Birmingham City scratched out a 0-0 draw with Coventry on Tuesday night at the Coventry Building Society Arena in a game that wasn’t one for the purists. In a performance marred by a ref handing out a harsh red card to Ryan Woods for serious foul play it could have been much worse had Coventry bought their shooting boots and only went to show just how thin the Blues squad currently is.
The international break is a tough time for journalists, especially ones covering smaller clubs. With no games to report on column inches have to be filled with other things to get those clicks. This weekend those column inches were filled with a report that Laurence Bassini is “eyeing a Birmingham City takeover”.
In October 2017, it was reported that Birmingham City had entered into a strategic partnership deal with Unio Esportiva Cornella, a team playing in the Spanish third tier. In this first article of a series looking back at the way the current regime have run Blues, I’ve taken a look at what that partnership did for Blues – and at what cost.
It’s less than a week now until Birmingham City play Derby County and there still has not been any announcement with regards to the works to the Kop and Tilton stands. Fans with seasons tickets in the affected stands are still unaware if they will be able to take their usual seat for the Friday evening kick off and with time running short once again the rumours are in overdrive.
Birmingham City have confirmed in a brief announcement that work on the Tilton and Kop stands has not been completed in time for any part to be open for the opening two home games of the season.
It’s been quite a busy transfer window for Blues so far, with eight signings having been made this summer. Judging by social media there is still an appetite for more from many Blues fans – and Lee Bowyer has hinted that he’d like to bring a couple more in. I wanted to look at how much space there was in the squad for more signings and maybe get a hint of who has to go.
It doesn’t feel like that long since the last season came to an end but already the new one is upon us. Players have returned for pre-season testing, three new signings have already been made; and potentially most importantly, Blues have finalised their backroom structure that had been ripped apart by the sacking of Aitor Karanka and his staff and the subsequent departure of former CEO Ren Xuandong.
The lack of new CEO at Birmingham City since the resignation of Ren Xuandong in May has left some fans concerned to the direction of the club. Despite being an unpopular figure with many, Ren was a visible face of the board and his departure has meant that for some it’s much harder to understand what is going on. However, I believe it’s not Ren’s replacement people should be looking at.
With the Championship season now ended for Birmingham City, attention turns to who will leave the club this summer and who will be brought in. The transfer window doesn’t really start until the new pre-season, but Saturday is the deadline for clubs not involved in the playoffs to submit their retained lists.
Less than 72 hours after the Championship season ended, Birmingham City announced that embattled CEO Ren Xuandong was to step down from his role with immediate effect. The immediate reaction online from Blues fans was of one of almost universal happiness that Ren is gone from the club.
