On December 16, Birmingham City confirmed in a brief statement on bcfc.com that following an annual structural survey of St Andrew’s stadium, remedial work had been identified which meant that both the Kop and Tilton stands needed to be closed until further notice. Nearly three weeks later, nothing more has been said – so what’s going on?
A 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at St Andrew’s rounded off what has been a pretty miserable holiday period for Blues. Since beating Reading at the Madejski Stadium on December 9, Blues have lost five of six matches and have scored just three goals.
It’s another morning after the day before, and it’s another inquest into an inept Blues performance and shocking home defeat. A slew of individual errors ensured Blues fell behind by three goals in quick time to Derby on Tuesday evening, with the Rams completing a comprehensive 4-0 victory to move out of the bottom three.
The sale of 21.64% of Birmingham City plc was approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Birmingham Sports Holdings yesterday morning in Hong Kong.
Birmingham City dropped a bombshell announcement on Monday evening, confirming that the club was looking to restructure the club’s Academy, replacing younger age groups with “B”and “C” teams in a model similar to that at Brentford. The club cited pressures such as Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic forcing them to revaluate the way the club recruited players.
Reports broke on Thursday that Birmingham City’s Academy Manager Kristjaan Speakman is in talks with League One outfit Sunderland to become their new Technical Director. Should Speakman leave it will end a 14 year association with Blues having joined the club as a coach from Derby County in 2006.
On Wednesday national coronavirus restrictions came to an end in England, with the country returning to a tiered system. With the government allowing limited numbers of spectators to attend PL and EFL matches at stadiums within Tier 1 and Tier 2, football clubs are now quickly working to get supporters back in the ground. While St Andrew’s remains in Tier 3, there is a question of how this will affect Blues when Birmingham moves into a lower state of alert.
Following accusations made by various Portuguese coaches against Blues CEO Ren Xuandong in October 2017 regarding financial negligence, it can be exclusively revealed by this website that there are 14 current court orders issued from various courts in China against Ren in connection with his failed venture Winning League.
Friday night saw Birmingham City play out a dull 0-0 draw with fellow St Andrew’s tenants, Coventry City. In a game of few chances, Lukas Jutkiewicz came closest to scoring for Blues, hitting the bar with the ball and the post with his head. While things are nowhere near as bad as the “Project Restart” shitshow in June and July, there is a suggestion that the honeymoon period is now well and truly over for Aitor Karanka.
Birmingham Sports Holdings confirmed in an announcement on Monday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the date of an Extraordinary General Meeting to approve the partial sale of BCFC to Oriental Rainbows Ltd. The sale would see Chinese-Cambodian businessman Vong Pech become the largest shareholder in the club.
