Public statements appear to be like buses – we don’t see anything for ages and then boom two follow each other in a matter of minutes on Monday. Statements from an EFL spokesman and the club on their official website confirmed what we have known for some time – that Blues are embargoed and are at an impasse with respect to sorting it out.
The pressure on Birmingham City CEO Ren Xuandong has really ratcheted up in the last couple of days after Birmingham City boss Garry Monk finally broke his silence on the transfer embargo. Monk spoke to the press following the open training at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium on Wednesday to confirm his hopes that the embargo would be lifted soon.
Another week rolls around and Birmingham City appear to be no closer to achieving a resolution in their current transfer embargo. With the season drawing near this has caused some fans to panic online – but are their fears founded?
As the foofaraw about the transfer embargo rumbles on into a second week, Blues fans seem to be divided between those who are confident it will be all over soon and those who think the embargo is the end of the world.
A week has passed since news broke of Birmingham City being placed under a transfer embargo with no news of any change. With the transfer deadline now 24 days away, what needs to happen for Birmingham City to be released from this period of limbo?
Yesterday, I broke news about issues within Birmingham that have caused the club to be subject to a transfer embargo by the EFL, along with the decision of the league not to register Kristian Pedersen as a player. There was a lot of attention to that post and a lot of questions, and with that in mind I have put together this article to explain as best as I can what is happening.
Despite the club announcing his arrival on the official website on June 25, this website can today confirm that Danish left-back Kristian Pedersen is not in fact registered as a Birmingham City player. It is understood that the EFL have declined to allow Blues to register the full back as a player and have since placed the club under a transfer embargo.
With rumours flying around about the possible purchase of Lewis Grabban by Birmingham City from Bournemouth, the question of Financial Fair Play raises it’s ugly head again. However, the question isn’t so much about if Blues are breaking FFP rules now – but more to the point, does anybody care?
Previously on almajir.net I’ve written about a group of large shareholders in Birmingham Sports Holdings I’ve termed “The Faceless Four”. Today I have spent time investigating two of those shareholders to find out more about them and who they are.
One of the big themes for protest here in Hong Kong is that “Hong Kong is not China”. While the former colony is a Special Autonomous Region (SAR) of China, it has its own government, money and legal system. Today I spoke to Tobias Zuser, who is a researcher in Sports & Cultural Policy, Hong Kong Baptist University and an expert in Hong Kong / Chinese football about how that difference between the SAR and the Chinese mainland affects Blues.
