Birmingham City at home match thread

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

The plus side is every pound that SL converts to equity is one pound less that we need to repay him so that's good.

Whether it would be included as part of the asking price it remains to be seen, only SL knows that.

fools and there money are soon parted, SL is no fool and hasnt been since H and L; footballing decisions have been wayward to say the least but his pockets will never be empty.

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 minutes ago, wtf said:

fools and there money are soon parted, SL is no fool and hasnt been since H and L; footballing decisions have been wayward to say the least but his pockets will never be empty.

The point is a new owner may owe said equity, the club as an entity or Bristol City Holdings as an equity would not.

Anyway maybe it should go on the SL thread.

[ashton_fan]

That's 5 wins in the last 6 for Brum at AG, last season being the exception so we've been here before. PNE also have a very good record here so maybe we've just been unlucky to have those as the first two home games.  Perhaps we should wait and see how we do against some of the teams that traditionally struggle here before we rush to judgement.

[sludge]

12 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

That's 5 wins in the last 6 for Brum at AG, last season being the exception so we've been here before. PNE also have a very good record here so maybe we've just been unlucky to have those as the first two home games.  Perhaps we should wait and see how we do against some of the teams that traditionally struggle here before we rush to judgement.

Still boils my pee pee that we continue to look so lightweight against the more physical teams year in, year out. 
Surely to improve our league position we need to start picking up more points against these type of teams? Yet our recruitment continually fails to address this. 

[Red-Robbo]

1 hour ago, sludge said:

Still boils my pee pee that we continue to look so lightweight against the more physical teams year in, year out. 
Surely to improve our league position we need to start picking up more points against these type of teams? Yet our recruitment continually fails to address this. 

Unlike against Preston, I didn't think the main problem today was that we couldn't physically compete - we had a lightweight attacking line at the start, granted, but we are missing Conway and Weimann. 

Preston were a big burly side. This lot weren't.  Their midfielder who scored the first goal looked like a mascot!

We simply didn't pass as well, link up as well,  organise as well, or show as much attacking intent as Birmingham.

What disappoints so much, is we know these players can - and have - played better. 

 

[Reefer Madness]

I'm really not sure what people expected this season

 

Sold the creative spark of the team.  Forwards that don't score enough between them and a very very average defence... It's going to be a long year

[luke_bristol]

1 hour ago, Reefer Madness said:

I'm really not sure what people expected this season

 

Sold the creative spark of the team.  Forwards that don't score enough between them and a very very average defence... It's going to be a long year

I think the fans made it clear two years ago that we weren’t gonna put up with Holden-ball. Yesterday felt like a horrible relapse.

[sludge]

8 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

Unlike against Preston, I didn't think the main problem today was that we couldn't physically compete - we had a lightweight attacking line at the start, granted, but we are missing Conway and Weimann. 

Preston were a big burly side. This lot weren't.  Their midfielder who scored the first goal looked like a mascot!

We simply didn't pass as well, link up as well,  organise as well, or show as much attacking intent as Birmingham.

What disappoints so much, is we know these players can - and have - played better. 

 

Fair points. However I still think that on the whole Birmingham looked stronger than us and that we will continue to struggle against teams with more physicality than us particularly at home. Be delighted to be wrong though. 

[Red-Robbo]

1 hour ago, sludge said:

Fair points. However I still think that on the whole Birmingham looked stronger than us and that we will continue to struggle against teams with more physicality than us particularly at home. Be delighted to be wrong though. 

Sam Bell, for all his great attributes, is not an Antoine Semenyo who can hold off defenders and get a shot off. 

The question is, do we wait for the return of Conway, who is as near as we get to a forward who can do that, or do we splurge all our Scott cash on a tall, physically strong forward who, when everyone's fit, will be the 5th attacker in the team?

[Bazooka Joe]

Groundhog Day 

"We were out-muscled (by physically stronger opponents) . . ."

"We were out-sung . . ."

I'm sick of seeing and hearing this sh*t.

Things need fixing on and off the pitch. 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Bazooka Joe

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Sam Bell, for all his great attributes, is not an Antoine Semenyo who can hold off defenders and get a shot off. 

The question is, do we wait for the return of Conway, who is as near as we get to a forward who can do that, or do we splurge all our Scott cash on a tall, physically strong forward who, when everyone's fit, will be the 5th attacker in the team?

Ah Semenyo. Was thinking about him before yesterdays game, abour how he ran Birmingham ragged in January. Was a bit unplayable at times that day.

[Red-Robbo]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Ah Semenyo. Was thinking about him before yesterdays game, abour how he ran Birmingham ragged in January. Was a bit unplayable at times that day.

 

I guess one of the reasons that the Brummie fans celebrated yesterday as though they'd won the league is that many of them will have memories of visiting in January and watching their side get humped. When Sykse's fourth went in, it was their fans streaming out.

They're a very different proposition these days, that's for sure. What I'm wondering is how they could afford these 7 quality newcomers. The fee for Chong can't have been that much from Luton, so what was their Bellingham sell-on bonanza?  They only averaged 16K crowds at St Andrews last season. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 minute ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I guess one of the reasons that the Brummie fans celebrated yesterday as though they'd won the league is that many of them will have memories of visiting in January and watching their side get humped. When Sykse's fourth went in, it was their fans streaming out.

They're a very different proposition these days, that's for sure. What I'm wondering is how they could afford these 7 quality newcomers. The fee for Chong can't have been that much from Luton, so what was their Bellingham sell-on bonanza?  They only averaged 16K crowds at St Andrews last season. 

£10m for Bellingham sell-on iirc and the younger Bellingham also by association probably by association £1.5m initial fee although some of their fans seem to think that they will also get the same percentage of the add-ons too?? That sounds unusual if so.

Some of their fans also quite bullish about income saying they forecast a rise of £5m this year being conservative, even £10m..hmm. Their ground redevelopment and repairs should be done by October/November time but who knows.

Scott and Semenyo sure would have made a difference yesterday but that's all in the past.

[Shauntaylor85]

6 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

£10m for Bellingham sell-on iirc and the younger Bellingham also by association probably by association £1.5m initial fee although some of their fans seem to think that they will also get the same percentage of the add-ons too?? That sounds unusual if so.

Some of their fans also quite bullish about income saying they forecast a rise of £5m this year being conservative, even £10m..hmm. Their ground redevelopment and repairs should be done by October/November time but who knows.

Scott and Semenyo sure would have made a difference yesterday but that's all in the past.

This is it. You take Conway out too and we have lost 3 excellent players at this level and not replaced them (appreciate Tommy is injured and you’ll never realistically get a like for like for the other two). Big 10 days or so ahead, will define the future of Nige. Miyoshi was a class act, Dembele looked dangerous too and always rated Bacuna. Just felt they had a good balance and surely these are sort of players we could do with and could have had an ability to bring in. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Shauntaylor85

[Mr Popodopolous]

12 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

This is it. You take Conway out too and we have lost 3 excellent players at this level and not replaced them (appreciate Tommy is injured and you’ll never realistically get a like for like for the other two). Big 10 days or so ahead, will define the future of Nige. Miyoshi was a class act, Dembele looked dangerous too and always rated Bacuna. Just felt they had a good balance and surely these are sort of players we could do with and could have had an ability to bring in. 

We need something for sure. Always thought Birmingham were a side with a number of players who were better than their League output suggested. They definitely looked well balanced and quite cohesive. I notice they have reintegrated Sunjic too.

Maybe game changes if Wells converted that gilt edged chance but may have papered over some cracks had we got a draw.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[1875bluenose]

Blues supporter in peace ,

 

Its interesting to see how the other teams fans see a game and having a read through this thread i'd thought i might add a view from the blues angle .

Lots of blues fans are a bit chuffed at the way we have come out of the blocks this year in our four games Swansea away / Chelt away / Leeds home and you guys we have conceded a total of 7 shots on target and 6 of them were against Swansea so defensively we must be doing something right , going forward we are ( just like every other championship team ) desperate for a striker , the juke is old and can't run and hogan is a confidence player who will score 10 a season but will hit a purple patch getting them all in a 6 game spell then nothing much else .

Where we are different from the last few years is in our transfer dealings , the past years we have been stuffed with loan players just to be able to put out a poor team , this year we have brought in 9 or so players and given them all 4-5 year deals ( to help with ffp ) and most of them come under the " shows promise but " category . Last year we started ok and were 8-10 place before the world cup break when it all went wrong . The manager seems to be loved by the players and the players seem to know that they will develop their game and be moved on to bigger and better things if they play well .

As for ffp we are well stuffed this year , but come the end of the season we can get rid of a lot of high earners that the last owners took on with crazy contracts and with the takeover things have changed , the club shop can't get the merch quick enough , we sold out the first 4 games and next week against plymouth is already all but sold out the feel good factor is as good as i can ever remember (50 odd years).

The new owners have pumped loads of cash in to getting St Andrews sorted after years of neglect ( doesn't count against ffp ) and are promising us a bright future , there is talk of a move to a new stadium and we have brought in Gary Cook as ceo who is a blues fan and was the bloke responsible for sorting out man city and the (cough cough ) Saudi league .

Us fans see this year as holding/building year , we will be happy with a finish in the top half , satisfied with avoiding relegation (again) . Our first team look ok , but we are paper thin , but who knows eh , still might get in a couple of exciting loans , its just nice to be looking forwards rather the last decade of decay 

if you want to get a feel for things blue might i suggest you have a look at Smallheath Alliance fans forum and if you want a football horror story check out   almajir.net which is written by a blues fan about our previous owners shenanigans and who many of us blues fans feel saved the club 

Anyways good luck for the rest of the season

KRO