BRUM IS BLUE!

It’s official, Blues are up! Now just the small matter of the Vertu Trophy and the League to come. Blues could be crowned champions this weekend, without having to play a game, if Wrexham lose to Wigan. That’s with 6 games to spare for Blues.

We’ve had a record breaking season and a win tomorrow would put us joint top in terms of clubs winning the EFL Trophy, Bristol being the current team with three wins. It’s likely to be a good weekend, the culmination of a seasons long worth of effort, a relief to the players who have put a shift for the full campaign!

What Is The Vertu Trophy?

The EFL Trophy, formerly Th Football League Trophy, The Associated Members Cup or even Football League Group Cup, depending how far you look back, is currently known as the Vertu Cup through sponsorship deals. It was most recently known as the Bristol Street Motors or just before that the Papa Johns Trophy. Young Bluenoses might hear it referred to as either the Auto Windscreen or even the Leyland DAF, older Bluenoses might remember the club lifting the cup under these names.

It consists of teams from League One and League Two although it was recently expanded to include invited Premier League and Championship Clubs who have a Category One Academy. This was expected to give the academy players of these clubs some competitive football but in reality it’s a load of kids who end up taking a beating from professional footballers.

Ultimately 64 teams compete for this cup, it’s set up via group stages split north and south and then merges into a normal knock out competition. Tomorrow’s opponents, Peterborough, are the current cup holders and Bristol City have won the competition the most, lifting the trophy three times over the years. Blues have won it twice, as have Peterborough. No team have won it back to back so Peterborough will be eyeing up some history of their own.

When Did Blues Last Win The Cup?

Blues last won the EFL Trophy 30 years ago during the 94/95 season when they were last in the third tier of the pyramid. At this time it was called the Auto Windscreens, it was the first English final to utilise the Golden Goal system which allowed Paul Tait to set Blues victorious! It was the first final at Wembley to be won via this format allowing Blues a 1-0 victory over Carlisle.

Before this game in 1991 Blues first won the EFL Trophy beating Tranmere Rovers 3-2 at Wembley.

Predictions For Tomorrow

Blues are heavy favourites to win tomorrow, certainly a different position to the last time we were at Wembley when we were expected to lose to Arsenal in the League Cup. It follows a solid victory over Peterborough in the week, one that looked more convincing than the first fixture between the two teams.

I don’t want to go in with too much expectation but it’s hard not to get caught up in the hype. My prediction tomorrow is 4-1 Blues, although I think that’s more wishful thinking than a genuine prediction.

What About The League

The EFL Trophy isn’t the only thing Blues can win this weekend. After securing promotion on Tuesday against Peterborough we could see Blues win the league without playing a game. We’re close to kick off for both Wycombe and Wrexham as they both try to keep up the battle for automatic promotion, but if Wrexham lose it will mean that they cannot catch Blues which will crown us League Winners.

Wrexham are facing Wigan who don’t really have anything to play for unless things go catastrophic for them at the bottom of the table and they somehow get sucked into the relegation battle. This makes me think it’s highly unlikely we’ll actually be crowned winners this weekend but I’m sure we’ll all be watching that game closely.

A busy weekend then overall! Keep Right On Bluenoses! Birmingham’s on the rise!