We wouldn't have maintained a play off place but we were making hay and harvesting points at a rapid rate. It takes a special kind of genius to throw a spanner into the works when we were ticking over nicely, at the time.
Blues go down, Blues go down, we all go down together… we look at the 46 games played and we weren’t good enough!! Get rid of the crap and go for promotion straight away!! Forever Blues!! 💪🏼🏴🇬🇧✝️💪🏼
Many factors over the season, the biggest and most devastating blow to the culture and confidence of the club was the appointment of wayne Rooney and 75% of the fans knew it was the start of the end for the season. We were told by gary Cooke about % based football and all other statistics but he never wanted to go into detail about Wayne's 27% win rate, best wishes from a fuming blues fan.kro
100% the word that describes the fault.... culture!!! It was not one person or individual, the removal of Eustace and appointing the wrong person created a toxic culture within the squad!
John eustace knew how to ‘protect’ the squad and for him it ‘worked’. It’s called man management. I for one, never agreed with Rooney slagging players in the media. Every time he did I wanted the ground to swallow me up, never mind him. Man management is the key. Eustace never believed for one second that the side were above average, yet he convinced the players that they were. The time to criticise players is behind closed doors, and more importantly once the transfer window is open and you know what the concrete plans are. Rooney slagged the players that were the only ones at his disposal until January. Arrogance, moreover ignorance in respect to man management cost Rooney the chance to make the transfer window.
The sacking of Eustace and the appointment of Rooney started a slide down the league we never recovered from. While Mowbray appointment is a good choice, you can’t factor in him going off with illness. Too many managers and too many style changes is always recipe for disaster if you haven’t got the players to play in that system in the same season.
@user-ty6lj2dv7x With limited money recruitment was what we could afford. While not trying to defend the players, if you say they ain't good enough and out of contact at the end of the season they can go you are asking a lot for 100% commitment in any job.
None of the players I mentioned covered themselves in glory at their previous clubs. Equally, they all lack aggression and physicality. Disregarding budgets, the recruitment was only one dimensionally considered. But I do agree, budget did influence recruitment
@johngameson9768 Rooney might have been right about the player's but as a manager, never slag your players off in public in any job and who ever said Rooney was a good manager has his results say he never has been
Poor recruitment - both in management and players. Hopefully, lessons have been learned and recruitment is better considered for our L1 challenge. However, I’m not filled with confidence that Cook/Gardner have the necessary acumen. KRO 🌎⚽️
I disagree with the comment about poor player recruitment. If you go through them individually they were all solid signings except for Burke and Aiwu but we can only say that with hindsight. Laird, Buchanen, Bielek, Dembele, Anderson, Roberts, Stansfield, Miyoshi and Paik have all shown they are sold championship players and better then what we had previously. Unfortunately the one thing we didn’t have was a consistent manager so the board take the blame there but there was still 20 games to go following Rooneys sacking so players just didn’t perform anywhere near good enough.
@@rickypotter8526 Burke, Aiwu, Dembele, Sanderson, Dozelle, Prichard, Laird, Anderson, Roberts were all unsuccessful signings. None of those players performed to an acceptable level. That demonstrates poor signings.
Here we go again, let's blame the bloke who didn't sign ANY of the players, didn't get the chance to sign ANY players and was there 15 games. Let's conveniently forget that before we beat an awful Huddersfield and got a very fortunate penalty that changed the game and led us to beat West Brom, we had just drawn at home to QPR and Milwall & lost 3 away games at Watford, Preston & Norwich and the VAST majority of the fans wanted Eustace OUT. How quickly everyone forgets. Eustace was the one that went into the season with a No.10 up front, with Juke and Hogan the only other options, and made the ludicrous decision to sign Burke on deadline day rather than a striker. Mowbray was the one that decided we still didn't need a striker, could afford to let Long go, and that we needed 3 more midfielders on top of the umpteen we already had. Rooney wasn't the answer, far from it, but I'm absolutely certain he would have signed a striker or two. Add to that the amount of late goals we conceded: Watford (A), Boro (A), Ipswich (H), Plymouth (A), Southampton (H), WBA (A), Millwall (A), QPR (A), Leicester ((A) that's 11 points we've thrown away in the last 5mins of games, under each of the managers. Our failures to beat either Rotherham or Huddersfield in must win games are unforgivable, that's on Rowett. Refereeing decisions also played a part. Bielik's red against Plymouth for what wasn't a even a foul has now proven critical. As has Hull's blatant hand ball goal. Rowett's interview yesterday where he spoke about the culture at the club and that some players weren't putting it in are telling. Wonder if they are the same players Rooney was referring to all those months ago. I've also got to say that I don't get why Alex continually scapegoats Aiwu. Was he great? no, but other than the Watford goal, he wasn't THAT bad. He was certainly no worse than the post Eustace Sanderson (our so called captain) or the ever unreliable Roberts, and is far better on the ball than both of them (again, other than that Watford goal). Aiwu didn't come with any great expectations either and has come into a new, tougher league, and should be given some leeway. The likes of Laird, Dembele, Pritchard, Dozzell and James, who are all proven at this level and have been either awful or none existent for months should be the ones facing the scrutiny. But I guess there's the likelihood that you'll have to interview them in the future so best not to criticise them ey. Sick of all the media (especially local media) taking the easy option of using Rooney as the excuse so they don't have to ask the board the hard questions and making Eustace sound like prime Guardiola. As for Venus, he should never be allowed near the club again, whether Mowbray returns or not. How can he demand any respect from the players after taking the easy way out. Yes Rooney has to take a portion of the blame but, for all the reasons listed above, so do Eustace, Mowbray, Venus, Cook, Gardner, to a lesser extent Rowett and to a far higher extent, every one of those players than gave anything less than their all.
Excellent article, sums up our season. Not sure Mowbray can turn this around, his transfer dealings in January were woeful. Just can't believe we've got Pritchard for another 2 years, probably as bad as Rednapp signing Nydoye .
Only a few of you knuckle draggers wanted Eustace out. Rooney destroyed any confidence the team had by publically telling them the they were crap and they ended up believing it.
4 major errors did for us, sacking Eustace, replacing him with an incompetent rather than a proper manager, not buying a decent striker in the transfer window and putting Venus into the manager's seat where he didn't want to be. You can't blame Wagner, he has no in depth knowledge of English football, but Cook has been in football for years, and should go on his knees in apology to the fans.
Cook is far too arrogant for that. Him and Gardner need to be purged from the club and Wagner needs to bring in his world class replacements. Keeping these pair just because they're brummies will only lead to further our downfall. Don’t expect them to miraculously attain some level of ability just because we're in a lower division now.
Youve covered everything that went wrong,on and off the pitch,-it was a disaster of a season,--but l feel we have the capacity to bounce back,-the owners will back us to the hilt,--we must get the recruitment right though --tippy tappy football won,t work in that division,--we need a mix, a few bruisers and if pos a Robbie Savage type character to give them a rocket,,-and please a few decent strikers not just one,-KRO
Absolutely agree. Correct recruitment is key. We need a mix of players confident on the ball and battlers who get stuck-in. A team of Tebily’s, as the song goes.
Desperately unlucky to be relegated with 50 points , one of the highest relegated points totals in the champ ever. Not to mention Sheff Wednesday's astonishing run at the end : 14 points from the final six games. Replacing Eustace was the biggest problem , no club in blues position should ever be replacing a manager doing that well . Hope they go straight back up but it won't be easy . New owners will have to spend money on the team to achieve this , minimal financial input could result in them being in that division as long as Derby were.
I believe that was the case….he thought he could emulate Alex Ferguson who did exactly that….Ferguson never took training….classic example of how to be a proper manager…Rooneys arrogance has screwed BCFC
Where to start.....it makes sense if I go back to the start of the season. The new owners come in, and there's just this sense of relief that we now have owners who care about the club and the overriding feelings are of excitement and optimism for the future. We started the season off really well. The Leeds and Plymouth games instantly spring to mind. Eustace, for the most part, was doing a brilliant job. The players played for him. Every team loses matches, so we were never going to win them all. But the decision to get rid of him and to do in the manner which it was done was a disgrace. That decision alone caused so much damage and undid all the good work that had been done up until that point. The owners and the board got it so badly wrong. The vast majority of blame is on Cook. Then, to make things even worse, they choose to appoint Rooney. I never wanted him from day one, and Rooney did absolutely nothing to change my opinion that the club had made a massive mistake. It can't be underestimated just how much damage was caused by the sacking of Eustace and the appointment of Rooney. Whist we wouldn't have been promoted and 5th position in the league was one that could change easily given how results could go and the teams being quite close in amongst and around us, we wouldn't have been relegated. We would've finished in the top half/mid table nice and comfortable away from the relegation picture. Instead, what happened is the owners and Rooney tried to change too much and top quickly, and the confidence of the players drained, and our results were awful, and the atmosphere at the club became toxic. Rooney was never a bluenose, and he was never going to be one either. Cook is a Bluenose who, for some reason, seemed to have forgotten what being a Bluenose was and is all about. Clearly, his time away from the city, he had forgotten his roots. I hope now after that colossal failure of a decision he has found them again. The thing is, it's not even possible to say that he made a good business decision. There was neither heart or head in what he did. Cook has so much to answer for, and I find it hard, despite all the good things that he has done at and for the club to forgive him. This summer is absolutely massive. We have to overhaul the entire squad, but we do so now as a League One club. Players coming to the end of their contracts, loan players going back to their parent clubs, and of course, there will be players under contract that other clubs will want to sign. Our business in the January transfer window wasn't great. It wasn't awful, but we didn't sign someone to go up top, and that's what we really needed to do. I appreciate that all clubs want and need decent strikers, and we most definitely did to help and support Stansfield, who was outstanding all season. It came as no surprise to see/hear that he cleaned up at the end of season awards. If only we could've stayed in the Championship, I really do think that we stood a very realistic chance of signing him either permanently or at the very least another season on loan. I highly doubt either of those things happening now. Back to the managerial situation. Of course, no one could've forseen Mowbray having to take an extended period of time away from the club. He looked to be at the very least steading the ship. Unfortunately, when Venus was in charge, the ship soon became a wreck and was sinking fast. Unfortunately, the club reacted too slowly, and again, significant damage was caused to the team/squad, and we never recovered, and Rowett couldn't do enough to turn things around. Rowett made mistakes, all managers do, human beings after all, but one decision still baffles me and will continue to do so as long as I live and that was his decision to pick and start Burke against Rotherham and having to admit he got it badly wrong by dragging him off at half time. Burke wasn't injured he was just poor. He let Rowett down, but then Rowett let himself down by picking him. That being said, Rowett, for the most part, did better than not, but he didn't have long enough time to turn things around. Different players played better under different managers, with only really Stansfield being the one that was consistently picked and performed the most consistently from the start to the finish of the season. Out of all the managers we had last season, Eustace got the best and the most from the squad overall. I firmly believe that we should've stuck with him and then evaluated at the end of the season to see where we go from there. Obviously, that didn't happen, and we are where we are. Yes, the players are the consistent and common denominators over the course of the season, but for me the managerial changes be that in or out of the clubs control, i believe are the most significant contributing factors to us being relegated. That's not to excuse or defend the players as many have let themselves, the club and the fans down. We now need to recruit for league one and hope that we can get back into the championship ASAP. You couldn't make it up, could you. Right rant over. I feel much better now 🤣🤣 KRO 💙
The big thing about the Rooney appointment was we lost the players with it. Rooney's naivety let the cat out of the bag by talking every week about the players not being good enough, strengthen in the Jan and the summer, to a squad with so many players who's contract are running down told them too early they weren't wanted. Eustace was clever and had them on a piece of string with a promise that some of them were playing for new contracts.
Watching this back and thinking how different things could have been - imagine if we went down with the previous owners still in charge? I reckon we’d still be in league 1 in 2028. Let’s hope we get out first time of asking
There was a public fallout between Bowyer & Hogan off memory a while back, so to see successive managers not use him was not surprising. Will be glad to see the back of him.
100% right from Ben that Mowbray's illness was the big factor. We overcame all the other problems and were on a roll. That's what really sucked the life out of us. All the other stuff we'd started to move on from and pick up points, wins etc.
I still don't think the gravity of the situation has landed with a lot of bluenoses. Lots of we will be back rhetoric. It probably won't hit home until theres a half empty stadium against Northampton on a cold Tuesday. I hope Wagner & co will still feel as passionate and bold about the future then
You’re underestimating the blues and it’s fans. I reckon 2 seasons max to get back up. Playoffs next season (if we recruit well) and auto promotion the season after that if required
I'm not even a city fan, infact I really don't like Birmingham for my own reasons. And I actually came here to celebrate tbh. But I really like this podcast. So I subbed. Great pod guys. Good luck next season.
Need to get a permanent manger and then a real captain in the mould of Luke O’Neil from Sunderland and then surround with young hungry players able to play the selected style to move back to championship and kick on.
The only reason …the only reason we are relegated is Rooney..end of…forgot anything else….If JE had stayed we would not be in league one ..fact…….im not saying we’d be flying high I’d say we’d probably have ended up mid table ish……anyway it’s done now I think next season will be interesting but I’m not hugely confident of an immediate return going by what we’ve seen on the pitch this season…going to be the team everyone wants to beat so could be a Derby situation….take a couple of seasons to get back to Championship
@@Russ1875the players definitely should take a lot of the blame but I don’t think that squad would have been relegated under Eustace. We wouldn’t have got promotion either
Just to touch on the Rooney point. His previous success at Derby was laregly down to Liam Rosenior. It was a dreadful appointment in hindsight. I understand why the board did it, but even they wouldnt have expected him to behave the way he did, totaly inexcusable. He needs to compelte a leadership and management accreditation and learn the fundamental basics of people management.
Rooney was asked to deliver a style of football that neither the players nor the manager could deliver. However, regardless of the failure of Rooney we were not in the bottom three under him and plenty of points to play for. For me the prime issue was on the recruitment front both in the summer and January. We needed a proven finisher up front but in January we just packed out the midfield with players we didn't have the space for. That for me is the key area to address this summer. There are a handful of 15-20 a season goal scorers in League One who are within 12 months of their contracts ending. We need to be hiring fast and if there is no ETA on a return for Mowbray then we need to let him and go and move on fast. PS, in 8 of the past 10 seasons 50 points would have saved us. KRO
Totally 100 per cent agree Phil , we need to hit the ground running , the club must know whats going on with Mr Mobray as all eventualities must have been discussed I can possibly see him in a director of football role with a young hungry coach under him , anyways we need to know
@@Jurassic_edits-66M PS we need a director of football who is creating a plan which stretches from our academy to the first team. We need a style of play and method of play which is drilled inside out into our players and our youth players will know it too.
Oh ridiculous. He had Ruddy trying to play like Allison or Ederson which constantly caused mistakes at the back because the defenders we not ready for that. He started Burke 6 times in his first 9 games. He was tactically inept. Under compotent managers, Eustace, Rowett and Mowbray we were a top half side. The players can hang their heads in shame too but Rooney would have us relegated in March.
I said right from when Rooney was appointed that it was the wrong choice but I blame the players who knew they weren't going to be there next year who didn't give a toss. Hopefully we'll get some mowbray players in and use the quality of the u21's
It's all done and dusted now, we all know why they went down, some games they were dreadful when some players did not turn up! we know who they are and I hope they are not employed by Blues next season. The sacking of John E was the start of the downfall all the fans knew it. I know its disappointing but its not the end of the world, we have been there before and we saw some good games and went to Wembley as well. KRO
Unbelievable really. You beat us 3-1 in October to go fifth then boom. Both clubs went in different directions.blame cook and gardener.think you will bounce back and win the poppa johns..seriously best wishes see you in 2 seasons
I honestly think you need (big generalisation here) to stop obsessing about being bigger than the Villa etc. and accept what type and size club you are. Why cant you just be a Brentford or a Crystal Palace, etc....they dont think they should be competing on a like for like basis with Chelsea or Arsenal. I am also hearing rumours that your American owners don't have the deep pockets they claim to have. I do hope we (Midlands teams) don't have another bullshiter owner.... great with PR and spin but lacking long term substance ! We've seen enough of those. Good luck for next year.
We know the level we should be at. with the size of the fan base, it’s definitely championship level and potentially lower premiership level if managed right
Aston Villa last finished in the top 4 in 1996. After Birmingham got relegated in 2011, you spend the next 5 seasons barely surviving relegation, 15th and below. Then when you did drop, you finished 13th in the Championship. Yet here you are now. You refused to be resigned to what you were.
We wouldn't have maintained a play off place but we were making hay and harvesting points at a rapid rate. It takes a special kind of genius to throw a spanner into the works when we were ticking over nicely, at the time.
Blues go down, Blues go down, we all go down together… we look at the 46 games played and we weren’t good enough!! Get rid of the crap and go for promotion straight away!! Forever Blues!! 💪🏼🏴🇬🇧✝️💪🏼
Many factors over the season, the biggest and most devastating blow to the culture and confidence of the club was the appointment of wayne Rooney and 75% of the fans knew it was the start of the end for the season. We were told by gary Cooke about % based football and all other statistics but he never wanted to go into detail about Wayne's 27% win rate, best wishes from a fuming blues fan.kro
100% the word that describes the fault.... culture!!! It was not one person or individual, the removal of Eustace and appointing the wrong person created a toxic culture within the squad!
John eustace knew how to ‘protect’ the squad and for him it ‘worked’.
It’s called man management.
I for one, never agreed with Rooney slagging players in the media.
Every time he did I wanted the ground to swallow me up, never mind him.
Man management is the key.
Eustace never believed for one second that the side were above average, yet he convinced the players that they were.
The time to criticise players is behind closed doors, and more importantly once the transfer window is open and you know what the concrete plans are.
Rooney slagged the players that were the only ones at his disposal until January.
Arrogance, moreover ignorance in respect to man management cost Rooney the chance to make the transfer window.
The sacking of Eustace and the appointment of Rooney started a slide down the league we never recovered from. While Mowbray appointment is a good choice, you can’t factor in him going off with illness. Too many managers and too many style changes is always recipe for disaster if you haven’t got the players to play in that system in the same season.
Think the demise was accelerated with poor recruitment pre-Rooney. Sanderson, Burke, Laird, Dembele, Aiwu, etc all lazy and poor attitudes.
@user-ty6lj2dv7x
With limited money recruitment was what we could afford. While not trying to defend the players, if you say they ain't good enough and out of contact at the end of the season they can go you are asking a lot for 100% commitment in any job.
None of the players I mentioned covered themselves in glory at their previous clubs. Equally, they all lack aggression and physicality. Disregarding budgets, the recruitment was only one dimensionally considered. But I do agree, budget did influence recruitment
Rooney sed the players wernt good enough, why sack him he was correct
@johngameson9768 Rooney might have been right about the player's but as a manager, never slag your players off in public in any job and who ever said Rooney was a good manager has his results say he never has been
Poor recruitment - both in management and players. Hopefully, lessons have been learned and recruitment is better considered for our L1 challenge. However, I’m not filled with confidence that Cook/Gardner have the necessary acumen. KRO 🌎⚽️
I disagree with the comment about poor player recruitment. If you go through them individually they were all solid signings except for Burke and Aiwu but we can only say that with hindsight. Laird, Buchanen, Bielek, Dembele, Anderson, Roberts, Stansfield, Miyoshi and Paik have all shown they are sold championship players and better then what we had previously. Unfortunately the one thing we didn’t have was a consistent manager so the board take the blame there but there was still 20 games to go following Rooneys sacking so players just didn’t perform anywhere near good enough.
It wasn't poor recruitment, which they explain very thoroughly in the podcast
@@rickypotter8526 Burke, Aiwu, Dembele, Sanderson, Dozelle, Prichard, Laird, Anderson, Roberts were all unsuccessful signings. None of those players performed to an acceptable level. That demonstrates poor signings.
Makes me laugh how some players will leave because division 1 is beneath them yet they are why we were relegated. I think Anderson will want to stay.
Will Tony Mowbray be fit for preseason? If not, what is the plan?KRO.
bring back rooney
League 1 is going to be cracking next season
Here we go again, let's blame the bloke who didn't sign ANY of the players, didn't get the chance to sign ANY players and was there 15 games. Let's conveniently forget that before we beat an awful Huddersfield and got a very fortunate penalty that changed the game and led us to beat West Brom, we had just drawn at home to QPR and Milwall & lost 3 away games at Watford, Preston & Norwich and the VAST majority of the fans wanted Eustace OUT. How quickly everyone forgets. Eustace was the one that went into the season with a No.10 up front, with Juke and Hogan the only other options, and made the ludicrous decision to sign Burke on deadline day rather than a striker. Mowbray was the one that decided we still didn't need a striker, could afford to let Long go, and that we needed 3 more midfielders on top of the umpteen we already had. Rooney wasn't the answer, far from it, but I'm absolutely certain he would have signed a striker or two.
Add to that the amount of late goals we conceded: Watford (A), Boro (A), Ipswich (H), Plymouth (A), Southampton (H), WBA (A), Millwall (A), QPR (A), Leicester ((A) that's 11 points we've thrown away in the last 5mins of games, under each of the managers. Our failures to beat either Rotherham or Huddersfield in must win games are unforgivable, that's on Rowett. Refereeing decisions also played a part. Bielik's red against Plymouth for what wasn't a even a foul has now proven critical. As has Hull's blatant hand ball goal.
Rowett's interview yesterday where he spoke about the culture at the club and that some players weren't putting it in are telling. Wonder if they are the same players Rooney was referring to all those months ago.
I've also got to say that I don't get why Alex continually scapegoats Aiwu. Was he great? no, but other than the Watford goal, he wasn't THAT bad. He was certainly no worse than the post Eustace Sanderson (our so called captain) or the ever unreliable Roberts, and is far better on the ball than both of them (again, other than that Watford goal). Aiwu didn't come with any great expectations either and has come into a new, tougher league, and should be given some leeway. The likes of Laird, Dembele, Pritchard, Dozzell and James, who are all proven at this level and have been either awful or none existent for months should be the ones facing the scrutiny. But I guess there's the likelihood that you'll have to interview them in the future so best not to criticise them ey.
Sick of all the media (especially local media) taking the easy option of using Rooney as the excuse so they don't have to ask the board the hard questions and making Eustace sound like prime Guardiola. As for Venus, he should never be allowed near the club again, whether Mowbray returns or not. How can he demand any respect from the players after taking the easy way out.
Yes Rooney has to take a portion of the blame but, for all the reasons listed above, so do Eustace, Mowbray, Venus, Cook, Gardner, to a lesser extent Rowett and to a far higher extent, every one of those players than gave anything less than their all.
Excellent article, sums up our season. Not sure Mowbray can turn this around, his transfer dealings in January were woeful. Just can't believe we've got Pritchard for another 2 years, probably as bad as Rednapp signing Nydoye .
Only a few of you knuckle draggers wanted Eustace out. Rooney destroyed any confidence the team had by publically telling them the they were crap and they ended up believing it.
4 major errors did for us, sacking Eustace, replacing him with an incompetent rather than a proper manager, not buying a decent striker in the transfer window and putting Venus into the manager's seat where he didn't want to be. You can't blame Wagner, he has no in depth knowledge of English football, but Cook has been in football for years, and should go on his knees in apology to the fans.
Cook is far too arrogant for that. Him and Gardner need to be purged from the club and Wagner needs to bring in his world class replacements. Keeping these pair just because they're brummies will only lead to further our downfall. Don’t expect them to miraculously attain some level of ability just because we're in a lower division now.
Excellent review guys thanks 🙏 Any news on Tony health. Wishing him a speedy recovery ❤️🩹 KRO from Brazil 🇧🇷! Need to stay positive but it hurt!
Youve covered everything that went wrong,on and off the pitch,-it was a disaster of a season,--but l feel we have the capacity to bounce back,-the owners will back us to the hilt,--we must get the recruitment right though --tippy tappy football won,t work in that division,--we need a mix, a few bruisers and if pos a Robbie Savage type character to give them a rocket,,-and please a few decent strikers not just one,-KRO
Absolutely agree. Correct recruitment is key. We need a mix of players confident on the ball and battlers who get stuck-in. A team of Tebily’s, as the song goes.
Desperately unlucky to be relegated with 50 points , one of the highest relegated points totals in the champ ever. Not to mention Sheff Wednesday's astonishing run at the end : 14 points from the final six games. Replacing Eustace was the biggest problem , no club in blues position should ever be replacing a manager doing that well . Hope they go straight back up but it won't be easy . New owners will have to spend money on the team to achieve this , minimal financial input could result in them being in that division as long as Derby were.
Just asking is it true Wayne Rooney never actually took a tactic and training session but just observed
I believe that was the case….he thought he could emulate Alex Ferguson who did exactly that….Ferguson never took training….classic example of how to be a proper manager…Rooneys arrogance has screwed BCFC
Where to start.....it makes sense if I go back to the start of the season. The new owners come in, and there's just this sense of relief that we now have owners who care about the club and the overriding feelings are of excitement and optimism for the future. We started the season off really well. The Leeds and Plymouth games instantly spring to mind. Eustace, for the most part, was doing a brilliant job. The players played for him. Every team loses matches, so we were never going to win them all. But the decision to get rid of him and to do in the manner which it was done was a disgrace. That decision alone caused so much damage and undid all the good work that had been done up until that point. The owners and the board got it so badly wrong. The vast majority of blame is on Cook. Then, to make things even worse, they choose to appoint Rooney.
I never wanted him from day one, and Rooney did absolutely nothing to change my opinion that the club had made a massive mistake. It can't be underestimated just how much damage was caused by the sacking of Eustace and the appointment of Rooney.
Whist we wouldn't have been promoted and 5th position in the league was one that could change easily given how results could go and the teams being quite close in amongst and around us, we wouldn't have been relegated. We would've finished in the top half/mid table nice and comfortable away from the relegation picture. Instead, what happened is the owners and Rooney tried to change too much and top quickly, and the confidence of the players drained, and our results were awful, and the atmosphere at the club became toxic. Rooney was never a bluenose, and he was never going to be one either.
Cook is a Bluenose who, for some reason, seemed to have forgotten what being a Bluenose was and is all about. Clearly, his time away from the city, he had forgotten his roots. I hope now after that colossal failure of a decision he has found them again. The thing is, it's not even possible to say that he made a good business decision. There was neither heart or head in what he did. Cook has so much to answer for, and I find it hard, despite all the good things that he has done at and for the club to forgive him.
This summer is absolutely massive. We have to overhaul the entire squad, but we do so now as a League One club. Players coming to the end of their contracts, loan players going back to their parent clubs, and of course, there will be players under contract that other clubs will want to sign.
Our business in the January transfer window wasn't great. It wasn't awful, but we didn't sign someone to go up top, and that's what we really needed to do. I appreciate that all clubs want and need decent strikers, and we most definitely did to help and support Stansfield, who was outstanding all season. It came as no surprise to see/hear that he cleaned up at the end of season awards. If only we could've stayed in the Championship, I really do think that we stood a very realistic chance of signing him either permanently or at the very least another season on loan. I highly doubt either of those things happening now.
Back to the managerial situation. Of course, no one could've forseen Mowbray having to take an extended period of time away from the club. He looked to be at the very least steading the ship. Unfortunately, when Venus was in charge, the ship soon became a wreck and was sinking fast. Unfortunately, the club reacted too slowly, and again, significant damage was caused to the team/squad, and we never recovered, and Rowett couldn't do enough to turn things around. Rowett made mistakes, all managers do, human beings after all, but one decision still baffles me and will continue to do so as long as I live and that was his decision to pick and start Burke against Rotherham and having to admit he got it badly wrong by dragging him off at half time. Burke wasn't injured he was just poor. He let Rowett down, but then Rowett let himself down by picking him. That being said, Rowett, for the most part, did better than not, but he didn't have long enough time to turn things around.
Different players played better under different managers, with only really Stansfield being the one that was consistently picked and performed the most consistently from the start to the finish of the season.
Out of all the managers we had last season, Eustace got the best and the most from the squad overall. I firmly believe that we should've stuck with him and then evaluated at the end of the season to see where we go from there. Obviously, that didn't happen, and we are where we are. Yes, the players are the consistent and common denominators over the course of the season, but for me the managerial changes be that in or out of the clubs control, i believe are the most significant contributing factors to us being relegated. That's not to excuse or defend the players as many have let themselves, the club and the fans down.
We now need to recruit for league one and hope that we can get back into the championship ASAP.
You couldn't make it up, could you. Right rant over. I feel much better now 🤣🤣
KRO 💙
Perfectly summarised.
Good post
The big thing about the Rooney appointment was we lost the players with it. Rooney's naivety let the cat out of the bag by talking every week about the players not being good enough, strengthen in the Jan and the summer, to a squad with so many players who's contract are running down told them too early they weren't wanted. Eustace was clever and had them on a piece of string with a promise that some of them were playing for new contracts.
Watching this back and thinking how different things could have been - imagine if we went down with the previous owners still in charge? I reckon we’d still be in league 1 in 2028. Let’s hope we get out first time of asking
There was a public fallout between Bowyer & Hogan off memory a while back, so to see successive managers not use him was not surprising. Will be glad to see the back of him.
Learn the lessons from it and move on, hopefully we go into next season full of positives with a fresh feeling around the club
100% right from Ben that Mowbray's illness was the big factor. We overcame all the other problems and were on a roll. That's what really sucked the life out of us. All the other stuff we'd started to move on from and pick up points, wins etc.
Being 3-1 up at Plymouth and drawing 3-3 was costly.
Mentioned that today as well.As soon as we went down to 10 should of shut up shop. Lucky to come out of that with a draw as well.
Birmingham are not a League One side. You will be back. A Millwall fan.
I still don't think the gravity of the situation has landed with a lot of bluenoses. Lots of we will be back rhetoric. It probably won't hit home until theres a half empty stadium against Northampton on a cold Tuesday. I hope Wagner & co will still feel as passionate and bold about the future then
You’re underestimating the blues and it’s fans. I reckon 2 seasons max to get back up. Playoffs next season (if we recruit well) and auto promotion the season after that if required
Speaking on paik and miyosi, far eastern cauture are very loyal, and i think they will honour there contracts
I'm not even a city fan, infact I really don't like Birmingham for my own reasons. And I actually came here to celebrate tbh. But I really like this podcast. So I subbed. Great pod guys. Good luck next season.
So we’re in League 1, the third tier. So what. That’s where we are. We’ll be back. Let’s lift our heads up, accept where we are and get on with it.
While we didn't lose it on just the last game, it was a bit unlucky that 7 of the bottom 8 teams all won on the last weekend.
Need to get a permanent manger and then a real captain in the mould of Luke O’Neil from Sunderland and then surround with young hungry players able to play the selected style to move back to championship and kick on.
we should of never ever got wayne rooney in from the start
The one thing that did destroy our season was the 2nd of John Eustace
Going for another top striker was a big mistake!
❤up the blues 💙 👌 on and up yes 🙌 👏 👌 💙
Regardless of contract, if your not committed to the club, get rid !
A striker was priority to help jay even if he scored 4 goals we would of stayed up
The only reason …the only reason we are relegated is Rooney..end of…forgot anything else….If JE had stayed we would not be in league one ..fact…….im not saying we’d be flying high I’d say we’d probably have ended up mid table ish……anyway it’s done now I think next season will be interesting but I’m not hugely confident of an immediate return going by what we’ve seen on the pitch this season…going to be the team everyone wants to beat so could be a Derby situation….take a couple of seasons to get back to Championship
Nothing to do with the players then?
@@Russ1875the players definitely should take a lot of the blame but I don’t think that squad would have been relegated under Eustace. We wouldn’t have got promotion either
Just to touch on the Rooney point. His previous success at Derby was laregly down to Liam Rosenior. It was a dreadful appointment in hindsight.
I understand why the board did it, but even they wouldnt have expected him to behave the way he did, totaly inexcusable. He needs to compelte a leadership and management accreditation and learn the fundamental basics of people management.
If we can’t win away at the teams at the bottom of the table we deserve to be relegated!!
Will mowbray be happy as a league one manager?
He was at Blackburn
So many great points here - In terms of forwards, Hogan has been a disgrace tbh..
Rooney was asked to deliver a style of football that neither the players nor the manager could deliver. However, regardless of the failure of Rooney we were not in the bottom three under him and plenty of points to play for. For me the prime issue was on the recruitment front both in the summer and January. We needed a proven finisher up front but in January we just packed out the midfield with players we didn't have the space for. That for me is the key area to address this summer. There are a handful of 15-20 a season goal scorers in League One who are within 12 months of their contracts ending. We need to be hiring fast and if there is no ETA on a return for Mowbray then we need to let him and go and move on fast. PS, in 8 of the past 10 seasons 50 points would have saved us. KRO
Totally 100 per cent agree Phil , we need to hit the ground running , the club must know whats going on with Mr Mobray as all eventualities must have been discussed
I can possibly see him in a director of football role with a young hungry coach under him , anyways we need to know
@@Jurassic_edits-66M PS we need a director of football who is creating a plan which stretches from our academy to the first team. We need a style of play and method of play which is drilled inside out into our players and our youth players will know it too.
Rooney sed the players wernt up to it , players should of been sacked not him
Oh ridiculous. He had Ruddy trying to play like Allison or Ederson which constantly caused mistakes at the back because the defenders we not ready for that. He started Burke 6 times in his first 9 games. He was tactically inept.
Under compotent managers, Eustace, Rowett and Mowbray we were a top half side.
The players can hang their heads in shame too but Rooney would have us relegated in March.
Need a good clear out and sign some decent players this time around. Up the Blues 👌💙
Everyone in London is gutted‼️
I said right from when Rooney was appointed that it was the wrong choice but I blame the players who knew they weren't going to be there next year who didn't give a toss. Hopefully we'll get some mowbray players in and use the quality of the u21's
Soooo happy. Wanted this arrogant, waste of space club to get relegated so very much. A double relegation in a year's time would be wonderful.
It's all done and dusted now, we all know why they went down, some games they were dreadful when some players did not turn up! we know who they are and I hope they are not employed by Blues next season. The sacking of John E was the start of the downfall all the fans knew it. I know its disappointing but its not the end of the world, we have been there before and we saw some good games and went to Wembley as well. KRO
Brian, the word you’re looking for (05:57) is clusterf**k.
No need to dissect it, or try to make sense out of it. You have always been pants.
Why on earth did you take all those QPR rejects that almost got them relegated. They unloaded Dozzell to you and took Hayden and Anderson.
Unbelievable really. You beat us 3-1 in October to go fifth then boom. Both clubs went in different directions.blame cook and gardener.think you will bounce back and win the poppa johns..seriously best wishes see you in 2 seasons
Remember when your fans laughed at Derby about dying ….karma sucks.
Poor old Krystian Bielik! Ha ha ha! Hope he enjoyed his season with the Blues.
no words to say but here goes 😂😂😂😂
Hope you bounce back few more bad results could easily been Sunderland
Biggest issue 5 managers crazy.biggest mistake wayne rooney.waste of skin.
Still laughing, thank you.😂😂😂😂
I’ll be laughing when you are 6 feet below 😂😂😂
@@paulstephenson72I'm laughing even more than him. Both at Blues blues and your cretinous comment.
Eooooo
I honestly think you need (big generalisation here) to stop obsessing about being bigger than the Villa etc. and accept what type and size club you are. Why cant you just be a Brentford or a Crystal Palace, etc....they dont think they should be competing on a like for like basis with Chelsea or Arsenal. I am also hearing rumours that your American owners don't have the deep pockets they claim to have. I do hope we (Midlands teams) don't have another bullshiter owner.... great with PR and spin but lacking long term substance ! We've seen enough of those. Good luck for next year.
We know the level we should be at. with the size of the fan base, it’s definitely championship level and potentially lower premiership level if managed right
Aston Villa last finished in the top 4 in 1996. After Birmingham got relegated in 2011, you spend the next 5 seasons barely surviving relegation, 15th and below. Then when you did drop, you finished 13th in the Championship. Yet here you are now. You refused to be resigned to what you were.
Tom Warner in a matrix utv delusion nose take the right pill
Erm... Who's Tom Warner? And what pills are you on to write that nonsense?
Tom wanker even 😂 UTV 🥃