Photographs from a visit to Birmingham City FC
These are almost in sequence from a visit to the Birmingham v Brentford game 2nd Jan 2016. Enjoy.
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The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world
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Reflections on Birmingham 2 V Brentford 1 Away Day. Jan 2nd 2016
Trips to Birmingham have never been without incident and this one is no exception. The nonsense of buying tickets began on tuesday night with the announcement that sales of tickets from Brentford, having reasonably been on sale for four weeks, would cease lunchtime wednesday, but Birmingham in their wisdom decreed no match day sales. Can anyone explain to me why? Why do clubs not want bigger crowds, especially in the holiday season when often plans are not cemented till the last minute. This ridiculous decision was then reversed maybe 48 hours later. Thankfully Twitter and Mark Devlin kept us updated. A number of tickets were sold at the last minute and these needed collection at the ground.
The nonsense continued on match day with no-one in the Birmingham ticket office seemingly aware that these tickets were somehow being escorted to the ground. A random vision of the sign ” Collections” on a gate at the away end gave at last a clue where tickets might be collected. Two unhappy looking souls distributed tickets after checking for names on an envelope. And giving the impression they were auditioning for a role in a prison behind bars.
A number of positives need to be stated. Firstly all the staff at the ground, the stewards and in fact the fans are super friendly, and it was a pleasure to listen in to a conversation on how awful a referee Keith Stroud is. Parking is also easy. Travelling through the suburbs of Birmingham is frankly non unlike the opening of a horror movie. But ground parking is easy and anyone prepared to walk 10-15 minutes can find free easy street parking. Lower Dartmouth street is my recommendation.
And there are a few sights in Birmingham, somewhat unexpected within yards of the ground. And a good few sights totally expected. The ground is in a sort of area that is an admixture of urban housing and small industrial estates. With a few curious bars and shops thrown in for good measure.
On the way to the ground one walks past canals that look pleasant although here there seemed either a small gravestone or a miniature ” angel of the north”. Street cleaning also seems an optional extra, though maybe a little cruel to say that on Jan 2nd.
The ground itself is a great ground now. Three sides have been re-built and this is one of the better Championship grounds. The whole area smells that gorgeous football smell of onions and cooking burgers.
Views are excellent all around the ground and access is quite uncomplicated. With one notable exception, the tannoy system is so quiet that I did not realise there was one. The game however was dire and will be covered in a different blog. Overall this was a good match day experience. And lastly I should mention that £20 for a ticket is really a very reasonable price in 2016.
What have Weekend Offenders and Foot Long Hot Dogs got to do with Birmingham 2 Brentford 1 . Jan 2nd 2016
Sadly an awful football game. The first half was maybe the worst football, if one can describe it as that, all season. Neither team able to pass to another player and nothing to note other than an awful looking tackle in the 45th minute by ex-bee John Toral on Jake Bidwell. Half time arrived with the Brentford crowd baying for a red card and possible execution.
The second half was better though not by much. Brentford leaked their usual two goals with the second resulting from another error from Harlee Dean. Brentford in between scored a goal, a tap in after a goalkeeping error. Frankly this was the sort of game that neither side deserved any points. The referee was also abysmal, Graham Scott. He was finicky to the extreme. Booking an excessive number of players and stoping the game on any any pretext at any time. He ran Keith Stroud a close second in the worst referee of the week awards.
A strange Brentford team performance after recent very strong ones. Raised questions about possible tiredness? Issues behind the scenes relating to transfers?
The team was also a little unusual in that Jota was neither in the side nor on the bench, for which there may be multiple reasons but is he being transferred was the one being discussed? Alan Judge had his quietest game for months. Maybe tired, maybe took a few heavy tackles , maybe again is a transfer allegedly to Middlesbrough for 12 million on his mind? James Tarkowski had his worst game I have seen him have, but still looked good! Again, transfer issues? Tiredness? Who knows.
On the positive side Gogia looked interested when he came on with 20 minutes to go. Neither Hoffmann nor Vibe are strikers we want playing upfront alone.
So, a strange game. St Andrews is a decent ground but we always seem to lose there every time i go……so maybe all my fault.
Weekend offenders was a great piece of graffiti on a wall and foot long hot dogs smelled great. They were maybe the highlights today.
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Football Joy to end 2015. This cheating has to stop. Why should Fraser Fyvie not be banned from football for 3 years? What is wrong with players and supporters of our great game?
A few pieces of football news just floated by on various media sources. All highly depressing.
- Sheffield United are investigating allegations of racism by their fans at their home game with Bradford City last monday.
- Coins were allegedly thrown by Bradford City fans towards Sheffield United striker Billy Sharpe in the same game.
- Stuart Milleker, an alleged ” Notts Forest fan” has been banned from attending football matches for three years after entering the field in the game versus Derby County and attempting to grapple a Derby player.
- Fraser Fyvie, a Hibernian player, has been banned for two games for feigning a face injury in a successful attempt to get a Rangers player sent off.
The most depressing part of this story above is the cheating by Fraser Fyvie and the even more depressing part is that few saturdays go by where I do not visualise cheating in this guise in a game that I see. Sometimes total simulation and more commonly gross exaggeration of an injury, usually timed to help the team in a difficult or final moments of a game.
What occurs to me is that often the punishment does not fit the crime. Players, managers and fans all are quick to point out the failings of referees. Myself included. Keith Stroud in his performance in the Reading v Brentford game two days ago was exceptionally poor. However what chance do they have with the ” clever” feigning of injury by players like Fraser Fyvie? One also presumes this is the not first time he has attempted this party trick and presumably been successful before. His behaviour also means that if becomes more difficult for referees to stop a game for injury if in the back of their minds is a ” cry wolf” scenario. Why has he not been banned for three years? Why only two games?
Football is a game and is played both on and off the pitch with volatile emotions. But it is a game. Players should not cheat, fans should not try to harm players and racism in 2015 is simply moronic. 
Reading 1 Brentford 2. A few thoughts, reflections and comments.
There are plenty of eloquent match reports and informed opinions on the various blogs and message boards. So no need for a detailed match report. What does need saying though is that fine margins make results. Brentford were the better side but Reading gave the impression, certainly in the second half of working a bit harder.
The neutral would have enjoyed this game, with end to end movement, an awful referee and three truly excellent goals that would have graced any Champions league game never mind the premiership or championship.
Will Brentford fans see two better goals from their side this season? A 30 yard shot from Ryan Woods that gave the keeper no chance and came out of nowhere at a time that Brentford were not on top, was maybe bettered by the effort from Sergi Canos that he both made and scored. He took an excellent pass from Ryan Woods, and produced two sublime touches with his right foot then switching to his left foot to hit the ball home. The Reading goal from Garath McCleary was made by Matej Vydra, a player I would not mind in Brentford colours, with again a wonderful passing movement that one cannot criticise the Bees defence for conceding.
Those that say we should use our pitch to share with other teams, football or rugby, might like to take a look at the awful pitch at Reading especially in the penalty area and corner regions. It was fairly terrible.
The other point of note was the woeful performance, again , of referee Keith Stroud. He was without doubt the worst official I have witnessed in 2015. His decisions were error strewn, with both sides left in bemusement at times. Most bookings were incomprehensible, with the exception of the sensible decision to give two yellow cards to Michael Hector, both deserved. The first one for a crude and potentially dangerous challenge on Alan Judge might have been deserving of a red card and the second one for some poor simulation in an attempt to win a penalty was also well deserved. But otherwise Mr Stroud annoyed both sets of fans and players with odd and seemingly random decisions that defied the many rules of football that I am aware of. It would be a pleasure not to witness that charade again this season or ever maybe.
Brentford did not play to their best. The defence looked more solid. James Tarkowski started the game hobbling in the warm up and seemed to finish that way too, but was excellent. Ryan woods scored an amazing goal but gave the ball away so many times that this is an area of real concern for the team. However other than the goalscorers the Man of the Match for me was Maxime Colin. An imperious display.
Are Brentford play-off contenders? The mathematics say they are but they need to improve on their goal scoring records. They are playing well and have improved enormously since August but need a clinical striker.
Reflections on Away Day at Reading FC Madejski Stadium
Away fans have a few minimum expectations when travelling. Mostly that they will get there, be able to park and be able to find the ground. Reading football club make a great effort to ensure that these are met.
Their website gives good parking information and in fact on the presumption that unless one arrives at 2 am that the official car parks will be full, the two big car parks around the ground on a derelict piece of wasteland and on the greyhound stadium site together hold 1500 car parking spaces for 7£ each. Each well signposted from the motorway. The expected downside was an approximate 45 minute wait to escape after the final whistle.
The ground is situated just off Junction 11 of M4 and is surrounded by food outlets including KFC where I had the worst chips ever, and that includes school food. But in terms of availability there is a decent selection of fast food. The stewards were just normal stewards, if that term applies. The ground is maybe 10 minutes walk from the Reading Gate food outlets and shops.
The ground gives great views. There is not a bad view in the ground including from the penultimate row JJ in the away end. Maybe the only surprise was that the front seats in the lower tier of the away end were not available for use. Not everyone wants to sit perched in the sky.
Altogether a good away day for an away fan.
Painshill Park
Always a photographic pleasure and never a photographic chore. Some days even the swans pose in a polite manner. The wind does not annoyingly blow the grapes around and the sun might shine. Not every day but just sometimes. Anyone with a camera should venture to Painshill Park in Cobham, Surrey.
Make your mind up Vines. Red or White Grapes? Painshill Vineyards Surrey
Vines growing in October 2015 at Painshill Park Cobham Surrey
Vines growing in October 2015 at Painshill Park Cobham Surrey
Posing swan
Are Employees trapped in their office near Watermans Centre Brentford?
A piece of graffiti seen on boxing day 2016 suggests that office workers may be trapped inside their office since Xmas. Their only hope was to paint graffiti on their windows and demand supplies. An insider however informs the blog that there was only enough paint to produce a single word. The word agreed upon was painted on the window. LAGER. Visitors to Brentford football club for their boxing day fixture against Brighton however seem not to have been in generous mood and no lager donations were spotted being provided. Little movement was seen in the offices as of late last night.
A Great Place
The rants and warblings of an active and some would say disturbed mind. A Brentford Fc supporter and a psychiatrist and photographer. Welcome to my musings and rants.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 