After the success of the Janine Self interview, I’m very proud to publish another interview with another top class journalist – this time Neil Moxley of the Daily Mail. I’m a big admirer of his Midlander column, and I think he’s one of the few journos out there to properly cover the midlands.

As someone who has more contact with Peter Pannu etc than the fans do, what is your truthful impression of Blues and the current board’s stewardship? Do you think the club is on the edge of oblivion, as some fans seem to believe, or is it not quite as bad as that? Do you think we would be in this trouble if we hadn’t been relegated from the top flight?

I have little faith in the current board and until such time as they can paint a clear financial picture for me, then I don’t envisage that changing. Look at the facts. If we all start from the position that the club was on an even keel financially when the Chinese owners took over, it is justifiable to ask how the hell the club has got itself into this mess in less than two years.

I estimate that around £100m has gone into St Andrew’s since the start of the 2009-10 season. (You’ll have to see a previous ‘Midlander‘ piece on the Daily Mail website for a breakdown of the figures.) Where has that money gone? It has not all gone in running costs, surely? For instance, several players such as Barry Ferguson, Roger Johnson, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer (the list goes on) were signed during the summer of 2009 or before. There is no way that Messers Sullivan and Gold would have paid vastly over-inflated wages to these players without a cast-iron certainty at that point that the club would be sold. (The Chinese had already messed up the first attempt to buy it)
These players were the mainstays of the squad during the 2010-11 campaign. Their salaries would not have increased.

So, the question is the following: Were the likes of Aleksandr Hleb, Ben Foster and Nikola Zigic signed on such extortionate money that it would place the club on the brink of administration if it fell out of the Barclays Premier League? (Certainly, Zigic is turning into a nightmare deal, reminiscent of the mess that Derby County found themselves in when Fabrizio Ravanelli was coining £2m-year at Pride Park) Or were the Chinese using money in the club to fund transfer dealings? And what has happened since then? The club has generated money from the sale of Gardner, Johnson, McLeish… (!)

And here’s the rub. The press, punters all assume Peter Pannu is up to speed with the owner’s wishes. Is he? Certainly the episode prior to the pre-season game against Oxford is just bizarre. First, Pannu is quoted as saying HSBC is putting on the pressure.
Twenty-four hours later, he has retracted that statement and is saying the bank is being helpful. Which of those two statements do we believe? I’ve had off-the-record conversations with HSBC and I’m afraid they’ll have to stay as that for the time being.

Suffice it to say that they were scratching their heads at the initial outburst. So, I ask, if the club is under no threat to repay any money to the bank, where is it all going? My best guess is that the investors who stumped up £81.5m for Carson Yeung now want their cash returned. If the state ends up taking control of Yeung’s stock as the proceeds of crime if he is convicted of money-laundering where does that leave investors? Massively out-of-pocket, that’s where. I think, in fairness, when Yeung took over the out-going board was under the impression that here was someone who would allow Blues to over-spend and then write a cheque to cover the losses at the end of the season. That didn’t happen at the end of ther 2010 campaign when Blues lost £7m. And it certainly hasn’t at the end of last season when the losses went up to £17m. That leaves a big black hole to fill. Yet, there is still something we aren’t being told.

If the club’s bankers aren’t squealing for money and players still have to be sold, what is going on? The parachute money, (a large chunk is paid this month) season-tickets and player sales would realise £30m – enough to cover the previous two years’ losses. Yet still the likes of Dann, Jerome etc. need to be off-loaded. Whichever way you look at it, it’s dreadful financial ‘management.’ So, I have no faith in the current board. The figures don’t stack up and there is no transparency. Until there is concrete evidence in front of me to the contrary, why should I change my opinion? I understand that the club is able to pay its’ way for the time being, that financial commitments are being met. As for whether it would have happened, had Blues been relegated, it is a point not really worth debating. They have been. End of.

Whilst Birmingham City aren’t a big a draw as some of the Premiership teams, do you think newspapers could have done more to investigate what is going on behind the scenes at Birmingham City? Often Partisan has a good track record of pulling news stories from the HK Chinese language newspapers – is anyone else doing this in the media – and if not, why not? Is it a case of not enough resources available for a story that would only be special interest?

You might have levelled the same question, had you been asking about Portsmouth last year. The problem is getting hold of the relevant financial information upon which to base your judgements.

I applaud attempts made by this web-site to add extra information but the situation is that sports’ departments these days do not have the resources to chase this material. For example, I also have to cover Aston Villa, WBA, Wolves, Coventry, Forest, Derby, Leicester and Stoke. (on occasion) There simply isn’t the time in the day to source such information. It isn’t readily available. Once the year-end accounts are released, (as they are to comply with stock exchange rules) every news organisation gets stuck in when and where they can.

You know, Colin Tattum gets a hard time from some – I don’t know why because he is a ‘Nose and very good at his job to boot – and he struggles to make sense of it and his primary concern is Blues. Most of the ‘news’ regarding share transfers between individuals may be of interest to supporters but until there is a discernible knock-on effect, there is little news value in it, I’m afraid.

What do you make of the appointment of Chris Hughton? How does he compare as a manager from what you’ve seen in comparison to Alex McLeish? Talking of McLeish, what did you make of his move to the Villa – do you still stand by your piece in the Daily Mail whereby you said it was a savvy move to take the Villa job?

Anyone that follows me on twitter will know I wasn’t overjoyed with the appointment.
Hughton’s experience at Newcastle United didn’t convince me as to his credentials to run a club in disarray. I simply thought that blatant self-interest ruled in the Magpies’ dressing-room and their players decided that they had better do something about the mess they had dragged the club into.

That position was only strengthened further when I learned about the players’ committee that consisted of the likes of Steve Harper, Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith. Here were players on wages that most clubs in the Barclays Premier League couldn’t afford, yet they were in the Championship. How long was that situation going to last with Mike Ashley tightening his belt? Not long. Self-preservation ruled among that group.

Hughton has a good record as a coach but all he had to do that season was keep it ticking over. And, fair enough, he did so. Having seen the financial mess that was on the horizon at St Andrew’s I didn’t think that someone of his limited experience in wheeling and dealing would be able to keep the club competitive. As I’ve got to work with him in future, I hope I’m wrong. I know he has made a favourable impression on the training ground and has had to mix and match as best he can while the maelstrom swirls around him. If he gets this right, I’ll be the first to acknowledge it.

With respect to McLeish, if Blues’ fans are being honest – and I spoke to web-site editors prior to appearing in a phone-in for radio WM at the end of last season – they were split as to whether he should stay or go. The financial reality behind his position following that game at Spurs was such that the club would have had to pay out £800,000 to sack him. Quite clearly, that wasn’t on the agenda, given what we now know. I still don’t know – and doubt I ever will – whether McLeish spotted his opportunity and asked a third party to make a phone call or whether Villa made the first move.

From his point of view it was a great chance to advance his career. He stays in the Premier League, with a decent group of players and has probably doubled his salary in the process. Savvy? Yes. If he had moved to, say, Everton, had David Moyes ended up at Villa Park, most Blues fans would have shrugged their shoulders and eagerly awaited news of the new man.

But it’s not Everton, it’s Villa. I suppose McLeish could have waited, but would he have been offered as good a job as the one at Villa Park? My point is that it appears to be a good career move. But emotions run deep in football and wherever he goes in the future, some Blues’ fan will bring it up. If Villa fail, he will have the claret and blue half of the city on his back.

I recall from your twitter feed that Mrs Moxley is a Coventry City fan, and that she refused to attend matches as a matter of principle whilst Marlon King was playing for Coventry. Do you believe that there is room for ethics in football, or are football teams right to sign any player they want regardless of what they’ve done off the field?

Ethics in football? Do me a favour!

The only thing that matters in football is….well, if you don’t know the answer to that, there’s little point reading on, is there? Claire was upset that Coventry signed Marlon King wouldn’t he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his duties in the community due to the nature of his offences.

For the record, she didn’t go to the Ricoh when he played, either. My own view is that football clubs should be free to offer employment to whichever player they want. If the man concerned was a plumber, air conditioning engineer, etc. then he may well be offered work again. He has, after all, served his punishment as handed down by the state.
However, there is the public relations’ element to this – football clubs occupy a special position within any community – and if there is a backlash, then they should be prepared for it. And plan for it, too.

As someone else who regularly uses twitter, do you think it has a place in football? Do you think newspaper journalists such as yourself are threatened by the speed news can break via a social media service like twitter?

I think twitter may have a use in football – keeping fans’ abreast of what players are doing or thinking. But it’s in danger of being hijacked now with high-profile footballers like Rio Ferdinand being paid to tweet, rather than it be a direct means of expression.

Obviously, journalists are getting to grips with it, like everything else. But newspaper journalists will get to grips with it. Radio was going to kill newspapers, then televisions was. Then there was the internet and now there is social media. There can be no doubt that all of those have made an impact. I can only write from the Daily Mail’s perspective. If you look the number of unique-users on the web-site now, the growth is incredible.
And the newspaper itself still makes money. I think that situation will continue for a while yet.

I know that you’ve covered Midlands teams for some time for the Mail; were you brought up locally? What was your first football match as a fan, and who were your childhood heroes?

My late father, John, was responsible for producing the match day programmes at Villa, Blues, Crystal Palace and Everton and was a contracted freelance for the Press Association and the Daily Telegraph covering Blues, Villa and (occasionally) West Brom and Wolves too. He ran his agency from a house in Clements Road, Yardley. My mum hails from Acocks Green/Olton and went to Lyndon School.

I was born at Solihull Hospital (in Warwickshire!) and went home to a house in Neville Road, Shirley. Can I be more local? My first Blues game was the following: Birmingham City 5 Derby County 1. Kenny Burns scored four. It was in October ’76. I was seven years old and I sat in the ‘Old’ Main Stand adjacent to the press box. (I write ‘Old’ – it is, of course, still there.)

My father, not wanting to shove me in any direction, football-wise, then arranged for me to go to Villa Park to see the friendly against Glasgow Rangers. I think it was exactly one year later. In the end, he had tears from me because he chose to leave me behind because of the threat of trouble. It was a wise move. I remember him being upset when he came home after the match. Someone had been given the kiss of life yards from the press box.

My dad died in 1980 from an alcohol-related illness and my mother re-married a Villa fan, Peter Blick, who (ironically) ran the Red House pub in Solihull. From there we later moved to the Good Companions on the Coventry Road. After that, I pretty much went to as much football as I possibly could. Pete, bless him, would allow me to collect glasses (from about the age of 13) clean the pub and, later on, serve behind the bar. A large chunk of the cash I earned went on watching or playing the game.

But as a pointer as to what I was going to do next for a living, I went wherever I could watch a match. Certainly that was the case when I was in my younger teens. Most people who know me, know who I support. It’s not wise for me to put it into the public domain. But it’s not going to take a rocket-scientist to work it out, either.

I have to say though, some of the grief I get on message boards annoys me. Just because there is some negative news about your club, (and I’ve read some of the comments following Janine Self’s interview) it doesn’t mean the writer is anti-Blues, anti-Villa or pro-WBA. If it’s news, it’s getting reported. If I give my opinion and your club is in the firing line, consider why it is. I’m not doing it for fun.

Suffice to say that I was there – unlike thousands of others who claim they were – when Robert Hopkins passed the ball past David Seaman and into the net against Altrincham in the FA Cup way back when. I’ve watched Birmingham City lose plenty of times since then, too. In person and at places like Hartlepool, Aldershot and Torquay. I remember walking back to Solihull from St Andrew’s following the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Watford in ’84. It was to be the beginning of a ten-year slide that only really stopped when Barry Fry returned the club to what is now known as the Championship.

But I’ve also stood on the Holte End and watched Villa loads of times. My step-dad would take me in the days when I was simply too young to travel anywhere on my own. He was a member of the ‘Florida Club’ which was an extension to the Holte pub, (before Randy Lerner rescued it) and I’d go in there before matches, kicking a tennis ball about the dance-floor with the other kids.

I remember watching Gordon Cowans produce a superb midfield performance as Spurs were dispatched 4-0 at Villa Park. I’ve been to Friday night matches at Villa (v Liverpool when Ian Rush scored a hat-trick) and League Cup semi-finals. The Charity Shield in ’82, an FA Cup quarter-final at Arsenal one year later.

Just for the readers of Often Partisan, I was there when TF scored a hat-trick – the second was a quite exquisite lob – at Villa Park while with QPR. He was the player-manager in those days and substituted himself, walking all the way to the Trinity Road from the Witton Lane stand. The Holte End, unsurprisingly, went absolutely wild. (From memory only, I think Simon Stainrod was brilliant that day)

I even used to hop on the 74 or 79 bus to the Baggies on the odd occasion. I’ve stood in the Brummie Road end a few times – I was there the day that West Ham blew the chance to win the league title, for instance. When I ended up at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, I lodged behind what is now the Steve Bull Stand. (Is it Stafford Street….?) I went to loads of matches that season – 87-88 (I think it was) – it was a three-minute walk into the South Bank – and there are at least three Bolton Wanderers supporters out there who owe me a few drinks after I buzzed them into the Halls of Residence after they were getting a right chasing down the road following (ironically) a Bull-inspired four-goal thumping of the Trotters.

Coventry? Yep, was at Highfield Road to see a 4-3 game between the Sky Blues and Spurs. The 900 bus used to stop outside the Good Companions and away I’d go.
I even went to the ’87 FA Cup final after picking up a ticket throught a stroke of luck and was right behind the flight of the ball when Clive Allen scored in the second minute.
I also travelled to Fellows Park – when there was nothing else in the offing – (sorry Saddlers’ fans) and saw Gavin Peacock score one of the best goals I’ve still ever seen. An over-head kick from the edge of the penalty area for Gillingham in a 1-1 draw. I write these things – not to be all things to all men – that’s impossible. But to try and give an insight into what I liked doing. Watching football.

When I eventually decided to follow in my dad’s footsteps, I walked straight out of my graduation ceremony, bundled my mum and then girlfriend into the car and brought them back to Birmingham. From where, I jumped back into the car and went to St Andrew’s to cover my first match – a 2-0 victory for Blues over Bradford City in the Third Division in which Dean Peer opened the scoring with a header.

Twenty years later, here I am. Privileged to be doing what thousands would do for nothing.
You know, others in my profession may look down upon the Midlands. I don’t. Apart from a two-year spell in the north-east covering Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough I’ve been here all my life. And, if the truth be told, I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’d like to thank Neil for his candid answers, and I hope (and not in a bad way) Chris Hughton does go on to prove him wrong.

Tags: Neil Moxley