Perhaps Birmingham City’s most recent results can explain why supporting such a chaotic club is draining for even their most ardent followers.
After 85 minutes of laborious, turgid, football against relegation candidates Peterborough United last Tuesday night, Lee Bowyer’s team somehow clawed back a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 at home.
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Although half of the ground was unoccupied, the noise that followed their 88th-minute equaliser felt like a blast from the good old past. The stadium, on the outskirts of the city centre, has seen some wonderful days and there are not many venues in the country that can whip up an atmosphere like a packed-out St Andrew’s.
So with that flicker of midweek hope, more than 3,000 supporters then made the short trip across the Midlands to Derby County on Sunday. Two early goals put the visitors ahead at Pride Park and finally it felt like there was some light at the end of a dark tunnel.
But in an almost identical role reversal of the Peterborough game, two late goals were then conceded; the 95th-minute equaliser arriving in controversial circumstances.
A message from a season-ticket holder of over 30 years dropped into my inbox when the final whistle was blown.
It read: “Fucking sick of football now. Nothing ever goes for us.” That’s a thought every Birmingham supporter who has endured the tragicomedy of the club’s last decade will agree with, after not only a Derby offside, but a high foot was missed by the officials.
There was one lighter moment, though. A schoolboy looked up at his disgruntled dad and said reassuringly: “I’m still glad that we came” — his innocent words taking the edge off an endless drag of despair.
It is that type of commitment to the cause that helps create the next generation of supporters. The trouble at Birmingham, however, is that the club have been losing followers for several years now.
It is not just the results that are keeping people away, either. More the disconnect with their absent owners.
Directors with close links to Paul Suen and Vong Pech, the major shareholders of parent company Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited (BSHL), are now finally starting to realise this, more than five years after the takeover.
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After years of silence, they are holding their hands up and apologising for a lack of communication.
But will it be enough? A closer look by The Athletic can reveal:
- An ownership structure with no communication from those at the top
- Rising debt and concerning cost-cutting strategies
- Extravagant spending in the past that’s still crippling the club
- Some players being paid over £1.3 million a year despite the constant struggles of recent seasons
- Difficulties attracting new players
- An academy needing extra resources ahead of audit and growing concern in the women’s team
That it has taken pre-match protests and a trending hashtag (calling for the exit of BSHL) to rouse club directors into action raises questions as to the authenticity and timing of their dialogue.
A protest group called 1875, named for the year the club were formed and spearheaded by Daniel Ivery, a minority shareholder and blogger, have sent letters of complaint to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where BSHL trades, which are being investigated. The first complaint is for the lack of reporting to shareholders concerning costs of repairs to the stadium. The second is centred around the confusing link-up with Spanish third-tier side UE Cornella, with whom Birmingham announced a partnership in September 2018.
At the last home game, that draw with Peterborough, the loudest chant was not the club anthem Keep Right On but a call to “Stand up if you hate the board”, which almost every supporter present joined in with.
A pre-match protest saw large groups chanting for answers over the mismanagement of the club — and that is the real reason why board members have now started talking.
Last month, a select group of supporters were invited to discuss some of the issues with the senior management team. There was one problem — the people they ended up talking to weren’t that senior.
Suen, a Chinese businessman and Birmingham shareholder through his investment vehicle Trillion Trophy Asia, and Pech, a Cambodian businessman with multiple other interests, were not present. Neither was chairman Wenqing Zhao. Birmingham do not have a chief executive, so director Edward Zheng, a former marketing manager for carmaker Rolls-Royce’s Beijing operation, sat alongside technical director Craig Gardner, who spoke passionately throughout, to address some of the issues.
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There was further support from the finance, commercial and governance departments but still no breakthrough on whether fans would hear any updates on the future of their club from the people who really matter.
It was clearly stated that the club was not for sale. An open letter from Zhao then followed last weekend in another attempt to repair the fractious relationship.
One might wonder why supporters of a Championship club with a 13-point safety net from the bottom three, who were active in the recent transfer window, and are slowly re-appointing staff who genuinely care about the club — besides former Birmingham player Gardner there are also Darren Carter (women’s interim head coach) and Martin O’Connor (loans manager) — are so vexed.
But Birmingham’s last six finishes in the second tier — 19th in 2017 and 2018, then 17th, 20th and 18th last season — make for painful reading. This is a club who were playing European football as recently as December 2011 after beating Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in the League Cup final.
St Andrew’s is no longer owned by the club. Instead, Birmingham pay rent to Achiever Global Group Ltd, a property company based in the Caribbean tax haven of the British Virgin Islands, at a rate of £1.25 million a year in a deal that runs until 2031. BSHL’s 75 per cent share of the stadium was sold for £10.78 million last June to help the club accounts and avoid sanctions for breaching financial fair play rules.
Two sections of the ground’s biggest stands have been closed for two seasons due to heavy corrosion, at a cost of around £2.5 million. The circumstances are testing but the club’s failure to communicate the issues efficiently caused more angst for the supporters. They have since apologised and promised to do better in the future.
Concerns mount over the accounts in years ahead, especially without a high-value saleable asset such as Che Adams and Jude Bellingham, who they banked a combined £40 million for in 2019 and 2020 respectively, left in the squad.
What happens if there is no top talent to move on in the future? The pre-tax loss of £18.2 million in the last set of accounts was alarming, so, too, is the rising debt to BSHL which stood at £110 million for the year ending June 2020.
Silence from the two majority shareholders, Suen and Pech, continues to raise eyebrows. Even Zhao, the chairman, said last weekend they are “not actively present at the club” in his open letter but stressed the long-term plan for the club was to get back into the Premier League. How they plan to do that when manager Bowyer has put together a squad of free signings and loan players, with the one exception of midfielder Junior Bacuna, a recent £400,000 arrival from Scottish champions Rangers, remains to be seen. A wage bill of nearly £33 million (according to the last set of accounts) must be cut first before the rebuild can start.
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Mystery still surrounds a character called “Mr King”, who has no legal connection to the club yet often seems to have a say in the running. Birmingham deny he is involved.
The lack of a chief executive with football experience is holding the club back. Whether a search has even started to appoint one is unclear.
Insiders say the departure of former CEO Xuandong Ren in May 2021 has helped change the culture behind the scenes, so that is at least one positive.
Ren was a man who used the club credit card to buy luxury goods for his wife. Birmingham denied this when asked previously. He also refused to listen to advice from the finance department before the EFL handed Birmingham a points deduction in March 2019 and moved staff on “for having even the slightest difference in opinion”, sources have said.
The players could not work Ren out, either. At times, he had become “far too active” in training sessions, according to those who were present. He broke down in tears during a motivational team talk which only added another layer to his “passionate but volatile” character.
Lines of communication are now clouded. Zheng has started to front up publicly, however it is unclear who hired him and whether he reports to Zhao or those further up in the hierarchy.
If there was an authoritative figure who could say, with hard, convincing evidence, that the future is bright, there would not be so much anger in the stands. Supporters can digest a run of bad results and move on. They have had to for years at Birmingham, and it is why they still sing in support of Bowyer, and understand the difficult job Gardner is faced with.
They have a right to ask questions about the money situation, though.
There is a clear reliance on loan players and the squad has no significant value. Granted, the wage bill needs to be reduced in order to reload and sign new players on transfer fees. Big-money signings in the Championship are a thing of the past for most clubs operating at that level, but it is not just the single cash signing this season that has raised questions.
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St Andrew’s needs maintenance and care — and that is without even considering the sections that are already closed and under repair.
The seats in the Main Stand are changing colour with age, the blue bleaching in the sun.
Plasterboards are crumbling, paintwork is fading and the general appearance is tired.
When striker Troy Deeney took a huge pay cut to join the club he supported as a boy from Watford in the summer, he said: “I wouldn’t say the club is broke, but it’s trying to live within its means. I’ve been getting used to the edginess and character of the building, let’s put it that way.”
New banners on the Kop Stand this week have added a fresh look to the stadium for the passing public. The club is aware that further investment around the stadium is needed and are putting together plans.
But there are still other areas of concern.
The academy needs extra resources following the progression to category one (the highest level under the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan) status. There is an audit in May and staffing levels need to be addressed to give it the best possible chance of passing.
The wages in contracts for scholars are low and leave Birmingham vulnerable to losing some of their more talented young players. Amari Miller, a 19-year-old forward, left for Leeds United in the summer because of this.
Gardner, however, insists Birmingham are thinking more strategically now and that players will become “more like assets” and not be “sold for the sake of it”. He points to the recent promotion of young players including Jordan James, George Hall, Tate Campbell, Marcel Oakley and Jobe Bellingham as success stories.
Would so many youngsters be getting into a team competing at the top of the table, though? Probably not, but Gardner is passionate about helping “create dreams” and believes developing youth is more advantageous than wasting money on signing older players as the club has done in the past.
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How far back do the troubles at Birmingham stretch?
Many people with close links to the club shake their heads at the demise.
One former senior staff member insisted that the pandemic had made matters much worse, but felt for the supporters who have been “battered from pillar to post”.
Stephen Carr, the captain who played alongside Bowyer and Gardner in the 2011 League Cup-winning team who were relegated from the Premier League three months after their Wembley triumph, told The Athletic recently: “I’m asked quite a lot about where it went wrong and I just don’t know the answer to it. It’s sad when it happens to a club like Birmingham, because it’s very difficult to get back up.
“The problem is you’ve got these clubs coming down, big clubs some of them, and they’ve got a lot of money behind them. It costs a lot of money to get back up and not many clubs have that money and are willing to gamble it.”
BSHL has invested significantly, if not always in the right way.
Housing senior staff members at the luxurious Hampton Manor hotel in nearby Solihull between 2020 and 2021, as the club were activating the final round of redundancies, did not sit right with those employees who were moved on.
Recruitment has been bad for years and Gardner is desperate to get it right, saying: “The board are 100 per cent behind me. They know I am not going to ask for £10 million for a player. They know I am trying to do the right things for the club.
“Yes, mistakes have been made, but what’s happened in the past is the past and we need to concentrate on the now.”
It is obvious that Gardner, a boyhood Birmingham fan who played over 100 times for the club across two spells, is working hard to fix the football side. He has offered to meet more supporters in the weeks ahead and answer some of their questions. When it comes to the ownership structure though, he, too, is vague.
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At 35, he is one of the youngest technical directors in the country and there is a lot on his shoulders.
Staff talk about a man who gets into the training ground early and leaves late. Associates discuss late-night calls and weekend text messages. He is committed, around the clock.
Perhaps it is unfair to ask him about longer-term goals when Birmingham cannot plan until the day-to-day situation is resolved.
“I’m five months into the job,” he says. “I would love to have a recruitment team, to say, ‘Bring me 15 players to have a look at in two months’ time’.”
The reality, however, is that the in-house support network is small for now and there is no real strategy in place yet.
Zhao, the chairman, asked supporters for “patience” and told them to “trust the process” in his open letter. Many would have listened if those words had been delivered years ago, but the charm offensive will not wash with the disgruntled fanbase.
Only time will tell if the claims that “money is available” are true.
Birmingham signed Bacuna last week but due to the cost-cutting plans they need to follow, could not bolster their back line despite a late attempt to strengthen there. It means that George Friend is the squad’s only senior back-up defender.
Friend took a pay-cut last summer to stick around for an extra year, and with so many loan arrivals this season, players like him, Deeney and midfielder Gary Gardner, Craig’s younger brother, are vital. They get the fabric of the club.
As technical director and manager, Gardner and Bowyer discussed transfer window targets at length. They decided that bringing in midfield and attacking reinforcements was the priority. The plan was to make Birmingham more exciting to watch.
Gardner’s extensive contacts book has been helpful. After 14 years as a player, he has built some long and trusting relationships. The temporary signings this season of Manchester United pair Tahith Chong — a 22-year-old attacking midfielder who will resume his loan when he’s fully recovered from injury — and centre-back Teden Mengi, 19, were aided by Gardner’s relationship with his old West Bromwich Albion team-mate, Darren Fletcher, who’s now the technical director at Old Trafford.
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Both loanees are represented by the Stellar Group, one of the largest agencies in the world, and they see the benefit of sending youngsters to Birmingham because of the playing opportunities there.
Not every intermediary is so keen. Some talk about difficulties dealing with former CEO Ren in the past and the ever-decreasing wage structure making a move to St Andrew’s a tough sell.
Many clubs in the division are still feeling the squeeze on the back of the pandemic, so they are not alone, but as one agent puts it: “Birmingham will be one of the last calls I make when a player needs a Championship club. Other than Derby County and Reading, they’re known to be in a bit of a mess, and their league position hardly helps.”
That is a clear insight into the difficulties facing Gardner, who Zheng confirms will be allowed to focus on the football side without major interference from himself or a new CEO, if one arrives.
Gardner understands the position the club find themselves in. Birmingham had to be creative in recent transfer windows to make up for mistakes of the past.
There is no doubt they are still paying the price for a transfer splurge in the summer of 2017, when they spent more than £23 million to recruit 14 players under Harry Redknapp.
Harlee Dean, the former captain who joined League One side Sheffield Wednesday on loan last week, was being paid £23,000 a week while not playing. He was surplus to Bowyer, so the club accepted the only offer they received — and are still covering a chunk of the defender’s wages. Maxime Colin, who has another year to run on his contract, picks up even more, but is at least a regular starter for Bowyer. Fellow defender Mark Roberts was initially on big money but took a reduction when he signed a new contract recently.
All three were signed for the 2017-18 season by Redknapp, who was then sacked 13 games into it. He and his coaching team cost more than £1.8 million to pay off.
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They were not the only expensive mistakes.
The deal for Union Berlin full-back Kristian Pedersen in July 2018 almost crippled the club in a different way.
Senior officials had warned Ren the signing could cause “serious problems” as the EFL had informed the club they were under a registration embargo, but he refused to listen until it was too late. Birmingham would subsequently receive a nine-point deduction the following March for breaching profit and sustainability rules between 2015-18, where they incurred losses of £48.8 million.
The panel that looked at the case decided the Pedersen move should “not be treated as an aggravating factor”.
His hefty wages are still coming out of the pot, though, at a time when more cost-effective contracts are being drawn up for new arrivals. Several clubs showed interest in the left-back last month and a late bid was lodged but turned down largely because of the shortage of bodies in defence.
A €7 million release clause was attached to Pedersen’s deal when he first signed, but with his contract expiring in June, Birmingham will not be getting any return on their investment, and the chance of him signing a contract extension on significantly-reduced terms are slim.
The priority in January was to move on some of the higher earners. Out went Ivan Sanchez to Real Valladolid on loan with an option to buy while Fran Villalba will become a permanent Sporting Gijon player in the summer after spending the rest of this season with them on loan.
When Birmingham were looking at central midfielders, some conversations around swap deals involving Ivan Sunjic are understood to have taken place. The Croatian was a huge investment for Birmingham. First, a £7 million transfer fee to Dinamo Zagreb, followed by a hefty pay packet and five-year contract in 2019. In the end, though, there was no firm interest in the midfielder.
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Birmingham did have a buyer for goalkeeper Neil Etheridge but had to scrap plans to raise funds from his sale when Wolves loanee Matija Sarkic sustained a shoulder injury and returned to his parent club.
Gardner believes there can be better times if the wage bill is further reduced. Bacuna and fellow new signing Lyle Taylor, a striker on loan from Nottingham Forest, gave them a lift last weekend, even though they could only draw with Derby.
“We have got a budget and as the figurehead of the football side, I would never be able to live with myself if I put this club into a situation where we picked up a points deduction — that is not happening again,” Gardner said at a meeting where The Athletic was present.
The safety gap between Birmingham in 17th place and the bottom three with 17 games to go is reassuring, but any success in the future hinges on recruitment and if the budget is squeezed, that is a lot of pressure on a small team of staff.
Birmingham have to out-think others if they’re losing out to Bournemouth, for Fleetwood Town centre-back James Hill, and Middlesbrough, who stumped up the cash to sign Australia midfielder Riley McGree from MLS side Charlotte after he’d spent the previous 14 months on loan at St Andrew’s. That requires a structure and strategy that takes time to build.
Bowyer is hoping for better times.
“I don’t think it can be as tough as what it has been for the last two windows,” he says.
“We have had to bring in top League One players and pay them hardly anything, we have had to get players out to bring players in and then sometimes, by the time that happens, the better players that you might be interested in have gone.
“That’s what we have been trying to do since I have been here, really — in the summer and now. Of course, it’s been tough. I hope it does get easier.”
While the men’s side look safe from the drop for this season, the plight of the Birmingham City women’s team is even worse.
Founder members of the Women’s Super League in 2010, they have four points from 13 games this season and are staring their first-ever relegation in the face.
Birmingham won the Women’s FA Cup in 2012 and were finalists five years later. They have competed for titles, finishing second in 2011 and 2012, made the Champions League semi-finals in 2014 and been a home to some of the top players in the country.
But the reliance in the women’s game on having a thriving men’s team — 10 of the 12 WSL clubs are affiliated with Premier League sides — has hit them hard.
“Premier League clubs now get £160 million straight in their bank account (from the television deals) so they can put one per cent of that to their women’s team and it’s £1.6 million,” says Mark Smith, Birmingham’s chief financial officer.
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“We are putting in way more than our turnover of one per cent and we are getting nowhere near what these Premier League teams can do. We earn £20 million in turnover, they earn £200 million to £400 million, so there is a gap in that funding.”
A director from a rival club has sympathy, saying: “It’s an impossible task for a Championship club now. It is the survival of the fittest. To run a fully-fledged women’s team, you need around £1 million a year.
“If Birmingham produce the miracle of all miracles and stay up, they’re still likely to get down next season because of the way others will strengthen. It’s a shame, because their record in women’s football is great.”
Birmingham have fallen well behind in the WSL and there are Championship teams, including league leaders Liverpool and Charlton Athletic, eager to take their place.
The emergence of Aston Villa as a force in women’s football has not helped either.
In recent years, Villa’s women have hand-picked the top talent from their second-city neighbours and integrated them into their professional set-up. Hannah Hampton, the England international goalkeeper, is one example but the list goes on, from young players to seniors and support staff.
Villa are now managed by Carla Ward, who resigned from the same role at Birmingham last year after saying: “What we’ve done this year isn’t sustainable, mentally and physically.”
Players complained over a lack of care and there were claims that they faced delays for injury treatment and were unable to access training ground facilities. At times, it is understood, they were eating and getting changed in their own cars.
Birmingham say they have addressed some of the problems. The women’s team have two pitches available to them now and can also use the training ground canteen.
Pay remains an issue. Some players in the third-tier National League are on more money than those at Birmingham. Accommodation is not always offered, either, so players end up moving from top-flight Birmingham to drop down two divisions, as the financial package is more attractive.
Yet if these feel like testing times, it is not worth thinking about the consequences of relegation.
So, what happens next?
There is a push to re-open St Andrew’s in full by the start of next season but the issues are complex and are not easily solved by simply stumping up more money.
Zhao, Zheng and Gardner have promised more communication — which is a start, despite the radio silence from those higher up.
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Bowyer has a difficult task to get a limited group firing. That they are closer to the top six than the bottom three in points terms is an achievement itself.
While the #BSHLOUT hashtag is no longer trending on social media, it is still active. Protest group 1875 have encouraged supporters to send postcards to the absent owners with their thoughts. “Faceless” masks will be provided for those who continue protesting into the next game tonight (Friday) against Sheffield United.
For the core supporters who this affects the most, many just want to be heard. They have been around for much longer than the ownership group and will be after they have gone.
Perhaps that little boy with a royal blue scarf wrapped around his neck at Derby last week, who hopes for better times, will be too.
(Main image: Sam Richardson for The Athletic/Photo: Getty Images)
