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.
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.
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.
The Birmingham Mail reported on Sunday morning the departures of various staff from the club in a new round of redundancies. The departures from the backroom staff include Head of Media Colin Tattum, First Team PA Rita Greenaway and PA to the Board Suzanne Smith. While things on the pitch have improved so much, are things so positive behind the scenes?
Birmingham Sports Holdings broke the news on Friday afternoon that they are proposing to sell a 25% stake in BCFC to Oriental Rainbow Investment Ltd, a British Virgin Islands investment vehicle owned by current BSH shareholder Vong Pech. The deal will see Vong Pech become the largest shareholder in the club among other changes.
Scott Hogan became the eighth signing of the summer for Birmingham City on Wednesday, arriving on a four year deal from the wrong side of the expressway. Hogan played 18 games on loan at Blues last season, scoring seven goals. With a month or so left of the transfer window, the question now is if Blues need to bring any more players in.
Blues started the 2020/21 Championship season the same way they began the previous one; leaving Brentford manager Thomas Frank angry after beating his side 1-0 with a well-worked header. While there was almost certainly an element of luck in the victory at Griffin Park under Pep Clotet, this season’s curtain-raiser was much more deserved.
A 1-0 defeat to Cambridge United in the Carabao Cup on Saturday meant Aitor Karanka got off to a losing start as Blues Head Coach. With a week until the Championship campaign starts, Karanka has to pick his charges back up and encourage them to believe that they can win.
Birmingham City kicked off their pre-season friendlies with a 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic at Wast Hills. The Blues team was a mix of first team and youthful inexperience with only young keeper Zach Jeacock featured for the full 90 minutes as Blues rotated through their squad at half-time. With less than two weeks until the EFL Cup curtain-raiser against Cambridge United, can people be forgiven for worrying about the thin squad?
So here we are, the last day of the season and once again there is a chance Blues could finish the day falling through the relegation trapdoor to League One. Not many Blues fans would have seen this happening six weeks ago – but a succession of poor performances, gutless performances and poor gutless performances have taken their toll.
