Blues Current Standing
With a blank weekend as far as Blues fixtures are concerned, it occurs to me that this may be the perfect time to reflect on exactly where our club currently stands in terms of a footballing business. The recent news that Newcastle United have at last obtained new owners, and very wealthy ones at that, has again raised the old envious phrase ‘why cannot it be Birmingham City?”. This follows the same pattern whenever a club is taken over.
We as supporters make no apology for dragging this out as we desperately wish to be under a governing body that has clout and vision to make BCFC a future force. Not fanciful thinking, but logical when geographic and human support is there. Birmingham City, under the Manchester City and Newcastle United model, would in anyone’s orbit be a massive force. Obvious to all, and this being nothing new. We have been trotting this out for years, with each season being similar to the previous one. Nothing changes except for new Managers being parachuted in to try and deal with playing matters.
At this point I am not aiming criticism at our owners, as in truth we may be very fortunate to have a football club at all. We really don’t know the truth as far as finances and wealth are concerned. Takeovers by other clubs is simply that, it only happens to others and not to our club. Nobody can force consortiums to come in to B9 and be bowled over by the potential or bargain price that may or may not be the carrot.
Whilst Newcastle boast’s the arrival of a new era, we appear to hover above the abyss. Always swimming against the tide. The recent article by Almajir about ‘Continuing Stand Issues’ again highlights the dismal news that we are so used to reading, with the lifting of any spirits certainly not up for grabs, making the whole scenario not very pleasant. Again, I stress this is not an attack on the owners, but just the reality of where we currently are and the feeling that this could go on for a long, long time.
There are investors in football clubs throughout the world, and always will be – with obvious Premier league status being the ultimate aim – and I am reasonably confident that the prospect of buying Birmingham City FC has been considered over the years by a number of consortiums. But of course, we shall probably never know. Whilst future takeovers such as Newcastle United will continue throughout the Premiership and the EFL, it remains my hope that our turn will come and that whoever does eventually buy our beloved club will seek to make our proud name sit along those of Manchester City, Liverpool and now Newcastle United.
Not many well supported and successful clubs have stand-alone status as far as cities are concerned. Manchester supports two successful clubs, as do the cities of Liverpool and Glasgow. London has three of the so called top six in Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. Aston Villa and Birmingham City really should be in that same company, with Blues desperately wanting to be plucked out of relative oblivion to join the upper ranks. We live in hope.
Mitchell Bray
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The club can be huge if anybody is willing to take the risk but I feel many potential buyers have looked at us but felt that other clubs have less baggage. I feel with our club its to complicated and owners are put off by several issues ie not owning our stadium.
The fan base is amazing,the potential of the city is huge and is crying out for a second city side to be up there with the elite.
I just fear that owners see us as a club not worth all that baggage
I do blame our owners whoever they are for the poor management and decision making and there is no vision to take our club forward.I pray that one day they will sell up and get out.There are plenty of clubs ie Derby county who don’t own there stadiums but this won’t stop an eventual sale
Robert, you are quite right about the ownership of stadiums etc., but it appears the complexity of any sale would require getting to the core of who owns Blues. So many angles to contend with. Derby may be a deep and wounded case but eventually (my opinion ) is that it will be relatively straightforward to secure new owners compared to ourselves.
Mike Ashley has a few bob now from selling Newcastle. My bet he will buy up Derby.