With Jude Bellingham once again turning it on for England in the round of 16 World Cup match against Senegal, it’s somewhat deflating to turn attention back to the never-ending saga that is Birmingham City’s ownership travails.
News broke on Friday afternoon that 136 days after holding a conference on the Kop Car Park to tell fans the deal was done, Paul Richardson and Maxi Lopez have pulled out from their attempt to buy Birmingham City.
It wasn’t exactly a full chamber when Shabana Mahmood MP talked about the travails surrounding the ownership of Birmingham City in the House of Commons on Monday night, but hopefully it will be another step on the journey to better regulation in football.
The takeover saga at Birmingham City took another twist on Monday morning with a report in the Daily Mail that “cryptocurrency businessman” Haydn Snape of the Dubai-based Decentralised Investment Group was a new backer within the Maxco consortium led by Maxi Lopez and Paul Richardson. This was followed by a further report from the Mirror that Snape was merely a conduit to American real estate magnate Michael Fuchs.
For the first time in a long time, hope has a home at St Andrew’s. A good 2-0 win against Queens Park Rangers on Friday elevated Blues into the top half of the table and has got some supporters dreaming of a top six position come the end of the season. While the playoffs are still realistically some way off, things definitely look to be brightening up for Birmingham City.
Birmingham City released an update to fans on Thursday evening, confirming plans to proceed with the next stage of repairs of the St Andrew’s Stadium. The update confirmed that work would be done to remove the pre-cast concrete units from both the lower Tilton and Kop during the World Cup break.
Birmingham Sports Holdings announced their latest accounts to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon. The accounts are for the year ending 30 June 2022 and correspond to the 2021/2022 football season for Blues. While the company once again made a loss, the amount BSH lost has been reduced, which will surely please investors.
With no club matches to write about, the focus for football reporting has turned to the international scene and who might be on the plane to Qatar for the World Cup in November. Jude Bellingham is a name that is in the minds of many and despite the transfer window being months away we’re already being deluged by stories of who might be the next to buy his services.
As Blues head into the international break, things on the pitch feel better than they have done for a while. While Blues were unable to continue their run of wins at home to Coventry, there seems to be a very positive feeling around the way the team is playing and optimism that it will improve further.
Birmingham City face West Bromwich Albion tonight in their first game for 12 days following the postponement of the Swansea game due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While any momentum picked up from the away win against Preston might have been lost, it’s given John Eustace a bit of extra time to work with his injury depleted squad.
