Mrs. Zigic

Her husband was a furkin useless footballer at Blues but she scores every time.

"Hello boys I'm Irena Zigic."

The construction of St. Andrews and The Peaky Blinders.

English: An Ordnance Survey map from 1890 showing Muntz Street, the home ground of Small Heath F.C. (now called Birmingham City F.C.), which was demolished in 1907 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Director Harry Morris identified a site for a new ground in Bordesley, some three-quarters of a mile (1 km) from Muntz Street towards the city centre. Covering an area of 7.5 acres (3 ha), bounded by Cattell Road, Coventry Road, Tilton Road, Garrison Lane and the railway, and near St Andrew's church, the site was near to where a brickworks had once operated. Though Morris described the land itself as "a wilderness of stagnant water and muddy slopes", the Sporting Mail considered it "very favourably situated for obtaining easy communication with the city and many of the suburbs, and will be served by an excellent service of electric cars, while the provision of a railway station close at hand is also considered as within the bounds of possibility."

The club took the land on a 21-year lease, and entrusted the role of surveyor and engineer to a local carpenter, Harry Pumfrey, who despite a lack of qualifications produced plans "which would have done credit to the most expensive professional architect". Club director Thomas Turley, a builder, acted as clerk of works, and it is estimated the club saved more than £2,000 in professional fees by keeping the work in-house. Tradition has it that gypsies, evicted from the site before work could begin, laid a 100-year curse on the club;  although gypsies are known to have camped nearby, there is no contemporary evidence for their eviction by the club, and construction began in February 1906.

Artesian springs, which kept the land flooded, had to be drained and blocked off with tons of rubble before soil could be laid on top. To create height for the terracing on the Coventry Road side of the ground, the club offered the site as a tip, local people paying a total of £800 (£72,900 today) for dumping an estimated 100,000 loads of rubbish. This embankment was known from the beginning as the Spion Kop, stood 110 terraces high at its highest point, and had a reported capacity of 48,000 spectators, each paying 6d (£2.28 today). The Grandstand, on the Garrison Lane side of the ground, was 123 yards (112 m) in length. It held 6,000 seats divided among six sections, priced from 1s to 2s (£4.60 to £9.10 today), and all accesses were lit by electricity. In front of the stand was space for 5,000 to stand under cover. Beneath the stand were refreshment rooms, changing rooms, a training area with plunge bath, a billiard room donated by brewery magnate Sir John Holder, and the club's boardroom and offices, which hitherto had been maintained in premises in Birmingham city centre. Behind the goal at the railway end of the ground was space for a further 4,000 standing spectators, and access to the ground was gained via turnstiles on three sides of the ground. Total capacity was estimated at 75,000, and construction cost at £10,000 (£910,000 today). The playing surface, at 115 by 75 yards (105 m × 69 m), was one of the largest in the country, had a four-yard (3.7 m) grassed border, and was surrounded by a cinder running track.

 ^{Several people claim that the ground was built on the site of the brickworks, but this is not so, as can be seen from the two maps published in an earlier article on this blog. The brickworks were to the west of the swampy area on which the site was constructed.  The Peaky Blinders, who have figured in a BBC drama series recently, and any involvement that they may have had with St. Andrews has recently been the subject of much speculation. Although the series suggests that they were heavily into running an illegal betting outfit there is no contemporary evidence to suggest that they were and if the claim is true then they would have been too busy on racing Saturday's to have been at any Blues matches. They may however have been involved in supplying material for the tip on which Spionkop was built as there was ready money to be made from the operation. Incidentally I do wonder if the fictitious name of the gang, which is "Shelby", is a play, by the author on the districts  of Sheldon and Bordersley where they operated.}

More on our history.

This is the kit which Small Heath Alliance used when they entered the Football League, early in the history of the game and which is featured in one of the photographs below.

 After winning the "Test Matches" (an early equivalent to modern play-offs) the previous season, the Heathens took their place in the First Division in 1893 for the first time in their history. To celebrate this achievement, the club adopted these smart shirts in Varsity colours, making this item a must for all Blues fans with a sense of their club's heritage. In fact for only a tenner a time I have already ordered mine from 

this lot.
 Was this the reason for us being called "Blues"? Although there is still controversy as to whether we were first referred to as, "Blues" or, as many claim, "The Blues".

The Blues Trust and its abuse at smallheathalliance.com

English: An Ordnance Survey map from 1913 showing St Andrew's stadium, the home ground of Birmingham City F.C., built in 1906 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: An Ordnance Survey map from 1890 showing the site where St Andrew's stadium, the home ground of Birmingham City F.C., would be built in 1906 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 I went to my first Birmingham City F. C. match in 1957. It was against Wolves at St. Andrew's, now affectionately know by the Blues faithful as "Stans". Since then we have wonThe League Cup twice but are now going through a phase of hard times, as happens every football club at stages in their history. In order to attemp to salvage something from the current wreckage a bunch of supporter have now formed a trust details of which can be found here. I would urge Blues supporters who have a love of the club to join the trust and pay their £5 membership fee to support their ongoing attempts to promote a fair deal for the fans. If you don't like what they are doing then, being a democratic organisation, you can have your say, or just don"t sign up when your next membership subscription is due.
 Unfortunately some at smallheathalliance.com are conducting a campaign of vilification against The Trust an example of which can be found here, although it is not suitable for children to read. Now The Trust is run entirely by decent minded volunteers but as I hope you can see many on smallheathalliance.com disgrace the name of Birmingham City F. C. fans.

Small Heath Alliance

Small Heath F.C., champions of the inaugural Football League Second Division in 1892–93 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This was the original name, given by what at the time in 1875 was a cricket club, to what has now proudly become  Birmingham City Football Club. Historical records indicate that the image below was the first strip to be worn by the club.

 This blog has been created to record as much information as possible about the club, for true Blues supporters and in no way is to be associated with the oddly run commercial site that has hijacked the name under the title of smallheathalliance.com. and where it seems to be open season to criticise anything to do with the club. I hope true supporters will contribute, through comments or providing me with information which might be of use about the club. 

 I am getting rather aged and before I pop off hope to include some enduring memories and memorabilia that might be of interest and I invite others from around the world to do likewise.