Next owners faced with five burning issues to resolve atfew St. Andrew’s
IT is nigh-on three weeks since news broke of a British-based businessman keen on buying Birmingham City.
Just as Blues were about to kick off the final match of the season against Blackburn, it emerged football financier Keith Harris was acting as a conduit between the current, profoundly unpopular, owners and the interested party.
That followed hot on the heels of efforts by Blues fan Paul Richardson and Argentine footballer Maxi Lopez to expedite their own buyout.
After years of labouring under the misguided ownership of Birmingham Sports Holdings, another disappointing season ended with defeat on the field, defiance and anger off it, but just a hint of a whiff of hope in the air.
The intervening days have been excruciating. Three weeks might be mere nanoseconds in terms of the buying and selling of football clubs, but for a group of supporters aching for an end to the BSH era, it feels like an eternity.
As things stand there is still optimism among both groups that a deal will happen, indeed, Lee Bowyer confirmed ‘talks behind the scenes’, which can’t bear fruit quickly enough.
Not least because pre-season starts next month and the campaign kicks off in around two months and there are plenty of issues that need sorting. Here are the most pressing.
THE MANAGER
All the noises coming out of Blues, indeed those emanating from the man himself, are that Bowyer is Birmingham City manager.
Until he isn’t. The 45-year-old is in contact with agents about procuring new players for next season. What else can he do?
More often than not, new owners have their own ideas about head coaches, in 2016 the current lot even sacked Gary Rowett when he had Blues seventh in the table. Seventh, for goodness sake! After a 2-1 win over Ipswich when the only grumble was about the style of play.
Football being football, rumours about Bowyer’s future have already started, with Mark Warburton claimed to be a ‘leading contender’ for a vacancy that doesn’t yet exist, if it ever will.
As with all the issues, all roads lead back to a takeover going through. Clarity is required before the players return in a few weeks.
THE STADIUM
If the identity of the manager is Priority No.1, repairing St Andrew’s is No.1A.
It has been more than two years since Blues were functioning of a full beating heart and the negative effects of having no-one in the lower tiers probably aren’t just cosmetic.
As commendably full as the upper Tilton and Kop were, there was a physical break between fans and players which stifled the atmosphere.
Even when Blues did score that joyous communion, that moment of celebration between team and supporter, just wasn’t the same. Watching footage of a full St Andrew’s from years gone by only rubs salt into the wound.
However, the wider point is that fans should be allowed to sit and support their team where they want. That’s not asking for the moon on a stick.
The other pertinent issue is that reduced capacities come with a financial consequence. Fewer seats equal fewer ticket sales which equals less revenue, which puts pressure on the bottom line and maybe even affects the FFP calculation.
All of which is to say nothing of who actually owns St Andrew’s. The need to pay rent to play at ‘your own ground’ doesn’t sit well with many.
On Friday it was announced on the Companies House website that Blues’ Hong Kong-based parent company, BSH, had ceased being a ‘person of significant control’ over the ground’s own holding company, Birmingham Stadium Ltd.
That has been transferred to Achiever Global Group Limited, which is dated at the end of March last year and is widely known to have happened.
Achiever Global Group Limited is a business based in the British Virgin Islands and is owned by Kang MingMing
– one of the directors of Birmingham City Stadium Ltd.
All of which means on one hand it could just be the tardy filing of the relevant documentation relating to the initial transfer of ownership – or a sign that BSH are trying to get their house in order ahead of a takeover. A coincidence or a portent?
THE FANS
Communication is key. It took nearly a year before anyone even connected with the current owners raised a head to answer questions – when Xuandong Ren appeared at Steve Cotterill’s unveiling.
It would be a long time before the CEO gave another interview and even since his departure, while the club have driven efforts to improve communication, it has been through the senior management team and director Edward Zheng, rather than any of the actual shareholders or any other person of influence.
Whoever comes in has to be front and centre, the focal point of the club, someone who will outline their intentions and vision.
It’s too much to expect a running commentary from whoever owns a football club – but clarity, transparency and accountability are good enough starting points.
THE SQUAD
It is perhaps a sign of Birmingham’s malaise that we haven’t even mentioned who’s actually playing football for the club.
Bowyer’s reference to the pressure of FFP was a reminder of the situation. As if we needed reminding, clubs are allowed to lose up to £39 million over a three-year period before the EFL come brandishing their Profitability & Sustainability regulations. Been there, done that.
There are what the EFL describes as ‘add backs’ relating to the pandemic, which will ameliorate the situation allowing clubs to claim up to £5m in ‘lost revenues or exceptional costs’ for seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21 and £2.5m for 2021/2022.
However, Blues’ wage bill is claimed to be £20m-plus and that has to come down. Current owners or new owners will have to live with pre-pandemic contracts handed out for a couple more seasons at least.
Set against that the squad needs another overhaul, an infusion of Che Adams-type transfers, which require an initial investment in the hope of recouping a far greater dividend.
Scouting and recruitment are all key to this process. There are ageing defenders and strikers and little in terms of pace or ingenuity in attacking positions.
THE TRAINING GROUND
Wast Hills isn’t the biggest facility, the demands of the first team, the development squad, all the academy age groups and the rightfully-integrated women’s set-up all create pressure on pitch availability and the infrastructure of the buildings.
Canteens, gyms, medical facilities, the dome, meeting rooms are in regular use. Facilities can never be too good and investment in such areas all goes to enhancing the ‘player experience’. It might all sound a bit ‘first world problem’ but it matters to those whose success is the metric by which everyone at the club is measured. The players.