On Saturday Birmingham City tied Manchester United 1-1. Granted, that isn't exactly as difficult of a task as years past. Man United is struggling this year. They didn't score in the game. Their goal was an own goal by a Birmingham player. Regardless, Birmingham City is now tied with league leaders Chelsea as having the longest current unbeaten streak in the Premier League. Which is quite the feat considering that last year Birmingham was in the Second Division. They are currently in 7th place and tied with Liverpool. All the talk is about Tottenham, Aston Villa or Manchester City cracking the top 4 by the end of the season. Well, why not throw Birmingham into that mix?Admittedly, I know nothing about this club and really hadn't paid much attention to them this season. My apologies to the Birmingham faithful that follow this site. After extensive research on the world wide web, here are some interesting facts about the team for any other readers that may be clueless about this dark horse club:
Name: Birmingham City Football Club (formed as Small Heath Alliance in 1875)Nickname: Blues. Just "Blues". Not The Blues or Les Bleus. Those refer to Chelsea and the French National Team respectively. Lots of blues out there, but only one Blues.
Fans' nickname: Bluenoses. Good thing their uniforms were blue and not another color.
Mascot: the lovable Beau Brummie. You can't go wrong as a club with a dog wearing high waisted shorts as your mascot. Good things can only come to you.
Fans' anthem: Keep right on to the end of the road. Whether you love or hate soccer, you have to love the passion of the fans and that they all sing together before and during the games. It's really quite fantastic.
Main Rival: Aston Villa
Notable players: Still under investigation. I shouldn't say that. Apparently they do have a quality squad, but few household names outside of Birmingham. None of their players are on the current England National Team. A few of their players are on the Scottish National Team, but Scotland failed to qualify for the World Cup. Their leading goal scorers are Cameron Jerome and Lee Bowyer. Both have 5 goals on the season. Which is more than me, but nothing that will get you much recognition throughout the league. Unless all your goals are like this one by Cameron Jerome (it's at the 1 minute mark). Birmingham isn't exactly an offensive powerhouse though. Through 21 games they have only scored 21 goals, far less than the 53 already scored by Arsenal. However, they have only given up 19 goals. So even though they haven't scored a ton, as long as they keep those goals against less than they goals scored, they will remain in contention.
Notable wins/trophies: None. Some lower level championships, but nothing to really brag about. That's all going to change though. Someday Beau Brommie is going to change those uncomfortable shorts and break free and Birmingham City will rise to the top and you'll notice it because you actually knew who they were and saw them coming.
James McFadden is a notable player.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing for Blues (it's really just "Blues"?) is that Carson Yeung, a Hong Kong billionaire, bought the team. I don't know if he gave them all a raise or what but they have been on a great run of form since he finalized the deal last year. They should probably drop Beau and have Carson as their mascot seeing how he's a former hairstylist.