In 2011, Birmingham City was hit by a perfect storm of calamitous events: relegation, the owner arrested on money laundering charges and the manager poached by our rivals. It is experiencing the opposite at the moment. The excitement on the pitch is coming from an attempt to reach the playoffs. The administrators in Hong Kong are trying to sort out the complex finances. The manager and his team have agreed new contracts.

The club is also showing a willingness to communicate with its supporters. David Boston, the Supporter Liaison Officer, has stated his intention to hold regular quarterly meetings with representatives from supporters’ groups. The timing for this is good; it’s much easier to set up a means of communication when things are going well and fans want to talk to the club not shout at it. It also ties in with what is happening at the national level; representatives of the leagues and supporters have produced a report that could mark the start of a new era of structured dialogue between clubs and supporters.

I’ll be going to the second of the quarterly meetings with David Boston on Saturday, before the Sheffield Wednesday game.  Blues Trust have submitted suggestions and questions for this meetings based on our discussions at our open board meeting in January.  We have also asked about the club’s reaction to the report mentioned above, the final report of the Government Expert Working Group on Supporter Ownership and Engagement.  This is a good time to talk.