It is easy to blame anyone and everyone but the truth is that the rot started to set in this club when David Sullivan sold the club to Carson Yeung and Grandtop International Holdings Limited in July 2007.
Sullivan wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and certain “fans” wanted him, David Gold and his brother Ralph Gold out of the picture and got what they wanted. How easily they forgot it was them that saved us from administration!
Yeung turned out to be corrupt and the rest of the Chinese owners seemed no better. They all were without a clue or care about how to run a football club. Yeung was sent to prison and Grandtop International Holdings Limited took full ownership of the club and renamed themselves Birmingham International Holdings Limited.
In April 2023 Birmingham Sports Holdings (name changed in May 2017) confirmed letters of intent had been signed to sell 24% of their shares in Birmingham City and the 21.64% owned by Oriental Rainbow, as well as the whole of St. Andrews which they 100% owned to a then-unnamed potential purchaser.
On the 8th of May, 2023, Shelby Companies Limited, a subsidiary of asset management company Knighthead Capital Management fronted by Tom Wagner, Knighthead’s co-founder and co-C.E.O confirmed that it had exchanged contracts with the majority owners of Birmingham City Football Club including Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited subject to approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and customary regulatory authority approvals in the U.K.
On the 14th of July 2023, there was a club announcement and it was official, Knighthead and Shelby Companies would acquire full ownership and control of St. Andrew’s and 45.64% ownership of Birmingham City Limited. It was confirmed that Tom Wagner will be the Chairman Of The Board and Garry Cook will be the C.E.O.
So, with that little reminder of past events, in theory, you could blame Sullivan for selling the club, Yeung and co. for their part in ruining our beloved club, Wagner for the sacking of John Eustace in October 2023 or Cook for Wayne Rooney being appointed the next manager in the same month that thankfully only lasted until January 2024.
I will say this regarding Wagner and Cook and that is Wagner knows that he, and the board, have made mistakes that have contributed to our final league position and will learn from them. It is pointless for people to put all the blame on Cook for where we finished and make him the scapegoat either. That’s just silly. He will know very well the part he played in our relegation by pushing for the sacking of Eustace and the appointment of Rooney but, as I have noted above, all the club’s problems before and after that were put into motion when the Chinese took over and that is a fact.
Also, we have had 6 managers, (including caretaker managers Steve Sooner and Mark Venus and interim manager Rowett) and current manager Tony Mowbray since Wagner and Co. took over in July 2023. Do you blame one of those managers or all of them for Blues getting relegated? Then there is all the backroom staff that served under them including the current staff. Do you blame some of them or all of them? And finally, what about all the players that have played under them including the current players? Do you blame some of them or all of them? They rightfully need to be held accountable for their activity on the pitch, some more than others, that is without question. The fact of the matter is we haven’t been good enough to stay in the Championship for more than half the time we dropped down into it from the Premier League in 2011. We have relied on good luck for too long now hovering close to the bottom three since then. That luck almost ran out in that memorable match against Bolton Wanderers in 2014 and we always feared it would run out. It had to sooner or later and finally it did on May the 4th, 2024.
The point I am trying to make here is it is irrelevant who is to blame, it doesn’t change a thing, we are playing in League One next season. It is what it is. I am not saying people shouldn’t feel anger because they have a right to feel that emotion, along with rage, frustration, fear, happiness, and sadness (it is all part and parcel of being a Blues supporter) but don’t dwell on them, it doesn’t change what has happened. We have to look forward, not backwards, and we have to do this UNITED NOT DIVIDED.
