BRUM IS BLUE!

It’s a big week for Birmingham City Fans with the 150th Anniversary fixture taking place this Saturday against Norwich and the reveal of the Stadium Plans today at 3pm, it’s all go and there is a real buzz about it.

The Stadium itself is set to seat just over 60,000 fans which will put it in the top ten stadiums in the UK. It’s an ambitious project for both the club and the city as a whole as it will be a full Sports Quarter development consisting of training facilities, the Women’s Stadium, a fan park and events venue. It’s going to revitalise the entire area as plans even include the development of housing within the local area as well, it’s development Birmingham hasn’t seen since the NEC was built given its size and scale.

We have been given snippets of information from the club in terms of their vision, we’ve seen AI Generated promotion of the Tram passing through the new Sports Quarter, various outlets have produced AI Images of the ground itself as well. We’ve had the announcement of the Architects of the stadium (Heatherwick Studio and MANICA), the vibe it’s going for in terms of being both modern and exceptional with a nod to the roots of the club and the city itself.

Some of the other bits of information we have been provided include the intentions to create a sound wall inspired by Dortmund’s Yellow Wall as well as reducing the noise from away fans to give our Home Stadium that edge. It will have a concourse similar to Wembley Walk as well and will jokingly be “visible from bits of the Cotswolds!” which would be pretty epic indeed. The naming rights to the stadium will be available to the highest bidder so won’t necessarily contain the Knighthead branding, I do wonder if it will still contain a nod to the history of what will become Blues former home.

It is a very ambitious project, one that has drawn the attention of many clubs up and down the country with many fans unable to believe that it will get built let alone get filled! The thing is I know there will be spare seats, you only have to look at Spurs or Man City to realise this is a common occurrence anyway, but what I do know is that when there was a boycott and half the stadium was shut we still would fill the remaining seats, there is a waiting list for season tickets, there are rarely any available tickets, whatever opposition fans who aren’t close to Blues may think it’s clear we need a bigger ground and taking nearly 50,000 to Wembley indicates the fan base is there.

For me, the most unrealistic thing about the entire stadium plans is it’s turnaround time. Not because I think it can’t be done but because this is Britain and our construction industry is a joke, HS2 is fully on time and I loved the tram from town to Digbeth during the Common Wealth Games for instance. That said I don’t doubt it will get completed and it will be fantastic. I can’t wait to see what is revealed tonight!