dogfight? Clark and Terry Mac will know his character but I’ve always been a supporter of Colin Doyle, he commands his area well and is a decent shot stopper.
So for me it would be Doyle in goal, five defenders with Curtis having the free role as his extra pace gets us out of trouble time and again. Four midfielders, two in the centre to fight, scrap and spoil. Ziggy or Marlon up front with the wide men given clear instructions to drift in as often as they can, play off the big man and cause havoc!
Funny really but this management game is easy sitting here in my armchair!
When your lumping balls from one end of the pitch to the other. What do we expect how we’re the 2 younger wingers going to win headers against brightons centre halfs. Robinson never gets any support from the midfielder playing in front of him. And in my opinion caddis was woeful yesterday. But when the lad as been out for x amount of weeks. Probably hasn’t trained and then played 3 games in a week . It’s understandable. To leave your strike force on the bench is a joke. And I’m sure if the fans hadn’t called for the forwards to come on. He would have replaced the front 2 with Doyle and hancox. The footballs not enjoyable and I’ve had better dentist appointments. This season reminds me of the season when we were relegated under Mcleish his philosophy was don’t lose. So we ended up drawing numerous games. ( a huddersfield fan stated this on op at the start of the season ). Give me a win and a lose. 3pts. Then 2 draws any day. If administration does raise its head we’re doomed.
E.
Can’t argue with any of the article, Almajir. Superbly written and it’s clearly a real struggle for you to be writing negatives!
I really don’t know what, if anything, we can do if Lee Clark doesn’t see the need to be starting recognised strikers rather than simply put three on the bench. If he can’t see that, he doesn’t deserve to be employed again when he eventually gets the shove from Blues (he’s certainly never going to walk).
How can Paul Carter say replace Gomis with Mullins?
Because he’s either Hayden Mullins, Hayden Mullins’ wife or Lee Clark.
Though I’m not sure the latter two are different people…
Because unlike you and the idiot below I actually go to the games and actually watch them
lol the idiot above then :)
Lol!
But Paul I am a season ticket holder AND an idiot!
But you’re wrong about Gomis mate x
No he’s not.
Gomis has been piss poor the last two games. Mullins is nowhere near as bad as has been made out. I’d easily pick Mullins over Gomis right now.
Dead right Dan
This gang mentality is another of the problems amongst our fans,
TBF they are both shite…!!
Anyone who thinks gomis is good enough to play at this level is deluded
Ditto to anyone who thinks Mullins is cut out for this level, too.
i was pro gomis, but his had a decent run now which he had lacked all season and he’s gone off the boil, so time to give someone else a go and Mullins had improved prior to his injury so deserves another chance.
Think the games in Feb will determine if BLUES will be in a relegation dog~fight.
Forest (H) “Return of McJudas”
Charlton (A)
Watford (H)
Sheff`Wed (H)
P`Boro (A)
Think we need at least 10 points from the above fixtures.
On L`C’s decision to leave 3 strikers on the bench y`day,maybe less chance of getting injured before they jump ship.
Try and look on the bright side following the performance yesterday, none of the other teams in the bottom half won yesterday and we are still only a couple of wins away from mid-table. It hard to see where those wins will come from but I think WHEN they do come they will do more than give us some points, they will give us some confidence and belief.
I think LC is suffering from a lack of confidence and that is contributing to his odd decisions, he is trying to win people over, the ones he lost when he didn’t hit the ground running. I don’t particularly like him but LC is an ok manager and I do think sometimes he gets unfairly criticised what ever he does partly because he is not Chris Hughton. He got it wrong yesterday but it looks like we’re stuck with him thanks to tweedle dumb and tweedle dee in the Far East so lets hope he can turn it round and please let’s not start getting the bed sheets out again, we’re better then that.
We have some descent players who with a bit of confidence and fight will easily stay up. It is bad at the moment, unlike anything i’ve seen before but the time for the doom and gloom is if we are in the bottom three with two or three games to go. For now, stay positive!
I think the problem is poor morale and therefore confidence is low. It doesnt matter who you pick because we dont look like winning. We are playing like a team that is going to get relegated at the moment judging by our form. Stating the obvious I know.
Majority of supporters dont have faith in LC and his stuck record “he will turn it around and works very hard” diatribe. Just when is he going to do this exactly? He blames the players instead of his self every time there is an unacceptable performance.
Sorry to go back to CH but he was always cool, calm and collected. LC wears his heart on his sleeve and is like a Kevin Keagan clone.
Most fans (who turn up) are just hoping we fluke a win somewhere. Lets be honest – if you didnt have a season ticket – would you go down when it depresses you so much? I bet it feels more like a sentence to the season ticket holders as well.
So how do we turn this around? Well somehow the belief and morale need to be instilled into the team and therefore encouarge the fans with their performances.
How do you do that with the “Sword of Damocles” above your head with more player sales, the real threat of relegation and even administration?
LC needs to pick his best 11 available and stop worrying about the opposition. He also needs to remain calm with every set back we get. That would help his cause at least.
Might as well go Into adminastration then get a new owner quicker cuz that’s what owners r waiting for
What happens if we go into Administration and they buy us back for nothing?
Oh no! Not even with my active imagination and paranoia had I envisaged such a situation.Dear God No!
Positives
1) The team has fight to come back from behind
2) We are 5 points above relegation zone
3) we are still picking up draws rather than losing all the time
4) We are capable of staying above the teams around us
5) There is no one in this division we cant beat on our day
6) All we need to do is improve our home form to stay out of trouble
More?
7) A scrappy one nil win with some fortune and string a couple of back to back results toether would improve morale and confidence.
Back-to-back wins haven’t happened all season. What makes you think it’s going to happen now? No evidence to suggest the quality or confidence exists for it become a reality.
I am absolutely shocked that many still seem surprised by our current situation and position in the league. Did anyone really expect us to do anything with a manager who lived off an undefeated home record yet still failed to get his team promoted twice and got sacked when in the playoff position (if memory serves me correctly) which pretty much sums up the bloke.
I hate the current situation we are in and really wish Clark wasn’t manager but what other options do we have – NONE. Until the club is sold (or new investment found) we are stuck with it but to be honest its what being a Blues fan is all about. Compared to 15-20years ago I think the standard of our play has been good (I remember watching us get hammered by Bury at home and we were shit)
If u dont like it don’t go the games, its better having 7k supporting hte team than 15k with half booing the slightest mistake.
Keep Right On and keep it real
Thats what the fans are already doing mate. By the sounds of things the 7K in the ground are not exactly over the moon either
Would you rather take
a) relegation, admin and a change of ownership?
or
b) scrape it and avoid relegation and admin but have this ownership fiaiso going on in the summer as well?
B
It’s hard to bounce back and getting an owner (with the capital required these days) in lge 1 would be harder. Look at clubs like Leeds arguably more attractive club to buy then us… Forest… Only attracted a buyer when they look like they could safely compete in championship.
As a potential club buyer it’s a gamble to get in the prem so a championship club is less of a gamble and the payoff is potentially sooner. Add that to the fact we will still have parachute payments if we stay in championship again helping the club and attractive to buyers. If we go down we will be torn apart club and squad wise and spend several seasons outside the championship let alone the prem.
We need to stay in the championship if only to secure parachute payments and a core squad which can scrap away in the championship. Lets face it the next buyer isn’t likely to Russian or an Arab so likely to be poor in football owners terms not likely to be able to fund a revolution it we’ll likely be a long evolution, a long road with its ups and downs. KRO
Agree but say we do that then what do we have left after
a) best player assets sold
b) last reduced parachute pyt of 8M
c) a shed load of senior players out of contract and leave the club
d) Zigix wages for another year
e) reduced value of the club due to sales and loss of revenue. CY and PP even more stubborn to hold out?
AND
f) potentially our owner CY going to jail – what happens then?
Take away Ziggy’s three late levellers and ten draws would become seven and we would be even closer to the drop. We’re not a team who have come right out of the locks this season in many games.
Is zigic contract weighted to pay 50k or more or automatic extension based on appearances? Must be something for him not to be in team more often seems to effect games more then anyone else in the team.
He needs to be played in games more and play more direct… Probs take some of the pressure of the back if we have that option. Still hoping it will click and we will see ourselves safe. KRO!
No point getting rid of LC. Of the bottom clubs, Bristol City, Ipswich, Barnsley, Wolves and Blackpool have all changed managers. Not sure it has made a huge difference in any of those cases. Actually if you are a Blackpool fan, you’re going to be seriously worried with TWO changes of managers so far. The bright spot on the horizon is that there are clubs worse than us. If I were a Blackpool fan, I’d be starting to worry as there is always one club whose season nose-dives and it could be them.
In my blindly optimistic moments, we will somehow go on a flukey winning streak.
By the way, can anyone explain what exactly an assistant manager does? Does Terry McMuppett actually say to Lee: “Look son, that’s a bit of a unusual move leaving all three strikers on the bench. Why not have a rethink?” I’m sure Lee’s trying to think he’s dead clever and trying to out-fox and out-wit the opposition. Except he’s just not the brightest biscuit in the tin is he?
Well it’s clearly worked @ Ipswich who beat us & are also now ahead of us in the league, Wolves do look to have more steel and determination in the 2 matches under DS and Barnsley’s results have also picked up since sacking their manager, Bristol City seem to be a lost cause but credit Driscol for going there, Bpool’s managers left to join other clubs so that was somewhat out of their control
Makes no odds- we cannot afford to sack our manager no matter how useless and disorganised we become.
My concern, is that over the last 4 years, we have seen more downs than ups. Our passion and enjoyment attained by watching the Bles has akways been constant. Along the way, we have seen many relegation battles, which have been met with relish by the supporters and we have seen increased attendance at the matches as we were watching games with much at stake, rather than pointless, midtable, running down of the season. My greatest wish is that we stop fighting each other to put our Blues world to right and rally round the team to boost morale and get the best out of the team and maximise our chances of staying in this division.
40 years!
Fans the club can not afford to sack Clark so we are stuck with him, live with it accept it.
We do have some decent players they need our support if we do not give them this we are doomed
they are not playing for the Manager because he is simply not good enough they are hopfully playing for the supporters so stop moaning and make your voices heard sing .Keep right on to the end of the road shout your support LOUD and cheer them on please do not watch in abject silence give the boys in blue a lift when they are playing they need us at times like this.
It’s time again to pick ourselves up and look at the few positives from yesterday.
Whilst our play, tactics, match atmosphere – in fact everything connected with the club, is dire, we are picking up points. We aren’t losing match after match, we have to keep LC ( despite being worse then Pendrey and Mckay) and we have to believe that for now, we will stay up.
My optimistic view of the play offs finally disappeared yesterday, even mid table looks a long way off, so the odd win in 5/6 couple with a few draws should see us over the line.
If LC keeps us up and he’s on a rolling contract, then the club should thank him for his efforts and release him from his duties in May. He has had a similar set of players to CH and despite being very unlucky with injuries, he is not the man for us. No point in booing or getting out the bed sheets.
KRO
There is no way Blues will go into administration this season, there are players to sell, even if clubs get a bargain. The fact remains that we dont need the 10 point deduction to put us in League One, the performances and results themselves will put us there.
We are sleepwalking into relegation, LC is desperately trying anything he can to shake it up and make a difference. I’ve read that King and Davies have been told that they may be sold to help with the financis. Zigic is being slated because he is looking after his family, it all makes for a miserable unhappy team, we have nowear to go except down.
What if zigic and king are sold in the jan window and we end up with 1 striker left …who do we play alongside lovenkrands then ? We would defo need extra strikers but who is available for the money we have not many I guess we should try and loan DJ Campbell he would be a good fit a fighter and he can score the odd goal or 2 KRO
Well no worries- we would nt have been playing them anyway. Strikers in the team- Clark will never go that route.
Catch 22. For example, sell Burke and save wages and get a fee to ease cashflow (he goes for nothing in the summer) but diminish our chances of staying up and missing out on a 8M parachute payment or pay his remaining wages to increase our chances of staying up.
So we have to balance sales with weakening the team. Butland for instance would ease financials and we have Doyle to come in. We are kidding ourselves if we think Butland will get 6M. Southampton probably offered 6M including performance related incentives. So perhaps we could sell Butland for 4M upfront and loan him back to us for instance?
Dont think Zigic will leave so that means King and Davies may have to be sacrificed instead for instance.
Just remember one thing tho – as long as we average more than 1 point a game that will probably be enough to keep us up. So all hope is not lost.
ps it will be interesting to see if we renew Robinson’s contract. If we dont then we are really desperate!
I wonder if we are still paying Fahey’s wages during his extended sabbatical?
Call me cynical but is he training with Shamrock rovers in Ireland to sort himself out in the summer? Why is he not training back here and playing for the reserves?
he would still be on compasionate leave and staying unfit, whereas with this arrangement he stays at home and gets fit and hopefully hits the ground running when and if he returns, please let it be soon!!
Depends what you believe when it comes to this whole scenario….
Is it only me but I seem to spend too much time looking at other results apart from the blues as I fully expect either 1 point or non so I check all teams below us and as long as they haven’t won I seem to accept its a good week …. not a good way of looking at things but seems to make the weekends football slightly more enjoyable !!! KRO
Lee Clark’s time has ran out, we should not be worrying about relegation, but it seems its a reality coming our way of he stays. Enough excuses now, we’ve heard it all before, he’s out of his depth and sinking fast.
Walk out now Clark, your career may be salvaged if you do.
Does nobody else think that Clarke played our two quickest players upfront (Hall and Redmond) to counteract the slow Brighton back line?
Our strikers haven’t been superb by any stretch of the imagination so I can see why he’d try and change things albeit temporarily.
I agree with Paul Carter in that sacking Clarke now would do more harm than good!
(This is my first time posting on this site, but i’ve been following your posts/blogs for a few seasons and it’s always well written and informative, Cheers)
Well we can,t say that Huddersfield fans didn,t warn us, they may have gone 50 odd games without defeat but Huddersfield fans bemoaned the fact that most were draws! On match days I necer expect us to win, my daughter text me to say Blues were beating Brighton 1-0 and text back saying we will loose 2-1 then! And we nearly did. Thats just the apathy around St Andrews i,m afraid and unless the ownership debacle is settled then the apathy will stay!!
Paul, a certain HTFC fan (Huddfan) did come on here and made some very illuminating comments about life as a Hudds fan under LC. Sadly, he was made unwelcome by a few, but he did let us know what we were in for back then. As it turns out, his predictions were very nearly accurate, although becoming a lot worse.
I enjoyed it last time we were in the old 3rd division. Attacking football, good support home and away, no prima donnas just hard working battlers.
Hope it’s the same next year because I fear that’s where we will be.
It has also been debated on here that even of we achieve enough points to ‘just’ survive in the championship, should we be hit with financial administration (due to the apparent inability to sustain the wage bill come the end of the season) and we just cling onto a bottom spot after a 10 point deduction …we could still be relegated by higher powers, due to ‘flexible’ rules that exist.
All we get from LC and his muppets in the back room are excuses week after week “we’re trying hard to get it right” “we’re determined to straighten this out and bounce back” “the players aren’t performing as they were last season…” etc etc….. Am I right in thinking LC is on a one-year rolling contract? Does that mean the option of further torrid years may not be taken up at the end of the season? Am I also right in thinking that as negotiations of a takeover have vanished quicker than our chances of promotion by september that we can sell-sell-sell and use what limited funds there may be in paying off LC, T-Mac, and Dizzee Fazackerly and get Nigel Adkins in to get the squad rallied again? Surely that’s a better option instead of allowing LC to purchase a load of bargain basement cast-offs a la Barry Fry (I’m shuddering at the thought of another Kenny Lowe for example).
Finally, even if we do stay up by some miracle, I reckon the FA will find a way to relegate us anyway – they’re like that towards Blues.
I find it funny reading some people’s opinions, I want to start off by saying Chris Hughton had a different team to what Lee Clark has this season the man has got his hands tied behind his back because the club is being run by aloud of mugs, people calling for Clark to walk.. I ask this question with the money the club has who is going to do a better job, also someone said last season with CH at this stage of the season we conceded 6 goals at home compared to 22 this season I think we will be lucky to sell Butland for 5 million,
“On L`C’s decision to leave 3 strikers on the bench y`day,maybe less chance of getting injured before they jump ship.”
That’s the point, I’m sure. We need to sell players to continue trading, so if there has been any interest shown at all L.C. can’t afford to risk an injury.