Dear Players
Before I say anything I should say that I don't hold you responsible for how far the club has fallen and I don't even hold you responsible for the fact that this is probably one of the very worst teams we've had in 139 years. You can't be blamed for the prolonged mismanagement that has gone on above you. Truth be told, I don't think many of you would have got within a hundred miles of this club in days gone by, but it isn't your fault that the shirts have been given to you and I don't blame you for wanting to play for this football club. It is a wonderful football club.
I do accept that we aren't going to be pulling any trees up in this division. In fact, my gut feeling is that we are getting relegated this season (though I hope you can prove me wrong). I accept that there will be many times where we will get beat by teams who are better than us. But what I or any other Blues fan can't accept is a team rolling over and dying like you lot did yesterday. Your lack of fight, desire and resilience was disgusting. You and you alone have consigned us to the worst home defeat we have ever had and made us the laughing stock of football.
There are ways to lose; if you lose but have given everything you've got for the cause then you will be applauded by the Blues fans who have stuck with you stoically. We will be disappointed, but will also be appreciative of the fact that you couldn't have tried any harder. My mind goes back to a game we had against the great Arsenal team of the early 2000s; we were thrashed 4-0 at Stan's, but the players who played that day were clapped off the pitch because people could see that they had given their all, but were simply played off the park by a team light years ahead of us.
That wasn't the case yesterday. Before the game I didn't have much hope of getting a result because Bournemouth are a very good side. But we simply rolled over and died. To a man you simply looked like you had all given up, in spite of the fact that even at four, five, six, seven and eight nil the fans stuck with you, showed the sort of resilience you couldn't be bothered to put up. You let us down badly yesterday. The song goes "We're Birmingham City we'll fight to the end" – to be honest from the very start none of you showed any inkling of fight. You have left a city in shock, left the best bunch of fans in this country or any other totally devastated.
I'm not going to ask for a refund or any quibble like that; ultimately getting my money back isn't actually going to make me any less disconsolate after seeing what I saw. But all I would say is that there are well over two-thousand people who are heading to Wolverhampton next week, and whilst we hope for a good result we expect a response. We expect a team that will try and compete, that if nothing else will kick and bite their way through ninety minutes of what is a fiercely contested local derby in an attempt to get a result.
Blues fans will stick with you, we always do. But we need something back; we need to see that players have pride in the shirts they are wearing. As professionals you should have your own pride, but where was it yesterday? I hope you all woke up, looked in the mirror this morning and thought "25/10/14 – never, ever again". Even if we do end up getting relegated this season, even if we do lose a lot of games, I want you to at least make sure that nothing like yesterday's shambles is ever repeated again. That's not a lot to ask, is it?
Yours,
An ever suffering but ever supporting Bluenose.
