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Nice to see some attention paid to Birmingham that isn't all about Carson Yeung. I do think we'll finish higher than a lot of pundits predicted at the start of the season, whether that means promotion is another matter. One thing for sure though, Hughton has done a great job so far, after Bruce and Mcleish, I never thought I'd sit there watching the Blues and expecting us to score.

Great job by Hughton, I hope Brum come up.

I'm not a Birmingham supporter.

decent blog and great match today! We should have more live footie on the bbc for people without sky sports!! btw, i think mcleish brought chris burke in before he left, not chris hughton!!

Nice article Paul, as a proud Bluenose I am cautiously optimistic for the season. If we are in or around the playoffs come January then i think we have an excellent chance to go back up.

By the way it's Keith Fahey, not 'Kevin'!

Chris Hughon has put together a very good Championship squad. My glass remains firmly half full. We have been totally written by most pundits and his suits us, as it completely downgrades expecations and takes the pressure off. The Europa League adventure, rather than a distraction is being treated as exactly that;an adventure. In what's proving to be a very tight league there's no reason at all why Blues can't be in the shake although I do think automatic promotion will prove a step too far. That said finishing in the play off positions would represent an excellent season. My only fear is if the rumours regarding Beausejour, Ridgewell and Zigic departing in Jan prove to be correct!

One of the problems in a Leicester type situation is whether players have their hunger sapped by the rewards on the table. If you're already on Premier League money and know you'll be replaced if promoted then where's the incentive? I expect them to make the play-offs but come up short as Derby and Wolves did when they were the rich kids of the division in the 1990s.

In the Championship, anything less than full tilt can equal dropped points and I wonder if Sven's necessarily the right man to drill those levels of intensity into players.

Blues will be fine - Hughton is a top coach, great organiser and I'd be unsurprised if they had a decent run in the Europa League. This term might be about consolidation but he's putting the foundations in place.

I can say that I was not too impressed with either team in the derby earlier today. However, I do expect Birmingham will improve under Hughton's guidance but it will take time and European adventures will take their toll. As for Leicester surely with the money they have spent they should be more enterprising and Wellens seems to be struggling to get picked.

birmingham will win the playoffs, beating leicester in the final.

What's a "Birmingham"?

A Birmingham is the opposite of an Aston Villa

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

I hope that Chris Hughton is allowed time to build a squad of players, and will not be subject to another knee-jerk reaction to a few "adverse" results.

He will always be a legend on Tyneside for the way he got the team spirit together so they could drag themselves out of the Championship at the first attempt. Being unbeaten at SJP was an incredible feat.
And, of course there's always the small matter of 5-1 with Nolan's hat-trick.

He is a proper gentleman and a good coach who just needs time and support to become one of the best.

Needless to say, Chris Hughton had the last laugh.

I'm a very happy Bluenose at the moment. Chris Hughton is doing a fantastic job on very limited resources.

''toonfan'' my worry is not that there'll be a kneejerk reaction more that a more fashionable club will try to poach Hughton. Good to see he's a legend on Tyneside.

Unlike some of the Premier sides in seasons past we have embraced the Europa League and it is a massive adventure for us probably one I'll never see again. 5,000+ going to Brugges on Thursday, the support will be fantastic.

If we keep playing as we are a play off place is a definite possibility but as someone else pointed out we could lose some of our better players in January because of the financial problems our Board have got us into. KRO

On yesterday's evidence, Leicester were unfortunate. They dominated possession and what Beausejour was doing on the pitch after not receiving a second booking before the sending off of Mills I do now know. Deliberately pulling a man down is a bookable offence but I'm afraid the replacement referee bottled it.
Mills sending off, I'm not so sure it was, he didn't show any studs and won the ball. then playing with ten men, it was always going to be difficult. The second goal flattered Brum, Had it been the other way round, as it should have been, I think the outcome would have been different and Leicester would be in fourth place, not 13th.

Cynicall_Sid, You are as big a whinger as your team. What a load of moaners they are and as for the continual back chat and surrounding the ref they were very lucky not to get yellow cards. The substitute ref was one of the best refs I've seen at St Andrews for a very long time.

As for your team I can't see where you've spent £10M, very poor team and no threat up front.

Yep thanks for a blog about Blues. The Europa league is exciting, but I'm not sure I'd put that above promotion to the Premiership personally (can't speak for other Blues fans). It could be a distraction, we've seen at least one game where the players have been tired from Europa. Plus it's strange playing many-a-game on Sundays too! The foundation is there but I'd be quite surprised at anything more than consolidation - would love to go up, but it's likely a season of re-building. Much prefer Blues under Hughton than the ever-conservative McLeish...

Paul Fletcher has been extremely generous in his praise of Birmingham in his match report. Leicester were defensively robust and hugely dominant in the midfield in the first half and completely nullified Birmingham's attempts to build any attacks. They were by far the better side, their only downfall being generating their own attacks, although as the away side that's their perogative. The penalty changed the game, which was perfectly just, as was Mills' sending off but without these two singular events Birmingham would have continued to struggle against a dominant Leicester team. Once a goal down with ten men anyone would struggle no matter how expensively assembled their team is. One very key point that everyone has missed so far is that Beausejoir (that's probably not the correct spelling) shouldn't have been on the pitch! His deeply synical foul on Peltier early in the second half was more than enough for a second yellow but the new referee, who was overwise excellent, seemed to bottle the early decision. I felt Leicester deserved an awful lot more credit than they have been given, no wonder Sven isn't panicking.

Not intentionally being offensive to Leicester here, I have nothing against them, but if they play like they did at St. Andrews for the rest of the season, attacking-wise, they will struggle to have any real impact. Nugent was invisible, and Vassell gave the ball away almost every time he touched it. Beckford wasn't any better when he came on. Yes, they may have bought in a lot of players, but for the same reason I don't think Sunderland are going to win the Premier League, I don't think Leicester will go up automatically. Yes, the penalty and sending off obviously changed things, but Beausejour's 30-yard shot that hit the bar came before both of those, and it was the fact that him, Burke and King had the defence panicking that led to Birmingham being in the situation to get a penalty.

Cynicall_Sid, there's no question that Blues deserved to win the game - Leicester may have been better in the first half but in truth both teams were very stilted and unambitious in the first 45, and Blues were the team who really made the effort and stepped up in the second half. Beausejour might well have deserved a second yellow, but Mills definitely deserved to go. You can't dive in two-footed, and even though he got a bit of the ball he got enough of the man as well to thoroughly deserve the red. The reaction of the Leicester players to a correct decision was shameful as well.

As for the blog, might I also say how much I appreciate seeing these articles on the Blues from time to time! I was very pessimistic at the start of the season after the player turnover and the chaos in the boardroom (whoever decided Carson Yeung was a 'fit and proper' owner of a football club should take a long, hard look at themselves), but I'm delighted with the appointment of Chris Hughton who seems a very good man and manager and the team start to be gelling after a shaky start.

To be honest, given that we have nearly an entirely new squad, I'd settle for a season of consolidation in the Championship and with the Europa League as a bonus, and if we happen to get play-offs or better then it will have been a fantastic season. I'm also excited about our younger players like Nathan Redmond, Jordon Mutch and Jake Jervis coming through! Keep Right On!

@ bornwithabluenose
I agree with almost everything you've said. With the financial problems, Yeungs pending trail and virtually a new squad, I thought we might drop straight through this division but I don't now.

The one thing I disagree with is the fit an proper thing. I participate in quite a few blogs and if you were saying Yeung was not fit and proper when he took over, you and those like you were very, very quiet. Anyway, you should be able to run a football club without subsidy from a billionaire and so what you need to be fit and proper is to add up (the income) and subtract (the costs) and honesty. Most of us can do basic maths and the only objective way to check for honesty is convictions. So after his trial, if aquitted, Yeung will still be a fit and proper person. You and I may not like the way he's running the club and may not trust him as far as we can throw him but that's just an opinion and not a fit and proper test.

It great to see Birmingham getting some just rewards for what has been done. Blues have had a torrid time, we lost around 20 players, maybe more will go in January. Its a bit of talking point about Birmingham being in Europe, but for many fans its once in a lifetime, i dont think the fans expect to much, its all about the experience. It will always be a season to remember that Blues was in Europe, the league will come second. Nobody really expects to much this year as we have to be realistic, we are in a crisis still and from the board side of things it still looks bleek and uncertain. But Chris H is just getting on with his job and concentrating on the team playing football.

I thought on Saturday that against Leicester it would be a tough test of our status as they must be one of the teams going for promotion, and while the first half was completly boring the second half blew into life when Beausor hit the woodwork.

I feel Blues may have the surprise element in them and they are at this time a good honest hard working football team.

I think alot of praise should be given to the manager and the players for what they are trying to do and trying to achieve and for me under the circumstances this season is already a success.

If we do get to the play offs or even automatic promotion then it must be recognised as nothing short of a miracle.

KRO

Good result lads, hang in there.

Watched the game.

As a neutral I have to say it was a penalty and it was a sending off. The ref got those decisions spot-on.

On balance Birmingham were lucky to win though. Leicester dominated possession and ought to have tucked a few away.

What I can't understand about Leicester is why Wellens doesn't play the full 90 for them? Technically he was probably the best player on the pitch. And clearly gave Leicester an extra edge.

What can one say for the Birmingham fans... After having gone through the "Sullivan" experience, they found an owner how doesn't live for the headlines. All they need is a bit of stability in order to come back to the surface. I remember them going into Wembley for the Carling Cup final: peaceful, families going to a football celebration all together, enjoying the occasion. And after Bruce and McLeish left the club for better jobs they eventually find a manager in Hughton who will give his all for their club.

I like Hughton for his work ethic and putting all his effort for his club's progress. I am expecting him to lead Birmingham back at the top. And I hope he stays there for years, to create his legacy in a club having all the attributes of a Premiership side.

I wanted to thank you for this great read! Definitely enjoying every bit of it I've bookmarked to check out new things to post Many thanks for this great post! I've been looking for this for a long time

Overall the match was short on quality. Not sure that the PL (and staying there) is realistic for either of these sides.

Birmingham have to be admired for assembling a top quality championship side with so little money. Just look at their teamsheet: Carr Ridgewell Zigic Beausejour Burke, I could go on. Great result for them on Sunday

I am a Bristol city fan (that's the bcfc in my username!) and it's going to be a stern test for our new manager against Birmingham on Sunday.