BCFC: Open Letter To The Club

8 Feb 2023 | 14 comments

St Andrews

The following Birmingham City supporter groups have joined together under the banner of the Sell The Club campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage a change of ownership at the club.

Blues Collective  *  Tilton Talk Show  *  Redditch Blues  *  Blues Focus  *  Central Blues  *  Blues Trust  *  East Midlands Blues  *  Blues 4 All  *  Northside Blues  *  Birmingham City Women Supporters Group  *  The Tilton Two Podcast  *  North West Blues

The campaign took another step forward today when some representatives of those groups met at St.Andrew’s to hand in an open letter to the club. The letter calls on the owners to sell the club, and it was delivered personally to Ian Dutton, Managing Director of BCFC, this afternoon.

The letter is produced in full below. Ian has confirmed that he will ensure it is shared with Mr Wenqing Zhao, the Chairman of Birmingham City FC and  who is also Chair of Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited.

The open letter is the latest in a series of measures being taken to persuade the owners to sell the club.

Next up are a series of events taking place around Friday night’s game against West Bromwich Albion. The first is an organised march from the Bull Ring Tavern, Digbeth to St.Andrew’s before the game. Fans will be assembling from 5pm and the march itself commences at 6.30pm. The supporter groups are backing the march, having received assurances about its organisation and consistent with their objectives of supporting safe and legal protests.

Prior to kick off, leaflets will be handed out to supporters entering the stadium. The leaflets will give details of how to sign the petition to support the campaign.  Supporters are also being encouraged to stand and hold up the leaflet at kick off to show support for the campaign.

More actions will follow in the weeks ahead.

What is being asked for in the letter is in line with the recommendations of the recent Fan Led Review, and what the Government itself is saying clubs should in fact be undertaking ahead of legislation being introduced.

The supporter groups are grateful for the support given to Birmingham City fans by Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood, and her efforts to get the Fan Led Review recommendations enacted.

Blues Trust

Click here to view the open letter

SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN.  JOIN THE TRUST
The petition reads as follows:
To: BSHL & BCFC
From: Birmingham City Supporter Groups
Purpose: Ownership change at BCFC

Birmingham City supporters are calling on the club’s owners BSHL to put the club up for sale. Over many years of decline and decay our once proud club is now failing both on and off the pitch. There is no longer trust in this ownership, and we demand change, the clubs very existence is at risk. Therefore, we say no more uncertainty and delay. The time for change is now. Our stated AIMS and actions are:

  1. We want a clear exit strategy provided by the owners to include specific timelines
  2. We want open and honest communication provided on a regular basis
  3. We want a Fan Advisory board set up with immediate effect.

IN SHORT    � Sell The Club   � Speak to us   � Give us a voice

Send the message:
Enough is enough it’s time for change!

Keep Right On!

Over to you BSHL.
Membership

Want to be a full member with voting rights?

We have options for 1 and 2 years at £5 per year.  There is also a 5 year membership for £20 so you get 5 years for the price of 4.  See information and options here.

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  • All we ask is that it relates to the Club that we all love. It can inform, question, challenge, criticise even….but it should not be written to threaten and/or cause personal offence.
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14 Comments

  1. Simon Anderson

    Would this “fan advisory board” be populated by Trust and Supporters’ club members? Or, to put it another way, the very same people who have going to these periodic club meetings for tea and biscuits and to receive their orders?

    • Sausage n Egg

      perhaps ypu could put yourself forward to give up your time for little reward but plenty of sarcasm
      anything is better than nothing

  2. Stan Drews

    Great to see some cooperation and unity between the various supporters groups. Let’s keep the protests and actions safe, lawful, and not to the detriment of the club itself.

  3. Peter Bates

    It will be interesting to see any reply to the open letter to the owners of Birmingham city football club with regards to selling the club ,are we also going to put an open letter to the owners of the ground and an open letter to the efl to let supporters know the current state of their current investigation into the owners ,the supporters are fed up with the whole saga, I hope I am wrong but I think from the Hong Kong perspective it will alas fall on deaf ears again,let’s get behind the players and manager on Friday and kro .

  4. christopher ronald

    i cant take the blue trust seriously since they backed the board earlier in the protests you just know if they did appoint a fan led board it would be blues trust constantly backing the owners ;.

  5. Peter Bates

    I applaud the open letter and the petition but we are not dealing with people who are open and transparent in their dealings ,so we must continue to put pressure on them.we don’t know who exactly owns the club or who finances it we only have a name and that could be anyone and let’s remember the people who have positions of power within the club are employed by our faceless owners in Hong Kong does can’t upset the apple cart spring to mind

    • Graham parrish

      What makes self opinionated trust members so relevant ?

      • Roy

        What are you personally doing to make the situation better? I am not a member of any of these groups but at least they are trying to get changes.

  6. james mcgrogan

    It saddens me that a lot of these comments are taking cheap shots at blues trust.Wether you like it or not this is a voice that is heard.Who else have put their thoughts forward.We need all of the supporters groups to voice their opinions as loud as they can.Remember Bury perhaps they did not shout loud enough.perhaps relegation fights and super dodgy owners are in our DNA I,ve spent nearly sixty years clapping and cheering blues teams who have avoided relegation and perhaps a bit less protesting against owners.I hope new owners will reverse that and bring the comotose giant to life.KRO

  7. Peter Bates

    Well said James I for one back all groups who try to get our club out of bshl clutches good on you my friend kro

  8. Ed Truman

    Some really disappointing contributions to the discussion here. Negative, outdated, ill informed. And in some cases just plain wrong. So my question to Simon, Christopher, Graham and the like is this. Exactly what is it that you are doing to arrest the decline of the club? Nothing….? No, I thought so. Or even, what ideas do you have for making things better? Share them with us if you have any because they might just help the cause. Or are you simply happy to accept the situation as it is?

    I for one appreciate the efforts of the volunteers who run the supporter groups. I acknowledge their commitment and passion for the club that I have loved for a lifetime, and for what they do for other people. And I value their work in keeping the likes of me informed. It’s a thankless task at the best of times I’m sure, and it certainly doesn’t warrant ignorant and moronic criticism.

    • Brian Salisbury

      Well said: the Blues Trust should be congratulated on taking this initiative and combining with all those other fan groups to put maximum pressure on the current owners to sell the club.
      There’s no need for negative comments especially if those making them have no answer themselves.
      It’s possible to maintain a balance in supporting the team and try to bring about a change in ownership; it’s not either one or the other.
      It would help if some of those “celebrity supporters” stepped up to the plate to exert more pressure on the owners.
      Unruly behaviour should be avoided at all costs; it’s counter productive!

  9. Paul James

    The only question of this letter and other protests I would have is are the people behind all these the same people who made it abundantly clear that the wanted Sullivan and the Golds out?

  10. David Giles

    Great to see so many supporter groups coming together. We have to stay united and not let up this campaign. There were too many personal agendas when Maxco and Southall tried to buy us. We need complete change from top to bottom. It should be remembered that Ian Dutton, Lungi Macebo and those senior management trying to position themselves as fans champions were appointed by Wang Yaohui, Zhao, Zheng and do what they want them to do. They are part of the problem. Complete change is needed.

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