Transfer Targets For January, Let's Be Optimistic.

So the January transfer window opens in around 54 hours but who's counting? Normally you would look forward to the window as it is an exciting time in the football year that can rejuvenate your club and enhance their season, i highly doubt this for Blues though. Manager Chris Hughton has already stated how Blues won't be big spenders in January, and it is likely that more than 1 player will depart.

Departures
Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first. As we know, Liam Ridgewell has requested to leave the club, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion are interested as far as we know and I assume he will go to whoever offers him the most money as bids will both be around the £2million mark. Nikola Zigic is an interesting one, Zigic is a player who has scored goals in the Champions League for various clubs and has performed well against the likes of Barcelona in his time at Valencia. You would class Zig as a Premier League player, despite his recent performances. Blues tried to sell the 6 foot 7 Serbian striker in the summer but due to injury he went nowhere. Zigic himself as stated how much he enjoys playing in England and how Birmingham City Football Club and Birmingham in general is great for him, his wife and family (he would say that on 60k a week). I have a soft spot for Ziggy despite his donkeyish behaviour, and i'm not sure how i'd feel if he left.

 

Serbian forward Nikola Zigic, celebrating a goal for Birmingham City.

Jean Beausejour, now this guy was unknown when he joined Blues from Club America in the summer of 2010 and played a small part in our last season in the Barclays Premier League, but this season has been our left midfielder for nearly every game, Chris Hughton actually plays midfielders in position unlike McLeish who used to play Fahey or Bowyer on the left... Beausejour has been linked with a £3m move to Wigan Athletic. Others linked with clubs are, Nathan Redmond (Man City) and Jack Butland (Unknown).Pictured below in order.

Arrivals, Maybe?

Like everyone else I don't have a clue what is going on with the finances right now, but I know that the money is not there for a big money move, deadline day saw Blues pay out "undisclosed" fees for midfielder Wade Elliot and defender Pablo Ibanez. Loans and bosmans have been the main source of incoming players for Blues this season.

Blues bought in several frees in the summer; Burke, King, Spector, Gomis, Caldwell and Rooney. They also made use of loans with; Boaz Myhill, Guirane N'Daw and top goalscorer Chris Wood.

Chris Wood - scorer of 11 goals for Blues in his 4 months here on loan.

One thing I am quite sure of is that Wood and N'Daw will extend their loans to full seasons. N'Daw leaves for the African Cup of Nations with Senegal next week when his loan expires and with his recent form I expect the management team to keep him on. Chris Wood is a young lad and West Brom have kindly extended his loan to us on several occasions, as a youth loan. The Baggies have many first team forwards so Wood is not really needed for them, all the better for us! I can't really see any players coming in for money but here's my optimistic dreamers wishlist.


1) Nicky Maynard (Bristol City)

Maynards contract expires in the Summer and Bristol are not renewing, maybe a steal from a struggling team?

2) Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield) He is in fine form and i'm sure he'd love to leave league 1 for a possible promotion to the Premier League, this won't happen but i'd like it too.

That's it really, we don't have the money right now and Chris Hughton has done a fine job with what he has got, right now we need to focus on the Blackpool game on the 31st December.

Speak soon and Keep Right On!

Merry Christmas!!! And West Ham Pre-Match Thoughts

It's Christmas Day! One of my favourite days of the year for many reasons. Family, friends, food and gifts! It's all good really.

This year I am extremely happy as I am now a Birmingham City FC season ticket holder in Tilton Road Block 7. As well as being able to sit in the same place every time with no hassle it also saves a hell of alot of money and will in future with renewing being cheaper to current STH's.

Ok football time... So we take on West Ham United at home tomorrow (Boxing Day) and i must say i am nervous for the team, West Ham are in fine form since relegation from the Premier League. Mainly because they have stable finances under the ownership of Gold and Sullivan the former owners of Birmingham City. The Hammers have managed to maintain key players such as Robert Green, Carlton Cole and Mark Noble. Aswell as bringing in the premier league class of former Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan and ex-Bolton Wanderers winger Matty Taylor. 2 players who have previously played under current West Ham boss Sam Allardyce when he was manager at Premier League side Bolton Wanderers.

Hammers captain Nolan celebrating a goal with his famous Chicken celebration. (If only Zigic did that!)

West Ham sit in the automatic promotion places as it stands alonside high flyers Southampton and it will take a real christmas miracle to knock them off their perch. Blues last league game ended in a 1-0 away defeat to Crystal Palace and it really dampened spirits after the 1-0 win against Maribior. But who knows? Zigic could learn to kick a ball? Fahey could score a 40 yard volley? Wood could score another hat-trick? It's football, nobody knows, and thats why i love it!

As far as Blues team news goes, Jordon Mutch is definitely in contention after returning from a broken ankle. Morgaro Gomis is now fit so Hughton has a fully fit squad to choose from excluding defender Curtis Davies who is suspended and defender Liam Ridgewell who has a "thigh injury" i think.. It's complete balls if you ask me, Ridgewell wants to leave as we know due to his transfer request in late August. They are clearly keeping him healthy so he is worth money in January to try and help ease the mess owner Carson Yeung has put us in.

I'm sure we all remember the Cup semi against the Hammers last season, being 2-1 down after the first leg, then Craig Gardners injury time rocket to seal the game 4-3, what a night!

Blues went 3-1 down but Bowyer, Johnson and Gardner bought it back!

Anyway prediction time I guess? I always back the Blues so i'm going to go for a 1-1 draw. West Ham have a lot of creativity and drive going forward, but Blues have a solid defence despite the absence of centre back Curtis Davies. We always seem to clinch a goal, whether it be through Marlon King's cool strikers finish or Chris Burke's passionate darts through the enemy defences left hand side.

Come on you blue boys! Merry Christmas everyone and Keep Right On!

"There's Only One Harry Moseley!"

Well it's been over 2 months now since Harry sadly lost his battle with his inoperable brain tumour, but his legacy lives on.

For those who do not know, Harry Moseley is a young boy from Birmingham who in 2007 was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, Harry was a wonderful person with a very supportive family. Harry's initiative led to the creation of the chairty "Help Harry Help Others" or "#HHHO" as it often circulated around Twitter. Harry put alot of hard work in creating bracelets that he sold to raise money for research into brain cancer. At the time of his sad passing, he had raised over half a million pounds, a phenominal acheivement we should all admire. 

Harry showing his bracelets with TV presenter Ben Shepherd and football legend Gary Lineker.

Harry touched and inspired the lives of many, both celebrities and non-celebrities were and still are in full swing with his bracelets purchasing them and wearing them with pride. BRMB presenter Tom Ross, a bluenose just like Harry, sold Help Harry Help Others bracelets produced by Harry's kind family in the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham and raised £4600.

The footballing world supported Harry, he gained tremendous support from both Jack Wilshere and Rio Ferdinand, senior England internationals. On the 16th October 2011, Birmingham City hosted Leicester in the npower Championship, and in memory of young Harry, Blues held a minutes applause for him. It was a very touching tribute and it was incredible to hear chants eminating from behind me of "One Harry Moseley, There's only one Harry Moseley!" during the loud applause by both sets of fans. Blues went on to win the game 2-0 and striker Chris Wood and other players mentioned how they dedicated the win to Harry Moseley.

But the main reason I have decided to write about Harry today, is that this morning he featured on the Jeremy Kyle show, highlighting what an inspiration he was. Alot of the country outside of the Midlands may not have heard of Harry Moseley, but by now i'm sure they have. Harry was top trending on Twitter with "RIP Harry" and reading through tweets I was very pleased with the support this incredible young man received, mostly. Those of you who use twitter regularly will know of the "beliebers" a.k.a fans of Justin Bieber, basically sad obsessive 12 year old girls who wish they knew Justin Bieber, pathetic really. The same goes for X Factor finalist boyband One Direction, they too have crazy deluded "fans" who most of which look like animal experiments, goes to show hey! Anyway, one of the One Direction band members is called Harry Styles. And I, and many others were disgusted to see tweets such as "OMG i had a mini heart attack when i saw RIP Harry thinking it was OUR Harry"... I know, my reaction was just as bad. I was shocked, and sickened. Even if they did not know Harry Moseley for whatever reason, if there is RIP in front of their name , you show respect! Death is a horrible thing that has come to effect us all in one way or another during life.

That's my rant over, I hope this piece really shows just how much of an inspiration Harry Moseley was and still is, too me and many others.  

RIP Harry, you will never be forgotten.

The Christmas Period For Birmingham City

Well it only comes once a year, but the Christmas period is always hectic. The 15th December saw Blues crash out of the Europa League on a high, a home win against NK Maribor was not enough to gain qualification to the last 32 as SC Braga could not beat Club Brugge KV. Blues dominated the game and won 1-0 with a classy Adam Rooney header supplied from a cross by 17-year old wonderkid Nathan Redmond pictured below.

Monday 19th December saw Blues travelling to London to take on Crystal Palace, a team with various youth and senior talent, luckily for Blues, Zaha was out injured. But it didn't stop Palace. Blues came into the game with a 451 formation with Marlon King as a lone striker, with Burke Fahey N'Daw Spector and Redmond in midfield. King was extremely ineffective and as the game progressed, Wade Elliot was bought on to the left in place of Redmond and strikers Nikola Zigic and Chris Wood were bought on, still no luck. The blow came in the 85th minute where Blues, as they had been all night, were being dominated in set pieces, a sloppy clearance from Elliot lead to Nathaniel Clyne crossing for the ball to be neatly headed home, the game finished 1-0 to Palace.
 

The 26th December will see Blues take on last seasons Carling Cup semi-finalists West Ham United who were also relegated at the end of the 2010/2011 Premier League campaign. The Hammers sit in the automatic promotion places in the npower Championship table and look in very good form under Sam Allardyce who has bought in many Premier League quality players such as Kevin Nolan and Matthew Taylor, whilst keeping hold of the likes of Robert Green, Carlton Cole and James Tomkins. It will be a tough game indeed.

Then the 31st December will see the other relegated side visit St. Andrews, Blackpool. Ian Holloway's tangerine army are higher than Blues in the table and the previous result ended in a 2-2 draw with Nikola Zigic firing home from close range in the last 10 minutes as seen below.

It will be a tough game but as I always say... Don't stop believing in Birmingham City!

So the Christmas period so far has seen a convincing win and an irritating loss, and with 2 tough games coming up, let's just say we will need to show Premier League class. To gain promotion we realistically need to be gaining points from all our home games, this will be the biggest test yet for Chris Hughton's men.


 Thanks for reading and speak to you soon.

And So It Begins...

Well I thought I'd finally try my hand at this blogging stuff, seems better than ranting my opinion to all my friends over social media, where shall I start? Well I am a Birmingham City fan of around 10 years and I have to say I've seen my fair share of "joys and sorrows" as your average Bluenose would say. I've seen several heartbreaking relegations, and also a few joyous promotions. I've seen my team win a major trophy, and play in Europe, which I may come to later.

So what will I do here? Well I'm thinking I will blog after every game both home and away, ones I attend and ones I don't attend. Regardless of result, i will voice my opinion, which means bad times for you, I joke of course! I will probably blog about random Blues related topics too, such as: finances, backroom affairs, supporters views, general football and much more.

More about me then and my personal Blues opinions. Well i'll start with highs and lows. My outright favourite Blues player of the current squad has to be Curtis Davies. Davies is becoming a better defender with every game, and for that reason i really admire him. He is also big in the scene on Twitter and has his fair share of decent banter with former Blue Darren Carter, he seems a very nice bloke. He came in January last season for around £3.5million from local rivals Aston Villa, and wasn't used much due to the sustained partnership of Roger Jognson and Martin Jiranek in defence. Davies played in the last game of the season away at Spurs where we were relegated, showing some good quality in our last ounce of effort to stay in the Premier League. People knew that the likes of Johnson and Dann would be shifted at the end of the season, so Davies time was soon to come. Then to this season, the first game of the season was good, to begin with. Davies rose to head home from Jordon Mutch's sublime corner to put us 1-0 up against Derby County, who we lost 2-1 too. Since then Davies has captained us on several occasions and in the words of Mick McCarthy he has "put in a reet shift". This is why I admire him. Then the bad points, I cannot stand the over-payed, over-sized oath that is... Nikola Zigic. Yes the man scored in the Carling Cup Final and also scored a few PL goals.. But he has been disgraceful this season, especially the missed penalty v Braga, i would very much like to see him sold!

Anyway that's me, like it or lump out. Looking to make this a daily thing. Speak soon guys, Keep Right On. In the meantime here is a picture of our Lord and Saviour.... Keith Fahey. Who said there was no humour in blogging? ;)