| The club enjoy a
fierce rivalry with near neighbours Aston Villa - having the upper hand
over them recently when they taunted them after winning the Leyland DAF
Trophy in 1991. Formed when a group of cricketers got bored during the
winter of 1875, a religious theme runs through their history with the
original team being linked to Trinity church and subsequently moving
from their first ground to St. Andrews in 1902. Initially, the side was
named after the area of it's first home, Small Heath, they almost
changed their title again when they moved to another nearby Heath; this
time Edward's, but the blue link was not strong enough to persuade them.
They did move, however, from their potholed Muntz Street ground (named
after the character, Nelson, from The Simpsons), which became a great
attraction for cavers for many years after, to St. Andrews. The ground
was initially sited alongside a railway line causing many games to be
abandoned due to smoke blowing across the pitch. This proved to be a
boon for the supporters during an unsuccessful time that became known as
"The Black Years" (because of all the soot that was
deposited), but caused an outbreak of Asthma among the Birmingham
faithful. One feature of the new ground was a Kop along one side of the
pitch, built on a foundation of rubbish. The club's poor form during the
70's, 80's and 90's was attributed to a gypsy curse and attempts were
made to remove this, involving painting the soles of the players boots
red and the manager, Barry Fry, urinating in the corners of the pitch.
The answer to the team not playing well seems very obvious to me though
!! Watering the pitch and the stands was important in World War II when
part of the ground was set alight during a time that the stadium was
used as a fire station !!
The Blues' high
points came in 1931 when they lost in the FA Cup final to WBA and again
in 1956, when they were runners-up to Manchester City in a match that
became most famous for City keeper, Bert Trautmann, playing on with a
broken neck. They also finished sixth in the First Division in season
1955-56 . Aside from the Leyland DAF Trophy, they won the League Cup in
1963 overcoming Aston Villa over two legs. Their other claim to fame is
their 1970's away strip which had a large yellow stripe down the front
of the shirt, with one sleeve and third of the shirt black and the other
red. They looked as though they had the Belgian flag wrapped around
them. The club do have a rich European heritage with them taking part in
the inaugural Fairs Cup competition - reaching the semi-finals and going
one step further before losing to Barcelona in 1960 and AS Roma in 1961.
Fans of the
club have adopted the name of "Bluenoses". This derives from
an early attempt to merchandise "Birmingham Blues Snuff" in
the 1920's. This product and the ritual of snorting the powder left a
deposit over the middle of the face of the supporter. Hence, the
nickname. The fans have also had their blue noses put out of joint by
Managing Director, Karren Brady, who introduced an away travel scheme
that involved a membership fee for fans to obtain tickets for away
games. Conversely, there was also the Beau Brummie scheme, which gave
fans concessions for their staunch support. Brady was appointed by David
Sullivan, former owner of the Sunday Sport newspaper, now Chairman of
the club and racehorse owner. An unlikely, but dynamic duo that has
overseen the revolving door transfer policy of Barry Fry, that saw the
club involved in 113 different transfer deals on deadline day in the
1994/95 season.
Bluenoses are
renowned for their singing of the song - "Keep Right On To The End
Of The Road". This harks back to the "Black Years", when
fans would march straight past the St. Andrews ground to watch a match
from the Birmingham and District League (the second oldest still in
operation) being played in the fields along Tilton Road.
The record for
club appearances is held by Trevor Womack, who, between 1908 and 1928,
played 491 times for Brum. In spite of his devotion to the Blues, he
still found time to father the famous soul music dynasty including
Bobby, Cecil, Linda and Friendly (named after a non-competitive match
that Birmingham played in (just the) once).
Another of
those clubs more famous for one of its supporters than it's on-pitch
achievements. This time it's comedian Jasper Carrott, who is a club
director and Trevor Francis Look-a-like. Trevor Francis debuted for the
Midlands side at 16 and became the Superboy of the club in the early
1970's. He became the first £3 million player when Forest shelled out
for the wonderkid, but it seemed strange that on his return as manager,
he has signed predominantly aged players in his attempt to return
Birmingham to their glory days. He almost achieved a step in the
right direction by reaching the play-offs, but his side was hit by
injury and they were slaughtered by Barnsley in the semi-finals.
Finally,
promotion was secured by Steve Bruce in 2002 and Brum have established
themselves in the Premiership, as they have money pumped into the club
by former "private shop owners" David Gold and David
Sullivan. The public face is very different and they are now
shopping from the top shelf, as they proved by buying Emile Heskey for
£6.25 million in 2004.
FAMOUS PLAYERS:
- Mark Dennis, Robert Hopkin, Alberto Tarantini, Denis Van Der Wyk, Mick
Harford, Julian Dicks, Tony Coton, Noel Blake
FAMOUS FANS : -
Jasper Carrott (Comedian), Robert McCracken (Boxer), Bev Bevan and Jeff
Lynne (Musicians - ELO)
|
