“Tom Wagner must forget Birmingham City’s new stadium”

This is a letter I sent to Tom Wagner, chairman of Birmingham City FC:

The questions on every Blues fan’s lips today are: How did this happen and what happens next?

You might find these questions impertinent from someone you don’t know, so here’s a bit of context.

I’m 74, approaching 75, and spent my early years living on Cattell Road, a stone’s throw from St Andrew’s, and sat on my front step 70 years ago, looking -me to the first set of searchlights raised by the rocks. So, of course, I’m a lifelong Bluenose.

My dad said when I asked for money to go to the game, “take them seriously and they will break your heart”, how right he was. “Joys & Sorrows” as the song goes, with more from the latter.

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Following the Blues is, and never was, for the fickle fan. I’ve had my ups and downs too numerous to remember, I’ve also had my good days and as the old joke goes, I remember them both!

When you and your partners bought the club all the fans raised a glass to a better future for us after years of struggling at the bottom end of the division we are struggling to stay afloat after a string of broken promises by to the previous owners and now the downgrade has taken place. , joy turned to sadness once again.

While talk of a new stadium is great to hear, I think I speak for nine out of 10 fans when I say I’d rather sit on a pile of dung to watch a winning team with little success while plans for the new stadium continue . back burner for a while.

All efforts should be directed towards building a winning team. After all, we are a football club first and foremost. Ten thousand fans in a 60,000-seat arena would be just a monument to failure.

I strongly believe a great opportunity was spurned this season to steady the ship, most fans would have given the thumbs up to a middling finish but no instead watching ‘fearless football’ it was a disaster unmitigated.

The reason why, in my opinion, is plain and simple, it started with the dismissal of John Eustace, chasing a dream, running before we could walk. Poor player recruitment both at the start of the season and again during the January transfer window was the major factor, the inability of numerous managers to get a tune out of the players is testament to this. Ask any fan what we need in the first place and they will all say another big forward to help Jay Stansfield out. Did I get one? Clearly not. Have anyone under 21 step up? It seems not.

On top of that, without naming names, we’ve taken players who haven’t been able to step up enough to impact games to any degree, players who never lived up to their potential at numerous clubs, but we sign them, why? Then we have so-called “injury prone” players who spend more time on the treatment table than on the field. Plus we let a ‘Steady Eddie’ center half leave the club in the middle of the season, why?

Finally, I ignored the golden rule when it comes to signing players, you recruit better than what you already have.

Too many of this current squad seem to lack the other ingredients beyond the footballing skills required for success at this level, such as stamina, endurance, pace, physicality, strength and the will to win at all costs in a Blues shirt.

We need some clarification on players who don’t display these attributes and anyone overseeing future recruitment needs to understand these factors.

The question must also be asked if we have the right person to do this because if we don’t it will lead to more failures.

As Einstein once said, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity!

I hope you will receive this letter in the spirit in which it was sent. I’m just a fan who would love to see BCFC thrive in whatever vision you have for the future of my club, but I think we need to do football right.

We are down but not out. This is not the time to cry in our beer, the work to bring us back has hopefully already started, but first and foremost we must choose who will lead the club without delay like next season. it will be upon us before we know it.

Terry Coates, Kings Norton

Is Terry right? Let us know what you think in the comments below