Ask The Opposition: Birmingham City

The fan


Name: Tom Coley

Age: 23


The game


Scoreline Prediction:
Man City 3 - 0 Birmingham. We have an awful record at maine road and eastlands. Ive never known us win at either ground

One to watch:

Its tough to say really. Obviously the big name player for us is Alex Hleb but at the minute he has found it tough to settle down. So im going to go with Barry Ferguson, who has been outstanding since signing from Rangers last summer. This season has been a little tougher for him as teams are more weary of what he can do and have been marking him alot tighter than before. He is integral to our attacking play whilst still be disruptive in the middle of the park. He plays well, we play well.

Last year played a large part in Joe Hart's development, playing his first full season in the top flight whilst on loan at St Andrew's, picking up the PL goalkeeper of the year award and a nomination for PFA young player of the season along the way. You went to Manchester United in search of his replacement, how is Ben Foster settling in?

Joe hart was always going to be hard to replace and when I heard we wouldn't be able to get him permently I was a bit stuck to see where we would go. Foster was an excellent choice in my opinion. he started off excellently especially with his penalty save against Blackburn. He has sort of tailed off since but is still performing very well between the sticks and is rightly Englands number 2 behind Hart. Alot of promise and i think as the season goes on he will get better and better.


You currently sit one place above the drop zone, but just five points behind fifth placed Newcastle. Are you concerned you're experiencing 'second season syndrome' or is it just early days with a very tight table?

Its definately a bit of both. For the past 6 games we have been pretty terrible apart from against Blackpool. We seem to only start playing after the 60th or when we have gone 2 goals down. 3 times this season we have been 2-0 down only to get 2 goals back and get back into the game. The early signs this season are that we are in a real struggle but i firmly believe that it is as tight as ever this season, anyone from 5th or 6th downwards could beat anyone else. Come christmas it will be alot easier to see whats going on, but we need to play better than we have been.


General Birmingham City


What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting Birmingham City?

Without a doubt the playoff final in 2002. We had tried and failed in the 3 seasons previous in the playoffs but we were in such good form at the end of that season that it was hard to see us losing. Its the only time ive cried at football but ill never be ashamed to admit it.

And the worst -

There has been a couple, losing 4-0 at home to Barnsley in the '99 playoffs is possibly the worst game ive ever witnessed, Losing 5-1 to villa a few seasons ago was also pretty awful. Those are the ones that will always stick out


If you could sign a player from the Manchester City squad (wages etc. irrelevant) , who would you choose ?

Me personally, i'd take David Silva in a heartbeat. He has everything i love in a player. He can beat men easily, he can finish and he can pick a pass. The fact he couldnt get in the Spain team at the world cup shows how strong they are, but for me he should have been in that side.


If you could place a past Birmingham City player into the current team, who would it be?

Not the best player by a long way at all but for the sheer work rate and commitment it would have to be Geoff Horsefield. Scored so many important goals for us without ever being prolific. One of the geniune nice guys in football aswell. I should probably have picked Mauro Zarate or someone else with more of a history but for me Horsefield optimised everything that our club is.