[theo_luddite]

V

Date: 14-March-2015

Aw roight agin aar kids!!

back to Middle England, the home of the world famous

(well it is round here)

just 13 long months since our last visit.

Disclaimer

Some chunks of this fred are shamelessly recycled from last seasons fred, just doing my bit for the environment and saving me a bit of time.

There's plenty of new stuff and it goes on a bit like last years fred too, so settle thi'sens darn wi' tha' fav'rite tipple fur another reet long read. 

(The above logo will tell you where the new stuff is if you don't want that deja vu thing all over again.)

A bit about the last match v Brum.

Town were just awful yet again against Brum at home back in December (2 seasons running now). We lost 0-1, in case your Xmas celebrations somehow wiped your memory banks, and that was because Brum stopped reading the 'let's both settle for a draw from the kick off' script. David Cotterill blasted a free kick home from about 25 yds out in the second half after a sloppy cross field pass led to the free kick. Let's hope for a better game this time and a similar result to last season when we won 2-1. Last season at Brum, the game wasn't anywhere near as bad, unless you were a Blue Nose, but by then they were pretty much used to losing, or at best drawing at home every week.

Current Form.

They are no'but middlin', so are we.

In their last three matches Brum have drawn 2-2 against Derby away and won 1-0 against Blackpool and Brentford at home. Town were losing again 2-0 at home to the Millers after losing it large down the Smoke at Brentford and Charlton. We will be looking forward to some points to secure our place in mid-table obscurity and hopefully an entertaining match. I won't hold my breath on that though as between us, they are the form team at the moment.

Head to Head

Historically we're both generally better at home but more recently we seem to do better away against each other (Statto.com).

Him as was Wor Lee, saved Brum from relegation by the skin of their teeth last season. However after going the thick end of a season's worth of games with only one home win, he was sacked last October and straight after that they got thumped 0-8 at home by Bournemouth. 

He was replaced by former Blue Nose favourite Gary Rowett, nicked from Burton, in time for the next match. This had an immediate galvanising effect on Brum. They somewhat surprisingly drew 0-0 with Black Country rivals Wolves, who were admittedly on the crest of a slump of their own at the time, then beat Watford at home. Brum shot up the League from 23rd to 11th, flying past us on the way and only losing two matches from the start of November to the start of February. This included a 6-1 thumping of Reading at home. 

They somewhat returned to old habits since then though with the bubble bursting and only winning one game in the whole of February (the last game last month at home v Brentford) and losing 3, drawing 2 (v Middlesbrough and Fulham), dropping them back down to 17th.  The defeats were against Millwall (H), Ipswich (A) and Brighton (A). They put a puncture repair patch on that bubble for the last few games as we've gone from a win-one-lose-one stretch to a lose 3 on the trot stretch. Overall Brum are just as inconsistent as the rest of us in mid-table obscurity.

The recent home wins mean they currently sit in 14th place on 44 points, 2 places and 4 points above Town.

Playing today?

Well - who do you think will play? Who should be on the bench? Who shouldn't be on the bus? I'm doing enough work as it is on this fred so don't be shy, please join in.

Joe Lolley's mum might be there. She's a Blue Nose and probably hoping he gets more than a two minute run around. I hope he gets some decent grub in him this week too if he's going to start again. Going down with cramp after just over half a game isn't too good but I'll put it down to an adrenalin rush with him making his first start that I can recall - over to the stats men to tell me he made another that I can't recall. He did more running than most of the rest of the side put together while he was on the pitch and was really our only player having a go at Rotherham.

OK then, wor um ya?

St. Andrews Stadium

Address: 216 Mary Vale Rd, Birmingham 

B30 1PJ

Capacity: 30,009

Opened: 1906

Situated just north of the Balti Triangle – (directions to which are on my old New 606 thread ...... if you can't find it, Google Balti Triangle).

Record Attendance: 66,844 v Everton

FA Cup 5th Round, February 11th, 1939.

Modern All Seated Attendance Record: 29,958 v Chelsea

Premier League, December 26th, 2009.

Doubt we'll trouble those numbers this weekend.

Getting there

St Andrew's football stadium is in the Bordesley district of Birmingham, England. It has been the home ground of Birmingham City Football Club for more than a century. (Wikipedia).

Buy your train tickets to New Street Station (or Moor Street if heading north on the Chiltern Line – now fixed after the landslide).

St. Andrew’s Stadium is located about 1.5 miles east of Birmingham’s city centre. The slightly uphill walk from Birmingham New Street Rail Station or Moor Street Rail Station takes about 30 minutes.

Alternatively, bus 17, 58, 59, 60, 97, and 97A connect the stadium with Moor Street Station (or Digbeth Road). The journey takes 15 to 20 minutes.

On match days, there are frequent London Midland trains that run from Moor Street to nearby Bordesley Rail station, which is a 10-minute walk from the stadium. On non-match days this station is out-of-use.

(from http://www.stadiumguide.com/standrews/)

It's only a short walk to Moor Street from New Street to get the train to Bordesley. Buy your ticket for Bordesley separate from your New Street or Moor Street ticket. It's as cheap as chips. 

St. Andrew’s lies just off the A45, which connects with the M42 in the east and the M38/M6 in the north. At the Bordesley Circus roundabout turn east onto Coventry Road. See  http://www.footballgroundguide.com/birmi...Directions  for suggestions for where to park.

There could be trouble ahead.

Their parent/holding company has been placed into receivership in an effort to rid the club of the convicted crooks, like Carson Yeung, who should never have been allowed to get involved in English football in the first place. Brum are trying to represent this as having nothing to do with the playing side in an attempt to ensure they don't get docked 10 points and drop back down into the relegation mire. Good luck with that one chaps.

BBC Link

Local rag link (see also the Comments) 

Our football and our results have been a tad depressing for at least the last 3 games, so here's a bit more about the City of Brum to take your minds off the footy.

Some Famous Brummie Brands.

Cadbury, in my humble opinion, is possibly the most iconic brand associated with Brum. 

Cadbury's used to make some really humorous and, maybe risqué for their time, ads for their various confections. Here's a few I've blown the dust off for your enjoyment.

 

Milk Tray – with the wannabe James Bond (what a prat, all that mucking about and then he buggers off without so much as a sloppy kiss. Leaves his sloppy wet footprints all over the carpet though.)

 

 the number one really sexy bunny (well, until Roger's girlfriend Jessica Rabbit came along,  ) 

the erm, how best to describe them?, rather flaky Flake ads

and my personal favourite – Phil Collins when he had hair.

Soon be time to start munching on the Cream Eggs if you haven't already started. 

Are Cadbury's your favourite chocolate indulgence or someone else?

As much as I like my occasional choccy I've not been to Cadbury World yet though. Now, sadly, owned by Kraft – yes them of the plastic imitation cheese slices – and they are putting the business through their version of people rationalisation.

A few more Brummie icons I've blown the dust off. Some have long since gone or been moved on elsewhere.

                     BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Company)                                               Norton

                         Bantam (no, not a Sadfud fan) 

BSA (Birmingham Small Arms Company) - Wiki page if you want to read more about them.

Chad Valley                                                        Typhoo Tea

 

                          Bird's Custard                                                                                 HP (Houses of Parliament) Sauce

 

and gone but never to be forgotten, British bloody Leyland.

If you are of a certain age, do you recall getting Chad Valley toys for Xmas as a kid? This search link might help jog your memory. 

Chad Valley toys

For those with young'uns around, do they still get bought any of this stuff as stocking fillers?

We briefly covered British bloody Leyland a while back on a New 606 fred, but feel free to share your horror stories again.

Some Famous Brummie Bands.

Responsible for distributing the dandruff around the world for well over 30 years, Brum and there-aboots is the undisputed home of Heavy Metal. 

(Apparently I'm only allowed to have 5 video's in a post so I've had to use links to most of those that follow).

Bands like -

Black Sabbath, 

 

Judas Priest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU

Led Zeppelin (though mostly from just up the road a bit in Black Country land, so very tenuous to some in Brum) 

Name the Album Cover?

 
('appen as not very PC these days I guess)

and Napalm Death (wtf is this all about?) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9rdQdz7WRA

spawned a style of music that's often imitated but rarely bettered in the eyes and ears of those that just happen to like this stuff. I can leave Napalm Death well alone, they just batter my ears,  but I've grown to like more and more of the stuff some of the other bands put out  from their early days onwards.

Other famous bands, (not quite so heavy)

Bev Bevan and Roy Wood formed The Move. Their single, Flowers in the Rain, was the first song to be played on Radio 1 by Tony Blackburn - as mentioned a thousand times before. They went on to form Wizzard and were later to be joined by Jeff Lynne to form ELO.

UB40, Dexys Midnight Runners, Duran Duran, Erdington's finest - The Moody Blues, The Beat, The Spencer Davis Group and The Streets are just a small selection of bands from these here parts that have all made more than a few bob in their day and some still do. The Streets lead singer Mike Skinner is apparently a Blue Nose fan.

Read more about many of these bands and others here.

Brummie Mail - Top Ten Brummie Bands 

So – do any of the above feature on your personal musical Stairway to Heaven or do they all just leave you completely Paranoid?

Brummie Humour.

 

I tip my hat to the lad that lived in Railway Cuttings, East Cheam for a while. 

Tony "A pint? Why, that's very nearly an armful!" Hancock

and 'onorary Brummie, Marlene - she could sup some ale. 

Marlene

There's a couple of Blue Nose and Baggies fans I could mention too – but - I was looking for comedians 

Next.

Blues Trophies.

The Blue Noses were the last club from 'rarnd 'ere to win owt that mattered.

They beat Arsenal 2-1 in the 2011 League Cup Final, assisted by a roit bosta of a defensive cock up by Arsenal in the last minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZGKe0WQjP0

Not quite Brum but I'll give them an honorary mention 

Walsall have made it to the final of the Paint Pot Trophy for their first ever Wembley appearance,  next Sunday against Brizzle City, and could become the latest Midlands club to get their hands on some silverware. They'd sold over 25,000 tickets by the end of February, which is about 5-6x their normal gate and about 1/10th of the town's population. Not a bad effort, but I wonder how many glory hunters from other Midlands clubs are having a sneaky away day to support Walsall for the day?

And on the seventh day, God made beer.   

Get the right chemistry in you before it all kicks off. 

Let's hope Powell gets the chemistry right on the pitch this weekend

A Beer Poem

Thirsty days hath September,

April, June and November;

All the rest are thirsty too

Except for him who hath home brew.

Lot's of good boozers in Brum City Centre just off New Street. If you travel to Brum by train, New Street Station is still being dolled up a bit. Instead of coming out front onto the ramps that lead down to the road in front of the Bullring you still come out "sideways" into Stephenson Street on the New Street (north) side of the station, unless you make a bugger of it and somehow come out on the other side.

Shuffle round the left side of the building in front of you into New Street pedestrian precinct and straight on up Bennetts Hill. The Wellington,  a Wetherspoons called The Briar Rose about 4 doors down the street and one called The Hill or The Sun on The Hill next door to that are all on Bennetts Hill. The Shakespeare is on Lower Temple Street and have all been called in at some point by yours truly (hic). 

Much of the above nicked from here http://www.footballgroundguide.com/leagu...-away-fans which also suggests one or two additional pubs nearer the ground and some to avoid.

Here's a few more - http://www.sixoutoften.co.uk/2013/07/top...ngham.html – not been in any of these so don't moan if they are shut.

Just remember folks - 

Friends don’t let friends drink Light Beer

(hmm might make that me new signature).

Tell 'em they'll end up living in cardboard boxes in the park like this lot if they do   

Alcohol is (sometimes) available in the ground (it was last time) as are Chicken Balti Pies (what else?) and all the other usual things that keep Rennies in profit.

Trarabit aar kids. Let's goo back wum with the puwints instead of the peanuts this week.

[WakeyTerrier]

That's a bustin' match thread, I'll come back later and give it a proper read

[Lord Snooty]

Same here. Only get half an hour for lunch. Will read the rest tonight.
And the album cover is Houses of the Holy.

[theo_luddite]

Award that man a beer of his choosing.

[Lord Snooty]

This is still one of the grounds that I have never been to even though we must have played them there well into double figures now since I started watching.

[ritchiebaby]

Top thread, theo.

[St Charles Owl]

Superb thread Theo!!! Worth a rep point from me!!

[Lord Snooty]

Yeah, bostin ar kid.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Brilliant match thread that........best I've seen in a looong time.
Top marks Theo !!!!

[WakeyTerrier]

Been to Brum a few times, in fact I've been In 3 different stands, where we are now, the other end when it was terracing and the old main stand when we decided to sit down on one occasion.....all decent enough views of the pitch.

I see Powell has been out with all the usual sound bites today but after the last 3 games it's hard to believe we can win a 1 man raffle right now.

Brum 2 Town 0