BRUM IS BLUE!

As Blues fans we’re used to negativity, the years haven’t been as kind as we’d have liked, so when the future looks bright we can get a tad ahead of ourselves. Two Chinese takeovers turned out to be false dawns as we seriously flirted with annihilation. Fast forward 16(ish) years and we’re coming into the Championship off the back of a world record breaking season!

As we head into the new season there is a real air of positive aspiration, we know that these owners put their money where their mouth is and I’ve spoken before about Tom Wagner being one of our own. We had the blip which they flipped into a positive, big spending, record breaking, Wembley appearing positive to say the least and it’s got the green eyes of the six finger tribe across the expressway quaking in their boots. I’ve never seen so many posts about us from them, they genuinely think we’re going to mess up but that’s simply because they’re not close enough to Birmingham to know just how impressive our owners are. It took them for the hosting of the Euros to get their station expanded after years of begging, Wagner walks in and gets Adderly Park extension signed off and a couple billion towards a tram. You’ve got to love it!

You may have seen in the media that Blues are the most backed team in the Championship from a betting perspective this season and I must hold my hands up and admit I’m one of them who have put a cheeky fiver on Blues to win the league (As well as a back up fiver of just promotion). While the media are notably quiet on the matter at the moment I have a real feeling that it’s going to be the same drivel as last season to put down any achievements we manage to rack up; “Owners have money so they should be winning this or that” (Tell that to Man City, Man United, Newcastle before last season, blah, blah, blah!).

This air of expectations isn’t just from the media though, I know most fans are cautious but many have already grown to expect greatness. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a bad thing and with active owners it’s only going to be a positive, expect greatness to achieve greatness after all, but lets get one thing clear these expectations are ambitious but this is what Wagner and Co have brought to us.

The plans for a new stadium are ambitious, an entire sports quarter for our beautiful city, investment in one of the most deprived areas in the city is only good for Birmingham as a whole. Our owners haven’t shied away from the difficult things, they’ve taken their case to the highest powers, had politicians in Westminster eager to post pictures of them rubbing shoulders. It’s not Stinge Jim trying to get tax payer money to build the biggest Butlins of the North but owners that know an ecosystem requires all it’s parts in fair measure.

For me the owners ambitions are very high and it blows you away when you realise it’s not ambitions from them, it’s expectations. The say it with chest that Blues will be a Champions League club and you know what, you have to believe them. Back to back promotions will be ambitious but it’s not just us or our owners that expect it now if the betting is to be believed, I suspect for all the envy it’s most fans in the country!