Earlier in the week Will had called up to tell me that he had ordered the FA Cup tickets plus three extra to include Alex, his little boy, Sam and little Jack. When he had spoken to the ticket office, which is still in turmoil because of a certain match taking place next Sunday, because he had read my reference number out first he had been told that the tickets would be posted to my address. When on Friday, the said tickets had not arrived, Plan B was formulated. We decided that I would wait until 10 o’clock on Saturday morning for the post to arrive and if they had not come at that stage, I would leave to rendezvous in Guildford with Will as usual and we would get Chris call up the ticket office to sort things out. 10 o’clock arrived; no postie so I got in the car and set off. Having got to the bottom of the road, I thought to myself that I would just check the roads around the estate just in case I could see postie on her rounds.
I was in luck as I spotted her a couple hundred yards away from where I lived. It was pouring with rain and I called her over and despite looking forlorn and bedraggled she gave me a kindly smile and said she would go and collect her bag and come straight down to me with my post. Unfortunately, despite all this effort, the tickets were still not in the bundle of birthday cards that had arrived for my dear wife. Before all the politically correct and feminist brigade get on my case about rushing off to football on her special day, I would hastily point out that Mrs Bazza had every intention of engaging in retail therapy, spending as much of my money as she could without any involvement from me thank you very much!
The saga of the tickets meant that Will and I did not set off from Guildford until just after 11 o’clock which had a knock-on effect of getting us into unpleasant traffic conditions on the M25 which is Europe’s longest car park is it is. We also encountered slow going on the M40 when we reached the Oxford/Banbury area which lost us even more time. Meanwhile, Chris was on the phone to the Birmingham City ticket office. When I rang him on a separate line, he told me that he had started off about 62 in the queue and was now down to 28; it was clear that he was facing a lengthy wait. We eventually got to Baginton at just after 1.30 pm to pick up Chris and little Jack and went straight off as we were now running behind time. Then Chris told us the news that the ticket office had said that “for our convenience” they had decided not to post the tickets after all so that we could collect them on the day the game! Thank you Birmingham City! Given that none of us are telepathic, it would have been good from the outset to have communicated this and we would then have not lost valuable time waiting around for the post to arrive at home, delaying early departure and enduring a frustrating journey in the process plus the ‘convenience’ of Chris spending over an hour on the phone when he has far better things to do. Whilst we can all understand how busy it must’ve been over the last few days for the club’s administrators, some of the arrangements nevertheless have been nothing short of shambolic and heaven knows what will happen if we do by some remote chance make it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and even the final itself!
The lads dropped me off at the collection point while they went off to park the car and I agreed to meet them all in The George. What was clearly apparent was that there were not going to be very many people attending this match. Disappointingly, this meant there was no pork roast to be had in The George and we all had to settle for a simple pint with kick-off fast approaching. My son Jonny announced on Friday that he was unable to come to the game despite the fact that I had ticket for him as he had a photo shoot with his band who incidentally are known as ‘AsGods’ and for those of you that are connoisseurs of the heavy rock genre their website is; www.asgods.co.uk
This left me with a problem of an extra ticket but fortunately I was able to flog this to one of the madding crowd that were queuing to pay cash outside the Kop stand. We took our seats in the Kop level with the edge of the penalty area of the railway end. We had all abandoned our usual places around the ground in order to see this one as a group. Alex McLeish had made eight changes to the team clearly with the Cup Final next week in mind and partly because of minor injuries to key personnel. Doyle came in, in goal, Stephen Carr and Stuart Parnaby filled the full-back berths with Roger Johnson and David Murphy occupying the centre of defence. Alexsandr Hleb, Lee Bowyer, Keith Fahey and Jean Beausejour comprised the midfield quartet with Obafemi Martins and Cameron Jerome starting up front.
Blues were quickly into their stride and after only six minutes opened the scoring following good work by Hleb down the left whose beautiful pass into the on running Lee Bowyer found the midfielder inside the box at the byline. Bowyer cut the ball back across the box for Beausejour to score his first goal for the Blues and probably one of the easiest he will ever convert. Sheffield Wednesday’s defending was absolutely shocking as they ball watched and became mesmerised by the movement of the Blues midfielders. Sheffield looked as if they were chasing shadows and there was a clear gap between the capabilities of the two sides even though Birmingham were playing with largely fringe players. Nevertheless, Blues nearly paid for a lapse in concentration immediately after the strike when Mellor almost equalised only prevented by a timely intervention by Roger Johnson. However to be fair, this was one of only a couple of occasions that Wednesday look remotely like scoring. With barely a further ten minutes gone, Birmingham were two goals to the good when once again weak defending by Morrison allowed Martins a clear run at goal. The Nigerian made no mistake in coolly finishing past the helpless Nicky Weaver. It was almost too easy and Alexander Hleb and Beausejour on the other flank were terrorising the Sheffield Wednesday defence and frankly I could only see more goals arriving in short order.
The flow of the game took a bit of a check however, when a very nasty tackle by O’Connor on Alexander Hleb left the Belarusian writhing in agony with a knee injury. The Wednesday player was promptly booked for this challenge but in my opinion I think he was extremely fortunate that the card was not a different colour. It was a violent, horrible challenge and deserved the ultimate sanction. The Blues player was removed from the field of play on a stretcher to be replaced by Bentley and is now a significant doubt for Sunday’s Cup Final. Birmingham continued in the ascendancy outplaying their gallant but limited opponents and really should have added to their tally. Cameron Jerome contrived to miss from barely two yards following a cross from Bowyer with Weaver helpless. Keith Fahey also came very close from a free kick when Jerome was unceremoniously felled by scything challenge that resulted in yet another yellow card for the League One side.
Sheffield Wednesday somehow survived but just after half-time the game was all over as a contest when from a corner Weaver failed to hold the ball as it came across and succeeded in only patting it down in front of him for the alert Murphy to score his second goal of the season in this competition by burying the rebound into the roof of the net. Blues could easily have routed their opponents had they wanted to and Martins really should have netted his second following excellent work by Bentley whose pass into his feet found him six yards out in the middle the goal with the net gaping. Instead his flamboyant flick ended up just over the bar and into the Tilton. After that the last half an hour or so rather fizzled out as a spectacle and Blues ran out easy winners.
Despite being completely outclassed I was very impressed by the enthusiastic and noisy support from over 4000 Sheffield Wednesday fans who have made the trip to St Andrews for this tie. We could only muster a miserable 10,000 or so to add to their numbers and I couldn’t help reflecting on the fact that this was a far cry from previous days of playing this famous old side in the Cup. In the match programme, there was an article regarding a fourth round FA Cup tie which occurred at Hillsborough on 25 January 1969. I remember this match almost as if it were yesterday as I was there to watch one of the best performances by a Blues side in this competition. We were in the old second division in those days but nevertheless, we had a decent team with players of the like of Jimmy Greenhoff, Fred Pickering, Johnny Vincent, Malcolm Beard, Malcolm Page and Ron Wylie in the side. Sheffield Wednesday were seventh in the top flight and a very good team. There was a capacity crowd of 55,000 present that day and I remember vividly Fred Pickering opening the scoring when the Wednesday centre half kicked fresh air instead of the ball when attempting an overhead clearance. Big Fred controlled the ball on his chest beautifully rounded the keeper and then teased us by taking an eternity before side footing the ball home. Wednesday did equalise but I don’t remember too much about this goal but Dennis Thwaites scored a second the Blues in the second half. Blues were thwarted and denied a deserved win when about 15 min from time a speculative 35 yard shot somehow managed to get through the hands of the normally dependable Jim ‘The Cat’ Herriot, a noted shot stopper but a complete butterfingers when it came to crosses!
The replay took place at St Andrews on the following Tuesday in front of another capacity crowd of 52,500 (allegedly as it was reckoned that several thousand made over the wall to swell the ground to far greater proportions than the official attendance!) I remember the price of the ticket to this game which was two shillings and sixpence (12.5p) which as I recall was quite pricey for the day! I remember that I only just managed to get in as they locked the gate behind me with thousands trapped outside. I have a feeling that my ticket for the Hillsborough game was two shillings (10p in today’s money!) Considering that I only earned 17 shillings a week (85p) for my paper round and could still afford to go to most games at the Blues only serves to demonstrate how the modern game has been taken away from the working classes who are still the essence and soul of this game of football.
The FA Cup in 1969 was a big deal and meant so much to those of us on the terraces. Blues had been to the semi-final being unluckily eliminated by the eventual cup winners West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park the season before and we were renowned as a tough and plucky Cup fighting side. After the Sheffield Wednesday tie which we won 2-1 in the replay we drew Manchester United in the fifth round at St Andrews and there were more than the official 52,500 there that match as well! The skill, movement and pace of the great Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and the legendary George Best were frightening but nevertheless, Birmingham bravely gained a creditable 2-2 draw against the best team in the land. David Robinson, an 18-year-old centre half showed fantastic bottle to bury a late penalty into the top corner to earn a draw.
Stan Cullis’ team threw everything at United in the last 10 min and so nearly snatched victory when a ball dropping from a steepling height from the night sky was met by the sweetest of volleys by Malcolm Beard of all people. I was right behind this shot and with the ball screaming towards the top corner, virtually catching fire as it did so, I cannot still to this day work out how on earth Alex Stepney managed to push the ball away at full stretch to prevent the unlikeliest of wins for the Blues. The replay at Old Trafford was the venue where our Cup run ended for that year. We made a grave error early on in the match by taking the lead through Jimmy Greenhoff; this only served to wake our opponents up! Three quick fire goals gave score a more realistic look. 3-1 at half-time turned into 6-2 at the end. Jimmy Greenhoff went on later to play for the Red Devils; a truly fantastic player.
So we march onwards into the quarter-finals; let’s hope for a favourable home draw.
The Good: Once again an entertaining and enjoyable game. I must say that Blues have played very well in this competition so far producing some of our best performances to date. It was just a pity that there were not a few more home fans in the stadium to enjoy it.
The Bad: The whole saga over the tickets and once again the standard of the service from the catering department. It is just as well that the crowd was as low as it was because I dread to think what revenue the club would have lost from lost sales had a bigger crowd been present.
The Ugly: The fat bloke near the front of the Sheffield Wednesday fans with no top on!
Birmingham City: Colin Doyle 6, Stephen Carr 7, David Murphy 8, Lee Bowyer 7, Roger Johnson 6 (Jordon Mutch, 63, 6), Cameron Jerome 5 (Phillips, 45, 5), Obafemi Martins 7, Keith Fahey 7, Stuart Parnaby 7, Alexander Hleb 7 (David Bentley, 27, 8), Jean Beausejour 8.
Subs not used: Ben Foster, Seb Larsson, Craig Gardner, Nikola Zigic.
Bookings: Johnson (59) – Taken off to avoid further injury to a rolled ankle in the first half and not risk a second yellow that would have put him out of the final.
Goals: Beausejour (6), Martins (18), Murphy (53)
Sheffield Wednesday: Nicky Weaver 5, Tommy Spurr 5, Isaiah Osbourne 5, Michael Morrison 4 (Mark Beevers, 45), Mark Reynolds 4 (Richard Hinds, 28, 5), Daniel Jones 6, James O’Connor 4 (Liam Palmer, 45, 6), Gary Teale 6, Reda Johnson 5, Clinton Morrison 5, Neil Mellor 6.
Subs not used: Arron Jameson, Paul Heffernan, Darren Potter, Chris Sedgwick.
Bookings: O’Connor (23), Spurr (35), Beevers (73), Johnson (82).
Goals: None
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) 6: Missed a clear hand ball which blocked a goal bound header just before Blues scored their second. O’Connor should have been red carded for his challenge.
Attendance: 14,607 (4,116 away fans; excellent support for a sad excuse for a team representing such a proud and famous old club. They deserve far better that this. I would suggest that Gary Megson has a lot of hard work in front of him.)
KRO SOTV
i dont think we played as bad as made out in this article, were a league 1 side dont forget and from what wev seen lately it was a improvement. our support is always good. it wont belong before were climbing the leagues again. UTO!!
I agree with owl83, for team in the position of Sheffeild Wednesday find themselves in….. a below average division 1 side, they played better than there position suggested. But the gulf in quality between the two sides was huge. a stroll in the park for a Birmingham city 2nd 11 with few 1st teamers thrown in to make up the numbers. Hence 10,000 blues fans turned out for a reserve game. I bet that there are a few more for the next round!
A convincing win but not that entertaining really. I have to say I was far more pumped up for Crawley against Man U. I agree with the commentary with respect to how this once fine competition has somehow been relegated to distant secondary status in modern times. It is indeed sad to realize how ticket prices have become beyond the reach of the ordinary bloke in the street. I too remember going to St. Andrews on the number 17 bus from Sheldon and paying my bob (5p) to get in. I was ten at the time (now alomst 55) and it was two bob for adults and half price for us kids. The atmosphere is just not the same, it’s a far cry from what it once was and has become a corporate playboys game laced with corporate hyperboleye (not sure I spelled that right; just trying to sound intelligent) and BS like that nimrod announcer at St. Andrews trying to do his best to sound like one of those retarded pillocks that we have to put up with over here in alomst all American sports. What’s next cheeleaders in skimpy outfits?…………come to think of it not a bad idea that. By the way lads, can we please stop saying “who?” in unison every time someone’s name is announced; that was funny 15 years ago but the joke’s worn off a bit boys!!
Don’t get me wrong Owl83. I’m not for a moment suggesting that Wednesday didn’t give of their best but defensively they are very poor and whatever level you play at, you have to get that side of the game sorted out. I just feel that Blues scored their goals far too easily making it impossible in the end for the Owls to make much of a game of it. I remember Sheffield Wednesday when they were a force to be reckoned with in the top flight and for a city of that size it should have one if not two teams represented there. I wish you and your fellow fans well over the coming seasons and may better times be ahead for you. 😀
KRO SOTV
As for you my dear brother; yes you did spell hyperbole incorrectly 😛
Nice write up. Agree that our defence desperately needs sorting out. Thought your third followed a foul on Weaver (but the ref did miss a blatant handball earlier on).
We could have brought more but were denied extra tickets. The FA Cup is still a great competition which doesn’t need changing – just needs more respect from managers.
The fat bloke – Tango. Yes he is ugly. Ha ha!