On Monday, November 27 Blues will hold their slightly postponed first edition of “Blues Open House” at St Andrew’s. The initiative will see 100 or so invited fans including myself attend a series of presentations about the future of the club along with a short Q&A session with Blues CEO Garry Cook and the leadership team.
On Wednesday evening Blues laid out their first actions in improving communication between fans and the club. Three initiatives were laid out including a “Town Hall” styled meeting with 100 invited fans; an official fan engagement programme that will have quarterly meetings with a selected fan group and a new official Blues Supporters Group.
It’s safe to say the honeymoon is over and interesting times have returned to B9. A second successive defeat for Blues to begin Wayne Rooney’s reign led to fans booing the team off the pitch and more wailing and gnashing of teeth online. Is this the next big dip on the football rollercoaster that is being a fan of Birmingham City?
As expected after a weekend of rumour, John Eustace parted company with Birmingham City on Monday morning, followed by his assistant head coaches Matt Gardiner and Keith Downing on Tuesday evening. While at the time of writing Wayne Rooney has yet to be named as successor, it is only a matter of time before the former Derby County and DC United head coach takes over at St Andrew’s.
After a convincing 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Friday night I was fairly sure that the weekend would be a chill and relaxing one from a Blues perspective. Unforunately, Blues don’t do normal, with the rumours of Wayne Rooney being given the Blues job resurfacing and solidifying.
One of the biggest indicators that life has drastically changed for Birmingham City is the complete lack of coverage of any news from Hong Kong. Despite Birmingham Sports Holdings still owning 51% of the club, it’s clear that it’s Shelby Companies Limited calling the shots and the remaining Chinese BCFC board members appear to have been completely sidelined.
In recent times, when Birmingham City’s owner has appeared on the front page of the Financial Times it’s been as the harbinger of bad news. However, times have changed since Shelby Companies Limited have taken charge at St Andrew’s and Tom Wagner’s picture on the front of the FT was all about Blues challenging the authorities for the right reasons.
Despite the unbeaten start to the league season for Blues, rumours broke on Thursday afternoon that the club have identified Wayne Rooney as a replacement for John Eustace as Head Coach.
There’s an old cliché about a week being a long time in football. It’s meant to symbolise how quickly things can change in the game and this hasn’t been typified more than the last fifty days at St Andrew’s since Shelby Companies Limited took over.
At 4pm Hong Kong time (9am BST) in a small conference room in a non-descript office block attached to a shopping mall in Admiralty, Hong Kong a vote will be called which will ratify the transfer of control of Birmingham City Football Club to Shelby Companies Limited. While the vote is a foregone conclusion, what happens next is a blank canvas.
