Is Steve Bruce Going To Get A Bad Case Of The Blues
By Aidan Begley

To say that this season has been a disappointment for everyone involved in Birmingham City is an understatement.
Back in August 2005, manager Steve Bruce was shouting from the rooftops that the side he had so carefully constructed over the past four years were the best that the club has ever had.
The signing of Mikael Forssell, Walter Pandiani and Jermaine Pennant had been a massive boost for the club, along with the well-established backbone of the team, which included Maik Taylor, Kenny Cunningham and Damien Johnson, on paper, the prospects looked good.
The only thing is, football is played on grass and did the promises of finishing in the top ten come to fruition? Quite simply, no and the Blues are locked in a relegation dog-fight with West Bromwich Albion to see who will retain their top-flight status.
It has gone very badly wrong at St. Andrews this season and now the club is in a real struggle to retain their place in the Premier-ship that they so dramatically claimed back in May 2002 – but the question is will they stay up?
The week when this issue goes to print, Birmingham City and West Brom meet in a midday showdown at St. Andrews. Both teams know that victory will go a long way to deciding which side will be running out at Old Trafford next season, while the other runs out at Luton Town.
It looks like it will be between Blues and Albion to decide who goes down, which is a shame that a Midland’s club will drop out of the top league. Added to Villa’s poor season, it doesn’t really paint football in the city in the greatest of light.
Both teams have similar run ins which pit them not only against teams who are in the top
half of the table and who
are more than capable of
defeating both
Blues and Albion handsomely.
After taking on Middlesbrough and West Brom – both games which Blues need to win to have any chance of staying near to the safety zone of 17th place – Steve Bruce’s men face Spurs at home before travelling to Man-chester United, then its back to St. Andrews for a home tie against champions elect, Chel-sea on April 1.
They then face Wigan and Aston Villa away
in successive weeks, followed by home games against Black-burn Rovers and Bolton, then its Everton away, Newcastle United at home before facing Bolton again at the Reebok Stadium on the last day of the season on May 6.
Birmingham City have been dogged by injuries and bad form all through the campaign. Skipper Kenny Cunningham has been plagued by a groin injury in recent weeks and although he has been consistent in defence for the Blues this year, it looks like this year could well be his last at the Blues as he is yet to sign a new contract.
Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik Taylor has had an indifferent season between the sticks. Errors against Everton and Newcastle United saw him dropped for five games, only for him to be recalled to the starting line-up after Nico Vaesan was suspended.
Damien Johnson has been seeing red a lot this season, literally, the midfielder has been sent off twice this season and has been plugging away in the centre of the park for Blues all year.
Steve Bruce has touted him as his best value-for-money signing he’s made as a manager, but will the ratting abilities of Johnson keep the Blues afloat?
If they do go down, they can look to their abysmal home record at the start of the season where they drew one and lost seven of the first eight home games played at St. Andrews as the main reason why.
West Brom’s run-in sees them take on Chelsea and then Blues before Manchester United visit The Hawthorns on March 18. After a trip to Spurs and a visit to the Midlands from Liverpool, Albion hit the road for two tough away games against Arsenal and Aston Villa on April 9.
Their last four games are Bolton (home), Newcastle United (away) West Ham (home) before they finish their campaign away at Everton.
West Brom are also down near the danger zone and are scrapping for their lives to stay amongst the elite. Having confounded all the critics by staying up on the final day of the 2004/05 season, the club have failed to kick on and in recent weeks have sold want-away striker Robert Earnshaw to Norwich City and off-loaded Geoff Horsfield to Sheffield United on loan.
Albion’s form over the course of the season hasn’t been amazingly inconsistent. They lost three games in a row at the start of the season but have been pulling off the occasional win over the campaign. Since the start of 2006 they
have only won two league games which has seen them drop to the perilous position they now find themselves in.
Big name players like Kevin Campbell and Kanu led from the front at the beginning of the season in August, new blood such as Nigel Quashie breathed some life into the team at the transfer window.
However, with a minimum of a four-game ban to come for Quashie along with any other suspensions the FA may land on top of that, he could be ineligible to play for at least a month.
This isn’t the first time that Blues and Albion have been involved in a relegation battle. At the end of the 1994/95 season when both teams were playing in what is now known as The Championship, Blues were relegated ahead of Albion due to an inferior amount of goals scored.
So all Blues fans will be hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself just over a decade on and they manage to stay amongst the elite – which knowing the way that both clubs play, we probably won’t know until the final whistle of the last game of the season.