5th December 2024 - BLUES AT 50 (for me at least)

(This blog comes courtesy of a reminder about this weekend from fellow Blues fan Mark who emailed me via this website …thanks Mark!)

Saturday (7th December 2024) will mark precisely half a century of me going down to watch the Blues.

And what a 5 decades I have had loving, hating, bigging up, knocking down, praising, criticising and so much more around the players and managers of Birmingham City Football Club

December 7th 1974 was the day my Dad and my Grandad (both ardent Bluenoses) brought me to St Andrew’s for the very first time at the tender age of 6. My only real experience of football I can remember up to that point was the FA Cup finals I’d watched on the telly in 73 and 74…I was busy winding my older brother up in ’73 when he’d decided that year to be a Leeds United glory hunter, so I elected to get right behind Sunderland (as only an irritating little brother would do), and promptly made his life a misery as Ian Porterfield, Jim Montgomery and co did the business on a rainy day at Wembley with that iconic orange-ish ball.

Like many of you ‘Noses reading this, I was never going to choose my choice of club - that was pre-ordained for my by the old man…in fact, I’m not sure how Phil managed to get Leeds United past Dad as he was so determined to continue the Blues lineage through the Danter generations. I still remember the view of the pitch from the main stand as we walked up the steps and took our seats in the upper tier near the half way line. The cigarette haze hung in the air as did the aroma of overcooked onions in the concessions stalls. I must admit I was utterly transfixed by it all - the mere sound of tens of thousands of spectators singing and clapping in unison is something that always captures the heart of a young impressionable football virgin like I was. And that’s a story that almost every football fan can empathise with.

Stoke City then promptly went and scored 3 unanswered goals at the Tilton End in the first half - Two of them from our recently sold striker Jimmy Greenhoff!

That’s the sort of realistic introduction ALL Blues fans need to set the tone for their lifetime of support. FT Birmingham City 0-3 Stoke City.

So that was match No. 1 - I couldn’t possibly tell you how many Blues matches I’ve attended in the ensuing 50 years (mostly home, some away), but I do know that there were three very distinct stages in my life watching the club;

- The years watching with my Dad, Grandad, brothers, cousins etc
- The years going on my own or with pals as my teenage years kicked in
- The years reporting and commentating on the club as a broadcaster

Perhaps here, then, to commemorate this milestone of personal support, I shall list 10 memorable games I saw live at St Andrew’s spanning ‘74 to ‘24 in no particular order - both good and bad!

We’ve started above with the ‘bad’ after that heavy Stoke beating on my debut - lets fast forward to something good

2001 v Ipswich Town

By this time in my life I was on the wireless, but went to this game just as a fan with my (now sadly departed) pal, Micky Coyle. We sat in the Main Stand having got hold of one of the last pairs of tickets available and dreamt of a victory and a trip to Cardiff to face Liverpool. And that’s exactly what we got on a night where St Andrew’s made a right old racket and Blues hit the front early through Grainger to cancel out Ipswich’s first leg lead. Geoff Horsfield was at his brilliant best up front and the rutted pitch helped a bit as we all remember right at the end for AJ to send us to the Millennium Stadium.

I’ve spoken to Ipswich skipper Matt Holland about this game a number of times over the years I’ve worked with him (mainly to wind him up) and in fairness to him, he’s always said “Us Tractor Boys should have been used to a ploughed field!!!” Haha!

1984 v Watford

Pretty much the whole Danter clan (minus Mum who wasn’t keen) went to this one and we stood on the Tilton/Kop corner and watched John Barnes leading us a merry dance in a 6th round FA Cup tie - he scored a quite brilliant opener that day and although we scored to give ourselves brief hope of a semi final spot, the Hornets ended up 3-1 winners and punctured what had begun as one hell of an atmosphere in the stadium. A true sickener for a teenage lad who’d convinced himself that Wembley truly beckoned for the first time in my life as a fan…

1995 v Brentford

We were just a couple of days on from winning the Leyland DAF @ Wembley. But we had no time to rest on our laurels as our progress to that final had caused a load of late season fixture congestion for us, including this home game against one of our title rivals in the 3rd tier. It had been a very long time since we’d had an atmosphere like the one we generated that evening. I was on the Tilton/Kop corner again, and there was utter delirium when Kevin Francis turned and swept the ball home after a Jonathan Hunt corner to put us in front. Liam Daish subsequently made it 2-0 with a bullet header from another Hunt corner, and promotion was as good as sealed. Think the only downside was Kevinho damaging his knee in the act of scoring and a serious injury late on to Dave Barnett our excellent centre back. But Bazza was true to his word and we were soon back up.

2002 v Villa

I mean, this one has to go in doesn’t it? I could have put the 3-0 win at Xmas time in the 80’s over that lot down the road (Blake Ferguson & Handysides that day) but the memories of the 1st Premier League meeting are still so vivid in my mind. The way that the Tilton shook beneath my feet as Clinton Morrison gave us the lead, it’s no wonder we ended up with structural problems in that stand!! It was just the start of a number of great results both home and away against the old enemy in those early Premier League years, and I know Geoff Horsfield, who scored the 3rd, will never have to buy a drink again when out in Birmingham. Believe me, I’ve seen him post-end of season awards cradling 4 or 5 full bottles of Corona that have been bought for him by adoring, grateful fans…what a night that was.

1993 v Swindon

I’m still in shock that this result could have happened from being 4-1 up in the 2nd half. I was on the Kop stand and can remember Andy Saville smashing in our 4th from the edge of the box and someone behind me quipped “Well, we should get a point out of this at least…” - not everyone laughed around us, oddly enough. It’s as if they knew that Swindon player/manager Glenn Hoddle would stick himself into midfield for the last 20 minutes or so and create carnage, aided and abetted by Eric Clapton lookalike David Mitchell (who notched a hat-trick), Craig Maskell and Micky Hazard. Poor Dean Peer just couldn’t cope. Nor could we as the 6th goal went in. Final Score 4-6…I’ve just watched the highlights again - still can’t believe the defending. Wow.

1976 v QPR

I was privileged enough to see Trevor Francis as a spectator for 4 or 5 years of the 9 he spent in our first team and his Goal Of The Season contender on this occasion, making mincemeat of Frank McClintock in the process, was just one of countless examples of why we all loved TF so much. And it was captured for all eternity by the MOTD cameras too. Wonderful

1992 v Stoke

A late Stoke equaliser here was the catalyst for sickening, riotous scenes that saw the match seemingly abandoned at 1-1 and the stadium cleared before the players came back out (some only in their socks having long since taken their boots off) to complete the remaining seconds. Even though I was in my early 20’s by this time, it was still terrifying to witness the scenes that day. It wasn’t fun heading back to my car on Prince Albert Street trying to weave my way through the bedlam and charging police horses.

Incidentally, some years before whilst at a home game, my Dad looked at the programme and said “Leeds are here last game of the season - do you want to go to that?” I said “No” straight away as I knew there would be trouble that day…little did I know just how much trouble as that poor young boy was killed by a falling wall outside the ground. I do not look back at the 80’s and the hooliganism that went with it with anything like rose-tinted glasses

2011 v West Ham

Much like the Ipswich League Cup semi final 2nd leg 10 years before, there was more than a bit of jeopardy on the night of this semi final, made worse by West Ham taking the lead too - but it was almost like the Tilton Road end sucked the ball into the back of the net 3 times as Bowyer, Johnson and Gardner turned things around. I was reporting on the game that night from the Main Stand press box for talkSPORT and feared the worst after Carlton Cole’s goal, but the professional mask stayed just about in place as Gardner’s 25 yard strike just evaded Rob Green to send us to Wembley…and we all know what happened next…

2008 v Arsenal

This was the Eduardo/Martin Taylor game where I was reporting for talkSPORT as Blues somehow snatched a point with a dodgy last gasp penalty, William Gallas sat on the pitch looking away from the action in protest, the place went absolutely wild as McFadden brought us level from the spot and Arsene Wenger, barely containing his anger when talking to the assembled radio reporters in the press area afterwards, suggested that Martin Taylor should never play football again for his leg-breaking challenge on his striker. 3 years later, Wenger would be cursing us again - this time through a mistake of his players’ own making at Wembley…

It’s still the greatest joke of all time “A Frenchman walks into a Pole…and Birmingham City win the League Cup”…

I could easily list another 10 (bubbling under are Dugarry v Southampton, losing 0-7 to Liverpool in the Cup, Villa in the 2011 quarter final and the LFC pre-season game when I won £1000 on the Matchday Bonanza!!!)

I can’t quite see me managing another 50 years - that would defy medical science really. Maybe a 75 year blog isn’t out of the question though! :)