Is it my imagination, or did Birmingham really sack their manager while they were in the play-offs to bring in Wayne Rooney
They did, and the Blues plummeted towards League One
Wednesday 26 June 2024
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Birmingham supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore. (If you’re only just joining us today, for no reason at all, I’m somehow trying to use Oasis songs for every single one of our League One season previews!)
“The decision from Birmingham City to sack John Eustace and replace him with Wayne Rooney is one of the worst in football history,” said one supporter on social media. I’m sure County fans could suggest a few decisions that have taken place in the Edgeley Park boardroom over the years. But this was certainly a bad one. Birmingham were in the play-offs under John Eustace in October. He was replaced with Wayne Rooney, who was then replaced with Tony Mowbray, who was then replaced with Gary Rowett, and after a chaotic campaign, the Blues were relegated to League One on the final day.
Ryan Deeney, who runs his own Birmingham City Substack, joins us today, ahead of the Blues’ first campaign in the third tier since 1994-95, when they did the double over County on their way to winning the league.
EURO 2024 – DAY 13
5pm: Ukraine v Belgium 🇺🇦🇧🇪
5pm: Slovakia v Romania 🇸🇰🇷🇴
8pm: Czech Republic v Turkey 🇨🇿🇹🇷
8pm: Georgia v Portugal 🇬🇪🇵🇹
Here’s a list of the best places to watch today’s games…
Bask (SK1). All the action on two 75” screens.
Nelson Tavern (SK1).
Crown (SK2). Buy a pint of Helles today and you’ll be in with a chance of winning 52 free pints! There’s also a special menu throughout the Euros.
Armoury (SK3).
Reddish Working Men’s Club (SK5). There’s four screens in the games room, a new projector in the lower games room, and a screen in the middle room where families and children can enjoy the match. Check out the Special Offer Wheel which will be offering a variety of great deals before, during and after each game.
Railway (SK6).
Marple Tavern (SK6). Food served at half-time such as burgers, hot dogs, pizza and chips.
Steelworks (SK6). Games shown downstairs (sound off) and upstairs (sound on).
Shady Oak (SK7). Food served during the games from the matchday menu. Pick up a loyalty card to receive a discount on certain drinks.
Three Tunnes (SK7). Buy a pint of Helles today and you’ll be in with a chance of winning 52 free pints! There’s also a special menu throughout the Euros.
Cross Keys (SK8). Bitter £2.30 a pint all day. Discounts on certain lagers 12pm - 6pm.
Railway (SK9). TVs in every room, and outside. Discounted doubles on spirits and 10% off four pint jugs.
Flute & Firkin (SK12). Call 01625 879181 to book a table, and quote “The Scarf My Father Wore” to receive 10% off your first round of drinks. (Not applicable for walk-ins.)
Friendship Inn (SK13). Five big screen TVs with surround sound, including one outside in the beer garden.
Today’s edition is sponsored by MKM Manchester South and Kingsway Carpets. A big thank you to Mark and James, and also to Neil.
Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.
Total distance so far: 148.94 miles
Total steps so far: 237,462
Total raised so far: £1,881
Total completed streets so far: 304 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)
Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.
Des Junior
Last win at our place: Saturday 17 March 2001, Division One, 2-0
Last win at their place: Saturday 10 October 1914, Division Two, 1-0
Today’s Sky Bet title/promotion odds: Us – 20/1 7/1 Them – 3/1 10/11
Top story in the local news today: ‘Judged’ Birmingham prostitute says ‘I’m a human – not just a sex worker’
I’m sorry to start with a political question, but as Rishi’s chucked a general election slap bang in pre-season, I feel we’ve got to mention it. Who are you voting for? If that’s too personal just give us a flavour of the current political feeling in Birmingham? And which person at your football club do you think would make the best prime minister?
I'll confess to not being very political. My understanding of it is that nobody likes Rishi Sunak or the Tories. Nobody really likes Keir Starmer but he's not quite as bad as those currently in power. The alternatives are Nigel Farage *shudders* or other parties that will never get close to power so it's not really worth voting for them. So people will vote Labour just to force change without really expecting much to change because the country is broken.
Perhaps if Tom Wagner was in power, making promises he tends to keep, we might stand a chance. Though can you imagine a Yank being in charge of the country? That would be as smooth as England's left-hand side.
Nigel Farage has had cement and a milkshake chucked over him recently. If he was to do a lap of St Andrew’s on a Saturday afternoon, what would Birmingham fans be most likely to throw at him?
There was an occasion when Blues hosted V*lla and our owners at the time thought it would be a wise idea to give us those clapper boards to help generate some atmosphere. About 80% of them ended up being launched in the direction of whichever bloke wearing claret and blue came near the touchline. Maybe we should bring back a slightly heavier version of those.
If you had to compare the ownership and daily operations of your club to a political party, which would it be?
I asked for support with this one because my knowledge is minimal. The best I was given was: “Attlee's Labour government of 1945-51. Rebuilding the nation, physically as well as economically and socially.” It fits everything Knighthead are trying to do: rebuild our failing football club from top to bottom.
On and off the pitch, what do you think your club’s manifesto should say for the next 12 months?
Probably what the country’s manifesto should be: “Rip it up and start again!”
Right, that’s enough political stuff. Next question. “We’re all from Stockport, who the fuck are you…?”
We're Birmingham City, we fight till the end. Unfortunately, we usually fail to fight for about two-thirds of the season, and when the bell rings the other fighters have usually earned more points.
We return to the third tier for the first time in three decades, remain the only West Midlands club to win a major trophy this century, and were the first English club to enter European competition. And after years of being ruined by various Hong Kong ownership groups, we’re now owned by very rich, very ambitious folk and may finally enjoy a bit of success now a number of off-field issues have been resolved.
Which team do you most want to beat this season?
We don't really have a rival this year. I think Northampton Town are nearest and they're normally a semi-competitive pre-season friendly.
Beating Nathan Jones (Charlton manager) is always fun – he was absolutely fuming when our tennis ball protest led to a steward halting one of their attacks before Blues won the game 3-0.
Truthfully, we just want to beat everybody, home and away as often as possible.
Which Birmingham player is most likely to end up in League One’s team of the season?
It depends who stays. Ethan Laird, Dion Sanderson, Lee Buchanan, Krystian Bielik, Jordan James, Juninho Bacuna, Paik Seung-Ho, Koji Miyoshi and Siriki Dembele should all be pushing to be the best in their position at this level.
County haven’t been to Birmingham in the league since August 2001. In just one paragraph, sum up everything that’s happened at your place since then.
*Cracks knuckles* In 2002, we secured promotion via the play-offs at the fourth time of asking. Four years in the Premier League followed before relegation, promotion, relegation, promotion, a 9th place finish, a League Cup trophy and relegation. We were also taken over during that time, with Gold and Sullivan selling us to Carson Yeung, who apparently made millions and millions being a hairdresser. In a huge shock, it was found that Yeung was money laundering and we spent the next decade being transferred to various Hong Kong ownership groups.
After a Europa League exertion and two decent finishes, our off-field situation hit us hard. The next ten years saw us employ 18 head coaches (12 permanent), finish between 17th and 21st on eight occasions, avoid the drop on the final day three times, be punished for breaking Financial Fair Play rules and finally be taken over, only to be relegated in their first season.
Birmingham away. I think of a train station that’s impossible to get in or out of, the Bullring, and loads of moody Zulus looking for mither. Do I need to educate myself further, or is that fairly accurate?
I guess policing means there is less mither. But you're pretty much right. Some more ugly buildings have been erected in the city centre. The traffic flow is abysmal. Bring on the new stadium…
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Stockport County?
My view perhaps differs from many Blues fans. For most, it will be those near-millennium clashes in Division One and maybe some battles in the early 90s when we dropped to the old Division Two. Personally, I'm a big follower of National League football (@NLMusings) so my memories are more recent: Jim Gannon, Simon Rusk, Dave Challinor, that incredible run to promotion, Paddy Madden stepping up big time towards the end of the season, and Will Collar turning into a monster.
I’ve been watching Football Cops on Channel 4 recently, featuring Sunderland fans kicking down barriers after the game at Coventry, and loads of little Crewe rapscallions playing up at home to Walsall. On a scale of 1 to 10, how naughty are Birmingham fans these days, and how safe will our lot be when we make the trip to the West Midlands this season?
We're always going to be nearer to 10 than 1 with an inner city Zulu culture being a big part of the fanbase’s identity. According to reports, we've ranked top and fourth for arrests in the last three seasons and we were somewhere in the top ten last campaign.
Who or what needs to be top of Birmingham’s shopping list before the new season starts in August?
A striker. And I don't mean this in the boring "if we sign a striker, we will score goals" way. I say this because since the departure of Che Adams in 2019, we've only had Troy Deeney, Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz for any considerable amount of time. None of them in their prime, and two of those unable to play together. Deeney is long gone, Hogan has just been released and Jutkiewicz is now 35 and started just three matches last season. Depth is needed in pretty much every position this summer but a striker is the one thing missing from our first choice XI at present.
What’s your early predictions in terms of the promotion and relegation places?
It should be a really competitive League One campaign. I have to throw Blues into the mix for promotion. I fancy Charlton to do well under Jones now he's got his feet under the table. One more? Bolton really ought to get over the line after two near misses.
Relegation is tough. There's a clear financial disparity in the division. Stevenage may find it tough post-Evans. Crawley are going to find it tough. Northampton having three players reject new deals is concerning from afar. A fourth… have Reading sorted their off-field issues yet?
Click on the links below to read the other 2024-25 season previews we’ve published so far.
Bolton / Crawley / Huddersfield / Leyton Orient / Lincoln / Rotherham / Wigan
A friendly message from one of our sponsors!
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Photo of the day
Edgeley Park, Stockport
With the new fixtures released today, there’s two more dates with Wrexham to look forward to, as our recent rivalry continues in the third tier. Deadpool’s lot are in SK3 on Saturday 16 November, before we make the trip to North Wales on Saturday 22 March.
Today in SK
🎬 Cinema
One film at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. The Bikeriders (15) at 2.30pm, 5.45pm and 8.15pm. Click here for tickets.
The 8.15pm screening coincides with Pizza Club! Your ticket will include a pizza, a drink from the bar and an ice cream.
🍺 Food and drink
The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £4.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £2, and 3 for £6 on Jägerbombs. 12pm - 11pm.
If you find yourself in Stockport today, pop into The Petersgate Tap (SK1) for a pint or two.
Discounted doubles on spirits and 10% off four pint jugs at The Railway (SK9).
100 random grounds that County have played at
#48 – Home Park, Plymouth
Last visit: August 2003. Carlton Palmer’s men were 3-0 down after just 28 minutes, before Luke Beckett grabbed a consolation a couple of minutes before half-time.
One final thing before you go… if you need any of the following products or services this month, get in touch with our fantastic bunch of advertisers!
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🧱 Builders Merchant: MKM Manchester South
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Inviting a brummie neighbour who used to have a season ticket for the Brum New Year’s Day fixture.
He’s cursing that he will now fail his Dry January plan because I’m planning the full Edgeley Park hospitality package for the first time. Should be a great day!