Often Partisan

Not the Right News

Birmingham City made Clayton Donaldson their ninth signing of the season yesterday. The 30-year-old striker scored 18 goals for Brentford last season and is looking to make the step up to the Championship and score more goals in the Blue of Birmingham.

I’m almost tempted to copy and paste stuff from what I said yesterday about being pleased by the players Clark has brought in, the no-nonsense approach he has conducted etc but I feel like a broken record – there is only so many times you can repeat yourself. In saying that it continues to amaze me the amount of people who are still moaning after every signing about Blues being potentially relegated and about Clark building a side for the 2015/16 League One campaign – I’m not sure what some people expect in all honesty.

While Blues have stayed in the news a lot recently with respect to new signings, the one thing we all want to know about – the sale of the club – there has been absolute silence over. While in one way I think that’s a good thing – deals like this should never be conducted through the press – I’m of the notion that the longer that there isn’t an announcement about a bid being accepted (or even negotiated) to the Stock Exchange the less likely anything is going to happen any time soon. I’ve seen the usual cynics talk about how “the club isn’t for sale”, and about how “money was being funnelled back to HK/Carson Yeung” but I think these people are misguided.

From what I hear, Carson is very much out of the picture sat in prison with no news yet on when his appeal will be heard and no application even for bail while he is on appeal. Likewise, there has been too much going on for the club not to be up for sale; it’s just that it was never going to be an easy process and as time has gone on we’ve found out more and more just how complicated it is. I’m told that Carson was warned in 2011 that if he wanted to sell the club he would struggle because of the lack of other business BIH had but he ignored advice to complete some of the deals that had been set up at that time.

I think that’s the thing that burns the most. Without talking about how avoidable relegation was, I think there are other things that could have happened that would have seen Blues out of this predicament sooner. Had Carson stepped back from his position at BIH when he first got arrested, I believe the BIH shares would have been relisted much, much quicker with the consequence that it may have been easier to bring in new investment at the holding company level so much quicker. Had Carson completed any of the deals set up when the club was originally bought, there would be the diversification in place for him to have sold the club by now… the list goes on. Of course these are all ifs and to paraphrase my father, if my aunt had nuts she’d be my uncle – it’s not worth dwelling on it.

This is why I’m enthused about the new season. What’s done is done and what’s in the past can’t be changed. It’s important we learn from the mistakes but it’s also equally important that we move on and look towards a brighter future; keeping right on to the end of the road.

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97 Responses to “Not the Right News”

  • weaponsguru says:

    Think you’re right. I’m not expecting any news about a takeover before the new season starts.
    Without wishing to be too disparaging, I don’t think that the players being bought in are likely to individually set the world on fire, but I am certainly of the opinion that they will gel as a team and be better than last years “team” of misfits and loanees.
    The immediate future may not be bright, but I think we should maybe count our blessings that it is, at least Blue!

  • Staffs Blue says:

    A good sensible blog. There’s not point getting in a stew about the takeover. It’ll happen when/if it happens. There’s nothing any of us can do to affect that. We’d all be better off turning our thoughts to the new season and getting behind the team.

    Lee Clark deserves a lot of credit for fronting up to the board and saying enough is enough!! We can’t go on the way we have, bringing in a bunch of ‘misfits’ who all pull in different directions. He now has a squad that’s his own. He’s not stupid, he knows this is probably his last chance to get it right… and I think he will. Roll on August.

    • ian says:

      so phil summerhill got dogs abuse?
      i suppose the old kop used to sing
      “phil, phil, phil, phil Summerhill ” ironically ?

    • Steve says:

      Sorry,he has not fronted up to the board and said enough is enough.It was in the Mail a couple of weeks ago saying that Clark wasn’t happy that his budget had been cut.A lot of money has been saved on wages,with all the big earners going.10 players on an average of £5K a week isn’t even spending the money saved on Ziggy’s wages.I don’t think he’s in any position to front up to the board,so sorry Staff’s,no credit due for that.

      • Staffs Blue says:

        Sorry Steve, I read different a few weeks ago, also in the BM. Unless Tatts was bull**itting of course.

        • Steve says:

          Tattum said that Clark had held a meeting with Peter Pavlokis at the end of the season and that he would have a similar or smaller budget.It seems that he is working on a smaller budget considering the savings we’ve made on wages.

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Sure, there’s no doubt about that. From what I’ve read, Clark has about a quarter of the budget he had last year. That’s why I think he should be cut a bit of slack. It’s bad enough shopping at Aldi’s… but to be told it’s Netto’s or nothing this year is a bit hard to stomach.

  • Big Al says:

    Thank goodness for Johnny Bosman – and more to the point, his lawyer. I’d like us to sign a left-sided player and then we’re just about done.

  • Alan Francis says:

    Looking forward to the new season too, I don’t expect us to be world beaters but think we will genuinely surprise a few teams and doubters this year.

  • A Hawkins says:

    I have to say that I’m very much looking forward to the new season compared to this time last year. I feel that signing players on permanent contracts will mean that they will determined to do well and play to impress. I feel that there won’t be any last day dramas like the worries of Bolton last season. I do believe it will take time for these to gel but I’m quite confident that we are looking at just below mud table. If we can achieve that then ill be very happy because it will be great progress when you consider that Lee Clark has had to trim his wage bill further.

  • Thongs says:

    Well with one consortium expressing privately that PP is very difficult to deal as his requirements for “extras” are excessive this is going to drag on for a while. That consortium has I believe been approached by an Indian owned championship club and may turn their buying power that way.

  • bluenozee says:

    I’ll be glad when the takeover gathers a bit of momentum as that’ll get rid of the onerous ‘we don’t care about Carson’ song
    I don’t think for a moment that supports the team on the pitch, but by the same token, fans did not have much more to sing about last season KRO

    • AussieBlue says:

      Bluenozee – There ain’t no more momentum to be had in the takeover offer. BIHL shares have tanked again ’cause the market knows it’s all b*ll*xed.

  • ian says:

    hi Dan, some fans will never be happy,
    I looked at Matt Saddlers comments the other day in the mail, and remember how some fans gave that kid a terrible time on the pitch,
    he had the misfortune of playing behind mcsheffery, who offered him less protection than rooney gave baines, and we saw how that went,
    in my opinion Saddler was a good, good prospect who was thrown in the deep end.
    as a very young kid, personally i thought he read the game very well, and was often the last line of defence, and didn’t mind throwing himself into a tackle,

    my point being, if the kid who captained england at under youth level, was seen by some as not being good enough to play against the likes of chelsea, man utd, arsenal, with little or no integration into the team,
    how many missed placed passes will it take for the loyal bluenoses to turn on our new team ?
    even in the lou mccarri and tery cooper days, i don’t recall an individual player being singled out for abuse, if it did happen, it would have been an opposition player.
    strange that it doesn’t seem to happen at away games, when the support, does exactly that, supports.
    as for money filtering to hong kong,
    BCFC was a PLC long before mr yeung came along, with many fans owning small amounts of shares,
    shares mr yeung convinced the owners to sell to him, so he could float the club in asian markets,
    this was sold to the supporters as a way to open up the investment potential of the far east,
    i don’t recall the statement, where mr yeung said i want to buy blues, as it is the only way i can get listed on the HKSE, because i want to diversify into the energy markets,
    Doug Ellis was correct, penniless joker. and now a convicted criminal.
    and i fail to see how 24 percent of 32 million is going to buy diversification into the energy markets, as it wouldn’t be enough to cover st andrews with solar panels.
    i’d take this squad and a 10 point administration deduction tomorrow if it rid us of these jokers.

    • Agent McLeish says:

      Hear hear. I don’t believe the so called ‘diversification’ argument either, it’s a red herring for something else.

    • Julian Glass says:

      Dean Peer; Kevin Langley to name two

      • Geoff S says:

        Ian/Julian.

        If we go back a little further, there are recollections of players like Keith Bowker, Geoff Vowden and Phil Summerill getting serious stick from sections of the crowd.

        • Geoff S says:

          However, I should have said that there is surely no club around where some players don’t get singled out for stick – especially when the results are going the wrong way.

          Singling out like that probably doesn’t do any good.

        • Tony says:

          Geoff Vowden set a record for Blues in one away game that stood for years anyone know what it was?.

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Was it the first hat-trick by a substitute? Or is it something else?

          • Tony says:

            Bang on Staffs, it was the first hat trick by a sub not just for blues but in the entire country think that one stood for quite a while.He came on quite late in the game too I think.

          • Geoff S says:

            I remember seeing a game where Geoff Vowden came on as a sub at half-time and scored a hat-trick against a Huddersfield side boasting a young Frank Worthington but that was a home match.

          • Tony says:

            You could be right Geoff but i am fairly confident it was an away game cant remember who against.

          • Geoff S says:

            Vowden scored 4 hat-tricks for Blues and the records I have show they were all scored at St Andrew’s. The match I saw against Huddersfield where Blues won 5-1 was in 1968 and I know I never attended my first away game until 1972.

          • Tony says:

            something keeps nagging away at me Geoff about an away hat trick form the subs bench it was a close match look your records up

          • Geoff S says:

            I mis-read the records I have. Geoff Vowden scored a hat-trick at Rotherham in 1965 (although not as sub) when Blues won 4-3. Vowden score 2 hat-tricks for Blues and not 4 as I wrongly stated in an earlier comment.

            Tony Matthews’ records up to 1989 show Phil Summerill at Carlisle in 1970, Kenny Burns at Leicester in 1974 and again in 1976, Trevor Francis in 1974 and Keith Bertschin in 1979 (both at Luton) and David Geddes at Portsmouth in 1985 as scoring hat-tricks for Blues in away games between the mid 1960s and the 1980s.

            Matthews is probably retired now but he was/is a widely respected sports journo and I have just quoted from his sources.

          • Tony says:

            That must have been the one I was getting mixed up with I know it was a high scoring match, but he was not sub.

          • Tony says:

            I remember talking to Bobby Thompson(remember him) in the old blues cafe, he was telling me about this kid they had who was going to be very special. So it turned out, that kid was TF.

          • Tony says:

            Was at the Leicester game If I remember correctly it was a winters day pitch frozen, Burns must have had ice skates on he was brilliant

          • Tony says:

            I used to go to the reserves in those days and when we scored a buzzer would sound or was it a bell?. was a long long time ago.

          • Tony says:

            Your quite right Geoff it was a home game. 1967

          • Chris W says:

            Did he not become the first substitute to score a hat-trick?
            KRO+DNM

      • beegeeblueboy says:

        Phil Summerill yes but Geoff Vowden not that I can recall. Keith Bowker hadn’t got a prayer coming in to cover for TF/RL/BH. Same as the cocky Les Phillips who ended in oblivion

        • Staffs Blue says:

          I thought Les Phillips was going to be a good ‘un… but the scruffy little sod didn’t make it. Loved Phil Summerill though.

          • Geoff S says:

            Was that Les Phillips (the midfielder) or Steve Phillips?

          • beegeeblueboy says:

            Good point. I meant Steve

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Me too I think.

          • beegeeblueboy says:

            Earlier than that we had Ray Martin, John Sleevenhaok, Brian Sharples. All got stick. Not until we signed Dave Langan had we had a full back who could tackle, and pass and cross accurately

          • Geoff S says:

            Beegee.

            Ray Martin and Brian Sharples were in the first Blues side I ever saw and the late John Sleeuwenhoek (my spelling ain’t the best) was also on the books at the time. You are right about the stick but, for all his limitations, Martin possessed a mean slide tackle if the pitch was a little wet.

            David Langan was the best right-back I have ever seen for Blues.

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Tulip turned into a cracking centre back for Villa… alongside his minder, Lew Chatterley.

          • Geoff S says:

            “Tulip” was an incredibly courageous player. Didn’t he play for Blues after he was at villa park?

          • Staffs Blue says:

            I thought it was the other way round. :s

          • Geoff S says:

            I’ve checked Tony Matthews’ “Birmingham City – A Complete Record 1875-1989” and his lists reckon Blues signed Slueewenhoek from B6 in 1967. Interestingly, as an old-fashioned centre-half, ‘Tulip’ played in between players like Ron Wylie and Malcolm Beard, both of whom were on the villa park payroll at one time or another.

            Talking of ‘minders’ I remember when big Roger Hynd minded for Trevor Francis.

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Hynd looked like a proper warrior, as did Noel Blake. It makes you wonder if they’d have lasted in today’s cosseted game.

          • Geoff S says:

            Hynd and Blake were the personification of effective centre-halves. They got the job done! Ask Steve McMahon re the latter and any number of players when John Roger Shankly Hynd was around.

          • Chris W says:

            The old centre halves like Trevor Smith, Roger Hynd or Kenny Burns, to name a few, would be lucky to see half time in the modern game Staffs.
            As you say cosseted, but that is an understatement in my view, even the keepers are wrapped in cotton wool when it comes to crosses.
            KRO+DNM

          • Staffs Blue says:

            The old players must sit there and shake their heads these days and think… it used to be a man’s game.

          • Tony says:

            Do you remember John Roberts we got him from Arsenal he was a good player too.

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Big blonde player? Yeah, but I don’t think he played that much for us iirc.

    • Small Heath Blue says:

      Ian, a lot of our signings haven’t even kicked a ball for us, before some people are on their backs!

  • Blue tsunami says:

    I too am cautiously optimistic that next season will be less traumatic than the last one. However two things worry me still:
    Firstly I hope the squad gels very quickly. If you look lat Spurs last season they bought loads of players but significantly under performed.
    Secondly I still have reservations about LC (but am willing to give him a chance) he has a great track record for wheeling and dealing which he has done magnificently this close season. But his record as a manager and coach with us isn’t very good. This is what worries me most. I hope now that he has his own players he can settle down into a set pattern of play with just a couple of standard formations with players being played to maximise THEIR strengths not to fit in to a wild idea of how to beat the other team which failed so miserably before. Fingers crossed

    • Andy W says:

      I agree with you BT. And as we have no choice, I think getting behind the team is all we can do? I have always applauded LC for just getting on with his job. On the face of it he appears to have done some good business quickly which will help with the ‘gelling’ of the team pre-season. Whether we will improve on last season remains to be seen, and we can judge things better towards the end of the year. One thing we have to do as a priority in my view is to break the home win hoodoo. If we don’t win for the first 3 or 4 games, people will turn quickly?

  • Agent McLeish says:

    The number of signings have surprised me as I expected things to get much worse. I have to ask myself why we couldn’t strengthen the squad last season yet we can now? Is this due to Ziggy’s wages easing the financial pressure? Yes, we are shopping at Lidl now but even Lidl has some bargains and we may unearth some gems. A mid-table finish would be a great achievement next year, play-offs would be exceptional.

  • Brian king says:

    I think we should all be more than happy with the way LC has got on with rebuilding a completely dilapidated team. The one thing this club still has in its favour is its big club reputation and LC I believe as traded on that to help bring in new faces. However most of the new players are going to be playing at a higher level than they have before and we should not expect to much to soon.

  • williammorgan says:

    I liken the takeover to waking up in the middle of the night after a nightmare ,and not being able to go back to sleep again ,it takes ages for dawn to come . and your mind spins round like a cement mixer till the dawn raises its brow over the distant roof tops. But when it does come ,it soon rids itself of any bad nightly thoughts ..talk about the gap between the first division and championship ,it all depends on the coaches ,as there are plenty of coaches good enough in the first that should be in the championship .blues were only five places above Brentford.

  • Neil says:

    Funny that the majority of people that are on the OP site realise the situation Blues/Clark are in and can see the value in the signings we’re making…………..the negative feedback and doom and gloom seems to emanate from the official message board?

    • Staffs Blue says:

      Most of the Blues forums are the same. Mostly people slagging off the board, the manager, drunken coaches, league 1 players etc etc. It’s like a chuffin’ playground, except you’d get more sense out of 5 year olds. I don’t mind reading viewpoints from both sides, as long as they’re sensible. When it’s just constant slagging people off, I just treat it with the contempt it deserves. Luckily, there are some good posters around to balance it out a bit.

    • Steve says:

      How dare people who put their money where their mouth is, not be happy with the current situation.Why aren’t they full of optimism over next season? Lee Clark’s performance over the last two season’s should have us brimming with confidence.Shouldn’t it ?

      • Staffs Blue says:

        What I actually referred to, is the constant slagging off of people. Some of it is a bit too personal, all or most of it unsubstantiated drivel and It’s not constructive in any way. If someone has a problem with Clark’s tactics or selections, fine, I don’t have a problem with that.

  • chudlt says:

    As my wife keeps telling me” They aren’t going to sell the club and the sooner you realise that the better you will feel”

  • Chris W says:

    One of the reason I follow OP is for the level-headed insight to everything Blue.
    I am getting excited with with new season approaching and trying to second guess what LC is going to start with, daft I know but it helps pass the time.
    The other thing I like is the information you supply regarding how things run in Hong Kong.
    I’ll admit I would put money on CY still having an input and maybe BIHL are stalling in the hope he gets bail on appeal.
    Can’t wait for the pre-season friendlies to see how things shape, I know you can’t take much from results but shape, set up and combinations can be formed.
    KRO+DNM

  • Mineheadblue says:

    Purely personal opinion but I’m feeling quite excited about the new season. I really like the idea of a tight, committed bunch of players who really want to play for the shirt. It also looks like Clark is going with two wingers and a bit of pace and bite (Suarez pun intended) up front. Donaldson looks like he could be a good player at this level.

  • river says:

    There seems to be more positive comments on the new signings and the way clark has gone about his business than ever before roll on the new season and keep that positivity up.optimism beats pessimism any day as for the moaners comments u seem to be a dying breed,what a change in direction compared to last season KRO and keep backing BCFC,230PM on Saturday afternoon ill be ” off to park the van la la la”

  • EddieBirmingham says:

    I commented a few months ago about all the “ifs” being thrown about and used the phrase “if me Nan had nuts she’d be my Grandad”.
    you removed my comment as it was rude?

    #justsaying

  • Optimistic Bluenose says:

    As with the majority of opinions here, I am quite happy with the new signings we have and am pleased LC has managed to get them in so quickly. 4-3-2-1 did seem to work for us away from home, but I would certainly like us to play two strikers during home games whether in a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 (I don’t mind) because it looks as if we will need to score at least 2 to pick up any points. I am hoping the back four gel quickly enough though!

  • AussieBlue says:

    “Had Carson stepped back from his position at BIH when he first got
    arrested, I believe the BIH shares would have been relisted much, much
    quicker with the consequence that it may have been easier to bring in
    new investment at the holding company level so much quicker”

    You’ve nailed it Dan:

    “It’s important we learn from the mistakes but it’s also equally
    important that we move on and look towards a brighter future; keeping
    right on to the end of the road.”

    Nailed it again you annoying person, you!

  • Gary says:

    I must admit I was sceptical about Clark after last season but I’m happy with the players he’s bought in with a possible few more coming I’m looking forward to the season more than I was a couple of weeks ago. KRO

    • Steve says:

      As i’ve said before,i don’t know enough about them.Some have obviously done their homework and think they’re decent players.it’s now down to Clark to get them playing as a team.Can he do that ?Tbf,with the amount of players coming in,surely they can’t all be duffers.Can they ?

  • beegeeblueboy says:

    Just renewed three ST’s. Pretty sure I’ve done this because a/ we didn’t go down and b/ I’m enthused by the signings. There’s also a c/ I would miss it, but this didn’t need to be put to the test

  • Staffs Blue says:

    Will Packwood has signed a one year extention with another year included.

    • beegeeblueboy says:

      Can’t blame him for keeping his options open right to the end for what I expect he thought a not very good offer

      • Staffs Blue says:

        I think it’s a pretty good deal for him. He’s still a young lad, so it’s better for him to continue his education here instead of being swallowed up in someone else’s academy. He’s got plenty of time to think about moving on, if that’s what he wants later.

  • bluenoserob says:

    i think that LC cant be faulted for the players he has signed given the lack of funds .Hopefully he can get the best out of these new guys .also hopefully he has learned from the tactical mistakes of last season and we can win a few more home games.We might even surprise a few teams.

  • Mark Galloway says:

    I am really sorry to reign on the parade but I am definitely one of those in the bracket described by your comment:

    In saying that it continues to amaze me the amount of people who are
    still moaning after every signing about Blues being potentially
    relegated and about Clark building a side for the 2015/16 League One
    campaign – I’m not sure what some people expect in all honesty.

    The fact is that I don’t expect anything, we are where we are and that is entirely the fault of BIHL but I will point out that the squad under the manager in post look certainties, in my view, to struggle and may well be relegated.

    I would love to join the happy clappy brigade but can’t. I am resigned to it now and just hope that by some miracle Blues can scrape together the points to survive. Survival in 2014-15 would then give us time to see the back of BIHL.

    A new season and new faces always brings hope and I really admire those that are seeing a better season ahead than the last debacle of a campaign. I just can’t see it though and I would advise fellow Bluenoses to prepare for the worst.

    KRO

  • Raymondo says:

    I think there are those amongst us who expect too much of BCFC at present. LC has his feet on the ground and not his head in the clouds as these perfectionists do. If we support this team he has re-built on a shoestring with what must have been some pretty persuasive argument to attract new players then we can progress in the Championship. His most persuasive argument must have been to the clubs hierarchy with the message that if they didn’t put some money into getting new players they could kiss their a****s goodbye because relegation to Division One would be a certainty. I think he has been quite remarkable. Moaners and groaners exit stage left. And by the way, I am not a “Happy Clapper”. Just a loyal and realistic fan who has been through a lot over the 60 years since I first turned up in December 1954 to see Blues beat Liverpool 9-1 (Yes Nine goals to One).

    • bluenoserob says:

      Not sure how the clubs playing budget being divided by four can be seen as “putting money in” Many fans had hoped for a sale by now and the real investment that wealthy owners could have brought (im not talking about superstars ,just players from the championship) I think many of the “moaners” are just disappointed and had hoped for better times than another plucky fight against relegation.

      • Raymondo says:

        I do understand that bluenoserob but what they’re waiting for may not even happen because of their awkward conditions of sale. I think that in the meantime to get somewhere with what we’ve now got may increase the crowds and bring more revenue in that way. I really don’t think we’ll be fighting relegation to the last day this time. As I have said I think we’ll be around mid-table with these players, but of course, that’s only my opinion. KRO .

        • bluenoserob says:

          yes you are right Ray , i kinda feel that i have one foot in both camps .if you look back at posts from when talk of a sale was imminent ( a month ago lol) lots of people were talking (dreaming?)about real investment , that was unrealistic as it turned out ,but i think it explains why some people had their hopes raised.

  • will says:

    The problem is that the atmosphere at Stans isn’t going to improve – it’s no good complaining abut moaning fans, because if they’re not happy, they won’t fork out for season tickets, nor even turn up on a match by match basis, especially if the home form is anything like last year’s. I don’t know enough about the new players to be able to say whether they’ll do a good job for us, but if you’re looking for the majority of fans to get behind them. then I think you’ll be disappointed. Sure there’s a hardcore who’ll go to every match no matter what, but if we’re not going to be involved in another relegation struggle, then the team will need more than that to turn up. That isn’t going to happen until the present owners are history.

  • Art says:

    This could be the case or alternatively the Owners have promised him a loyalty bonus while the club is being sold.This is common practice during takeovers.


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