Affers returns with his take on today’s game.
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The thing about Blues kicking off at midnight is that I get to spend a lot of time thinking about the game. Today has been spent ensuring the grass is short and there are no hiding spots around the house as the weather is warming up and already friends have had snakes in their gardens. Hate gardening, love having the opportunity to listen to 3 hours plus of Blues related podcasts that have sprung up among the offerings of yesterday chat, football lads, lads, lads 90s culture and how to be a parent when you have a couple of million quid in the bank.
Each podcast raises smiles and prompts secret and silent fist pumps as I still revel in a fantastic 3 points from Monday night. Until Monday it felt as though The Project (TM) was definitely on track but the on the pitch stuff had stumbled along trying to gain it’s footing whilst the rest of the club (again, minus the problems with tickets) raced along with the best updates ever posted to YouTube courtesy of Nick Smith. I sincerely would like Nick to narrate my internal monologue. Or at least pop up on my left shoulder as the voice of reason and argue the toss with Gabby Agbonlahor on my right shoulder when I have a difficult moral decision to make. Nick always wins. Obviously.
I finish the gardening and it’s dark outside meaning that I’m a couple of hours away from getting the kids to bed and settling down for the night of sport ahead
8pm – England vs Australia, ODI
9:30pm – West Ham vs Chelsea
11pm – Moto GP sprint race
11pm – Quali, F1
Midnight – Rotherham vs Mighty Blues + goal rush of Premier League games
Whilst realising that I don’t live in a sports bar and don’t have access to approximately 17000 screens at once, my phone beeps and I get a message from a couple of friends of mine. They live locally to me here in Aus but are currently traveling through Europe. They tell me that they want to go to a football game in England but aren’t sure which to choose. In the first message they get defensive and say that they know they should see Blues but it doesn’t quite match the itinerary. They give me three options. Chelsea at home, Brighton at home or Villa Park.
I write a long and very precise message expressing that my suggestion to attend Villa Park is in no way an endorsement of the place or club – but I am proud of my city and want them to experience it and give them a list of other things to see and do whilst in Brum, all of which I ensure are more fun and engaging. As I said last week, finding any excuse to talk about football and home is actively encouraged.
I should also mention that I’m mildly obsessed with a horse racing trainer simulator game at the moment and part of the fun is renaming 2 year old horses to names you’d prefer. So I also have to find a screen to have a play of that whilst I’m gorging myself on sport led by Blues and the squad of seven million dollar men.
Currently the horses are getting lots of Blues related nicknames but none have made the grade. Two favourites so far have been Lazaridis and Horsfield but truth be told, neither of them have hit the heights expected. Still, that’s okay when there’s a steady stream of Australian wickets in the ODI. And there’s something about living behind enemy lines that means that I have to give Steve Smith my own send off from the middle of my living room when he’s bowled through the gate.
I chug a Red Bull just before midnight whilst hoping that Max Verstappen will cross track limits on every flying lap in quali 3 and then swear maniacally over the radio leading to a life of having to coach inner city street kids sport like Gordon Bombaby in The Mighty Ducks. It doesn’t happen but who cares because now Blues are kicking off.
No Alfie May starting so I find the shocked emoji and respond on the official Blues FB page even though really, it’s not a shock at all. We can afford to rotate and after the Wrexham demolition on Monday night, it’s hard to pretend that we don’t have a swagger about us. The player and manager make all the right noises but Blues fans can see and feel something special. We’re playing GREAT football – I’ve certainly never seen us play anything like it since my first game in December 1991 (beat Fulham 3-1, Rogerson and Gleghorn with all 3)
We follow Chris Davies’ instructions to a tee. It’s the same instructions my wife gives me when I play computer games with my kids – give them a chance for 10 minutes and let them at least learn the buttons. You don’t want them to lose interest too early. Rotherham start welll but then Blues hit them off the rainbow road via red turtle shell from the boot of Tomoki Iwata. 1-0.
We take control as only Real Birmingham can (copyright Steve Evans) and barely give Rotherham a sniff. We’re knocking it around and deservedly go 2-0 after an outrageous move and delightful finish from Stanno. There’s an inevitability to all of this and Blues TV talk about Rotherham fans going to get refreshments already.
I have to admit I’d probably head to the bar at that point too… in fact I have done previously when attending England vs Australia at the SCG and Australia were well on top and it was 43 degrees in the shade. So we watched the whole day’s play from the bar in the stand. I also missed the only wicket of the day when I went for a piss.
And speaking of taking the piss, Blues fans sound raucous. From 10000 miles away the Wrexham game, with the slow Keep Right On at the start, the pyrotechnics, the celebrity, it felt like a show as much as a game. Which is part of the point of the transformation. But this, this feels more traditional, more Blues, more visceral. It sounds a lot more typical, out singing, out fighting but more importantly – out playing – the opposition. We’re a cut above here, and we know it. They know it. It feels as though everyone in League One knows it.
And fuck me, enjoy it. Everyone else would. Especially when we were told by anyone with a hole in their backside that “it’s just not that simple, spending lots doesn’t mean going back up.” No, they’re right. It’s not that simple. But the people in charge have made it appear simple and for our part, we must continue to trust, continue to believe, continue to enjoy and continue to be there.
I know I’ve used the term already but with all the pieces in place, the march to the title feels inevitable now. We clicked and performed when the world was watching. And with that level of performance, that level of confidence and that level of focus, it feels like a matter of how much we win the title by now. Going big, going early on a relatively small sample size but players like Leonard, May, Sampsted, Wright, Anderson etc off the bench gives us a luxury that just seems too big a gap for anyone else at this level to bridge.
Full time, beyond comfortable and could’ve been comfortably more. Decisions for me as I work out whether to stay up and watch England’s inevitable ODI defeat – or whether I try and get the maximum 6 hours sleep before getting up for the AJ fight at 8am, AEST.
Whatever choice I make, it’s another night that’s been worth staying up for. Worth listening to the fans, watching the quality and being beyond thankful for the people that we have running the club.
KEO + FEA
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