Birmingham City are a club with two contrasting sides. The first side is the club with a fantastic away support both vocally and numerically. The second is the dreadful home following, again vocally and even more so, numerically.
Yesterday’s game at Derby County epitomised the away following. The sell-out 3,100 away end were loud and proud. Even at 1-0 down, even after the final whistle had been blown, the travelling Bluenoses sang their hearts out.
It’s what we’ve come to expect from a Blues away contingent. The numbers are often large but always noisy. Several Derby fans have praised Blues’ away following yesterday. Some even said it was the best they’d had at Pride Park all season.
Then I look at the other side of the coin, St. Andrews. Traditionally, Stans has been a stadium that opposition players hated playing at. That wasn’t because Blues were a particularly fantastic side but the atmosphere and hostility generated in the terraces was intimidating. A million miles away from what it is now.
Ipswich Town on a Tuesday night in December. A two-for-one ticket offer. Blues just below the play-off places. Yet just over 15,000 turned up. The atmosphere was worse than the attendance. You could literally hear a pin drop. At one point I could hear the Ipswich goalkeeper shouting to his defenders, that’s how bad it was.
There was a time when Blues fans only expected 100%. As long as the team tried their utmost, the Tilton Road would be right behind you, win, lose or draw. What the hell has happened?
All the Carson Yeung and Lee Clark shaped excuses are redundant. What’s the excuse now? Washing your hair?
The new excuse will undoubtedly be Gary Rowett’s sacking. I wonder if these are the same people who refused to go due to the football under Rowett was ‘boring’. No matter the situation, the book of excuses will always take priority.
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