This was a real low point for the proud Blues fans, says midfielder
Tuesday 28 October 2014 06:53, UK
Keith Andrews blogs on Bournemouth's rout of Birmingham, and the factors that led to that result...
The standout result from the weekend's action was Bournemouth’s 8-0 rout of a Birmingham City side that is in dire need of leadership both on and off the pitch.
This was Birmingham City’s worst home defeat for over 130 years and there’s little surprise that the fans have had enough of the Carson Yeung reign as owner of the club. He was jailed in March of this year for six years for laundering £55 million through his bank accounts in China, Hong Kong and Macau.
When they were relegated from the Premier League in 2011 they acclimatised quite well to life in the Championship by finishing fourth in the league while also juggling a Europa League campaign, but since then it’s been a struggle as financial restraints have become a constant obstacle in their pursuit of promotion. They stayed up by the skin of their teeth on the final day of last season and although they were optimistic they could build on that this season, in reality it was always going to be a struggle.
Lee Clark has had a very tough tenure at St Andrew’s and Saturday’s result just shows what can happen when turmoil off the pitch comes to a head. This was a real low point for the proud Blues fans. They are a very passionate group of fans and I’ve always enjoyed playing there, despite the slightly hostile reception due to my history at other Midlands clubs.
Gary Rowett was the man widely tipped to be announced as the new manager and it’s a choice that the fans will be happy about. He was a crowd favourite in the two seasons he had there as a player in the late '90s. He has cut his teeth very well at Burton Albion, firstly as an assistant and thereafter taking charge in 2012. He will probably bring all his back room staff of Kevin Summerfield, Mark Sale and Kevin Poole with him to St Andrew’s and they too have all played for Birmingham.
We have had to deal with a lot of injuries in recent weeks but results and performances have remained consistent.
Survival
It’s going to be a very tough job for him and his aim this season has to be purely one of survival because if they did drop into League One it would be a disaster. It will be a fine line between him trying to stamp his own style on the team and how they currently already play, but also getting results in the process. His Burton side have played a nice brand of football but he is taking over a group of players whose confidence will probably be at an all-time low. He may well have to keep things relatively simple - in the short term at least - and just get the players’ morale up and get them back to enjoying it on a daily basis. Inevitably players perform better when they have smiles on their faces.
Having drawn against Bournemouth a few weeks back, live on Sky at Vicarage Road, I said then how impressed I was with them. Eddie Howe has them playing some very good football and they have some incredibly talented individuals within their team. It’s no surprise to see them sitting fourth in the table and they now have a nice goal difference after Saturday’s demolition of Birmingham.
The League table shows just how competitive the Championship is this season as five points separate Derby County at the summit to Ipswich Town down in tenth place. Nottingham Forest were sitting pretty at the top of the league not so long ago after a very impressive start, but even after seven win-less matches they are still only three points off the top and one point off the playoffs.
Normally by this stage of the season one or two sides have pulled away a little bit at the top of the league but I’m not sure that’s going to happen this year as there doesn’t seem to be a lot between the teams. Having played Middlesbrough on Saturday at the Riverside it was clear to see how well organised they are as a team and they have some gifted players who are capable of winning matches on their own.
We are happy enough with the start that we have made but still feel we are capable of kicking on again. We have had to deal with a lot of injuries in recent weeks but results and performances have remained consistent. We have good strength in depth and the group is very determined to achieve something this season. Collectively we recognise it’s a very good opportunity for us.
With Capital One Cup action this week we can spend a little bit more time on the training pitch before we kick off another hectic week’s action with Millwall visiting us on Saturday afternoon.
