[Archived] Birmingham Last Game

[Paul Mellelieu]

Dreadful game by all except Emmo - I think the players minds were all on the beach in Dubai.

Highlights - watching big club fans storm the directors box, all sides of the ground singing sack the board, the pitch invasion and Jordans blow up male organ. The over zealous guards confiscated my beach ball - "it is potentially an offensive weapon" - not in Roberts hands!

Only one other observation - Roberts was straight down the tunnel at the end with not a backward glance towards the fans.

The club needs to take a long hard look this next 2-3 weeks - I sense the need for a fairly significant cull.

After finishing 7th, we need a cull?

[Rover Down Under]

The record books will show that Rovers finished 7th in the Premiership, with more points than last season, yet it’s been a season of under achievement and one can only reflect on what might have been. Can anyone remember any highlights ?

This would be good for a seperate thread and might cheer us up a bit.

Mine would probably be Samba's last minute equaliser at Spurs.

[Mike Graham]

Highlights? NO

It was a fantastic achievement to finish 7th, but I still believe that we underperformed all season and I witnessed some of our most abject performences for 3 or 4 seasons; this is not the sort of football to excite the fans and build a new fan base.

As for yesterday it was a disgrace to the travelling fans. Did anyone else think that Benley looked totally disinterested in the "i'm leaving" sort of way?

[philipl]

Bentley was as bad as the rest first half but most of the sparks of life in the second half came from him. He pinged in half a dozen good crosses, took his full backs on, retained posession and went on a decent run and shot narrowly wide.

For me, he showed again why he is the most gifted player we have got.

My fear is he is going to have Chelsea and Liverpool saying yes we are interested in you Dave and then spend all summer signing somebody else leaving us with a real problem on our hands in July and August.

[ABBEY]

EDDIE ,SAMBO ETC....CALLING FOR HUGHES HEAD WHAT ASET OF NUMPTY HEADED PILLOCKS YOU ARE!!!!!!

JHC 7TH YES 7TH BEST IN ENGLAND WEVE FINISHED NOT 7TH BOTTOM.GET A GRIP FOR GODS SAKE YOU MAKE ME SICK.

NEXT SEASON WHAT DO YOU PRATS REALLY REALLY EXPECT ?UNBEATEN? CHAMPIONS? FOR GODS SAKE GROW UP.

Yes it was dire at brum but calling for hughes head buggers belief......CMON EDDIE WHO DO YOU THINK COULD TAKE US TO CHAMPIONS AGAIN AND BE OUR MANAGER NEXT SEASON AND KEEP IT REAL!!!!!!

MAN MY HANGOVER IS BAD BUT READING SOME OF THE DRIVEL AND OTT @#/? ON HERE HAS MADE MY HEAD POUND EVEN MORE....YES ITS CAPS IM what does that mean? RANTING

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

If you have followed Rovers for 25+ years then yesterday's result would not come as a surprise. For as long as I can remember we have made a hash of winning the games that matter (which is what made winning the full members and league cup so special!), including the Premier league in 94/95. It doesn't matter who the manager is or who the players are it happens 9/10 times. Perhaps it is some kind of curse laid by our hill billy neighbours.

Good season finishing 7th? yes in terms of position - great season - no!

I must agree with several people on here about the poor standard of football Rovers have offered this season. Whether Hughes tries to negate a lack of quality in the middle by insisting on long balls to the front two, I don't know - but it has been miles apart from the positive football we saw over the previous 2 seasons.

Yesterdays game was a case in point. Throughout the first half, long aimless balls to the front two. Obviously an easy option with 2 'big lads' up front. RSC is technically gifted and can hold up/link up play on the ground- Why not play it this way? McCarthy too can make things happen on the ground (when in the mood).

As much as I can't fault his effort J Roberts is too one dimensial....barge someone out the way, run like hell, then kick the ball to the keeper! He needs more chances than Andy Cole, without the neat touches and quick thinking. He is also poor in the air for a big lad. I would personally have him out the club in a second.

Let's hope we get the ball down next year and pass it (forward). keep hold of Bentley and sort his head out.

In terms of Europe and season overall, fair play to Aston Villa and Everton. I think both sides have been more consitsent than ours over the course of the season, good luck to 'em.

[Boz]

A couple of comments just on yesterdays game only.

Birmingham were there for the taking, final ball, one touch too many, trying to walk the ball into the net. I won't be too hard on Jason Roberts's misses as at least he got into those positions and created most of them himself. Besides pointing the finger at all the missed chances, we might do well to remember that we conceeded four very soft avoidable goals.

I am not slagging Hughsie off, I wouldn't dream of it, all I'll say is that the substitutions didn't come off for him yesterday. Fully understand that he was looking to freshen the attacking aspect. But, Warnock had a knock 5/10 minutes into the second half yet Gamst was taken off and then eventually Warnock, who was no longer mobile, was subbed later too, we were very exposed down that side. We also ended up with Tugay & Dunn as a central pairing in midfield which in my opinion it was decided years ago that they just can't play together. This didn't leave us with very much defensive cover; RSC, JR, Benni, Bents, Tugs, Dunny, Emo, Reidy; none of whom you might say the best parts of their game is how well they track back! Hence in my opinion, the timing of the subs, didn't help yesterday as we were in the ascendancy for the first part of the second half.

All very disappointing given the Villa result, although let's remain positive about our league position and points tally.

[Paul]

I haven't seen or heard anything of the game and I'm not going to comment. Alex McCleish was very dignified in his BBC radio interview last night and refused to balme any one thing for Birmingham's relegation, saying the season is decided over 38 games. The same applies to Rovers we have the place our results deserve, that most of us know a great opportunity was missed this season doesn't change that.

[Eddie]

EDDIE ,SAMBO ETC....CALLING FOR HUGHES HEAD WHAT ASET OF NUMPTY HEADED PILLOCKS YOU ARE!!!!!!

JHC 7TH YES 7TH BEST IN ENGLAND WEVE FINISHED NOT 7TH BOTTOM.GET A GRIP FOR GODS SAKE YOU MAKE ME SICK.

NEXT SEASON WHAT DO YOU PRATS REALLY REALLY EXPECT ?UNBEATEN? CHAMPIONS? FOR GODS SAKE GROW UP.

Yes it was dire at brum but calling for hughes head buggers belief......CMON EDDIE WHO DO YOU THINK COULD TAKE US TO CHAMPIONS AGAIN AND BE OUR MANAGER NEXT SEASON AND KEEP IT REAL!!!!!!

MAN MY HANGOVER IS BAD BUT READING SOME OF THE DRIVEL AND OTT @#/? ON HERE HAS MADE MY HEAD POUND EVEN MORE....YES ITS CAPS IM what does that mean? RANTING

I never called for Hughes' head, I simply said he was inept when it comes to tactics. That is an opinion I've held and expressed for a long time. Unlike many on here I don't believe he is our saviour. He's great in the transfer market, but he's been average, if not below par, in every other area. For me this has been compounded by the fact that over the past few weeks he's started to use the "good for such a small club" line, something he had spent months, if not every season since he has been here, saying that we shouldn't use.

Next season I expect the quality of football we see to be far better and I also hope that we will actually turn up for the games that really matter. It's great picking up 3 points against Sunderland and Derby and it is something that is required in order to achieve things, but if we can't pick up points against the top half or in crunch games against Fulham and Birmingham then all we are doing is shooting ourselves in the foot.

I never expect to see us win the premiership again, that isn't what I judge the team by. Yes, 7th place was good, but it could have been a lot better. We could have finished 6th yesterday. Hell, had we picked up points against Villa, Everton and then yesterday we could have finished 5th. Seasons will always be filled with "what-ifs" and every team could run

through a couple of those, but I just feel this season will be remembered for those moments.

It's very easy to dismiss my opinion by falling back on the "great achievement for a small club" line. There isn't really much to counter that as it is without doubt true. Having said this, what many of you seem unable to get from my side is that, is that I don't feel this was ever an issue during this season. Our squad is fairly good, unlike many of our rivals we avoided any serious injuries and our signings came in and did well. The only time our squad ever felt stretched was in central midfield and that was really of our own doing rather than a result of us being limited by our budget. From August through to May the size of the club wasn't an issue. If this summer we don't have enough to spend and we can't bring in the players we want to because of our size and spending power then that is where the small club comes into play, but for this season we were pretty well equipped.

We need to remember that going into this season probably 40-50% of this board proclaimed this to be the best squad since the title winning side. Now of course this doesn't mean that we were going to win the title and realistically I never expected us to make the top 4, but on that basis is 7th really that much of an achievement? When you throw the fact that West Ham were ravaged by injuries as were Newcastle (who also self-destructed), that City lost their way half-way through the season and seemed not to even care for the last 1/4 and that Porstmouth have obviously stopped really caring ever since they made the cup final the fact that we managed to finish 7th really was just about the bare minimum for this season for me.

Now I'm happy for anyone to disagree with me, but please don't tell me it's knee-jerk. I've been saying similar things for months, I may be wrong, but it certainly isn't knee-jerk. I also think that my points are generally well constructed and so anyone who disagrees should try and come up with something a little bit more solid than "good for a town" or whatever you want to say. Anyone who seriously wants to regularly use that is almost giving up their right to complain until we end up in at least the championship, if not league one.

[USABlue]

JUst saw the highlights, one question, where was the bloody defence for the last three goals

[modes98]

JUst saw the highlights, one question, where was the bloody defence for the last three goals

The first one caught us on the hop, even sky didn't really manage to catch it.

After that we caved in, we knew that it was going to be very difficult to get the win we needed and villa were winning anyway.

[joey_big_nose]

Well I don't think we need a massive overhaul, typical post defeat hysteria. What we need to do is get the best out of what we have and to do that is to buy about three high quality and carefully targeted players. We should go after:

1) Central midfield work rate and vision (how I wish Fulham had gone down so we could have a shot at Bullard...)

2) Pace, pace, pace

3) A left sided attacking threat,

If we address these three issues, and it is within our budget and ability to do so, then we are going to do very well next season. We have a very talented and diverse squad which has a few crucial weak points. The addition of a few quality players will improve those that we already posess and reinforce areas currently exploited by the opposition.

Also if we can swap existing decent squad members for better replacements then that has to be investigated. Roberts for example is a crucial player to us as our only "proper centre forward", but if there is someone out there who can bully people and finish well for a decent price then it might be advantageous to let him go to fund a purchase.

Emerton for me is a perfectly servicable right back but again if we can "trade up" for something better it is to be looked at. It would be sad to let him go though as on song down the right he is one of our most potent attacking threats.

However the worst thing we could do is a massive clearout and rebuilding which, imo, would be akin to throwing out the baby with the bath water.

[yorkblues]

what a waste of £100 .but i will be back next season

[waggy]

lads team won there final 7-1,we looked on the beach yesterday but give me 7th in the premier every year

[ABBEY]

I never called for Hughes' head, I simply said he was inept when it comes to tactics. That is an opinion I've held and expressed for a long time. Unlike many on here I don't believe he is our saviour. He's great in the transfer market, but he's been average, if not below par, in every other area. For me this has been compounded by the fact that over the past few weeks he's started to use the "good for such a small club" line, something he had spent months, if not every season since he has been here, saying that we shouldn't use.

Next season I expect the quality of football we see to be far better and I also hope that we will actually turn up for the games that really matter. It's great picking up 3 points against Sunderland and Derby and it is something that is required in order to achieve things, but if we can't pick up points against the top half or in crunch games against Fulham and Birmingham then all we are doing is shooting ourselves in the foot.

I never expect to see us win the premiership again, that isn't what I judge the team by. Yes, 7th place was good, but it could have been a lot better. We could have finished 6th yesterday. Hell, had we picked up points against Villa, Everton and then yesterday we could have finished 5th. Seasons will always be filled with "what-ifs" and every team could run

through a couple of those, but I just feel this season will be remembered for those moments.

It's very easy to dismiss my opinion by falling back on the "great achievement for a small club" line. There isn't really much to counter that as it is without doubt true. Having said this, what many of you seem unable to get from my side is that, is that I don't feel this was ever an issue during this season. Our squad is fairly good, unlike many of our rivals we avoided any serious injuries and our signings came in and did well. The only time our squad ever felt stretched was in central midfield and that was really of our own doing rather than a result of us being limited by our budget. From August through to May the size of the club wasn't an issue. If this summer we don't have enough to spend and we can't bring in the players we want to because of our size and spending power then that is where the small club comes into play, but for this season we were pretty well equipped.

We need to remember that going into this season probably 40-50% of this board proclaimed this to be the best squad since the title winning side. Now of course this doesn't mean that we were going to win the title and realistically I never expected us to make the top 4, but on that basis is 7th really that much of an achievement? When you throw the fact that West Ham were ravaged by injuries as were Newcastle (who also self-destructed), that City lost their way half-way through the season and seemed not to even care for the last 1/4 and that Porstmouth have obviously stopped really caring ever since they made the cup final the fact that we managed to finish 7th really was just about the bare minimum for this season for me.

Now I'm happy for anyone to disagree with me, but please don't tell me it's knee-jerk. I've been saying similar things for months, I may be wrong, but it certainly isn't knee-jerk. I also think that my points are generally well constructed and so anyone who disagrees should try and come up with something a little bit more solid than "good for a town" or whatever you want to say. Anyone who seriously wants to regularly use that is almost giving up their right to complain until we end up in at least the championship, if not league one.

SO ..do you want the "********* idiot" to be our manager or not????????

7th ? bare minimum...you live in cloud cuckoo land,i got a shilletto ear bashing for saying this,but too many people live in the gravy boat land silver spoon fed of top flight footy.

oh and by the eddie we are doing well for a club our size and you threatened to "punch anone on the nose if they said it again".....ooops ive said it,next time your at ewood feel free to meet me and you can try it if you want.Dont fancy your chances of actually connecting with my nose but hell your welcome to try.

[T4E]

Thanks Abs, I was still ###### off about yesterday until that little outburst. Most amusing

[Martin]

Well, what a last day.

Everybody on here would have masterminded us to three points if they'd been in charge by the sounds of it. I guess this is why we love football - everybody has an opinion, and everyone is allowed one!

My first point would be we didn't miss out on European qualification yesterday; we missed out over the course of 38 games. Villa were more consistent and scored more goals. Good luck to them.

Because it's the last game everyone's reaction - in my opinion - becomes exaggerated. Hughes out, Hughes is tactically inept, players on their holidays etc etc. The fact is we lost and deserved to. 4-1 is merely a result of pushing to win at the end - you will get left open, it happens. Hughes does not deserve to be the scapegoat.

Perhaps, everyone feels the need to have one final outburst to last the summer. I have waited for the day after. Yesterday was not the time for me to react rationally.

Rovers finish 7th and lost 10 games. A great achievement. In any other season we'd have qualified for Europe.

If Spurs had lost the Carling Cup final we'd be in Europe. Would that make our season any more successful??? Perhaps, to some it would. And I'd certainly like to be in that position. However, our success should not be judged on what others achieve.

[Flopsy]

Dont fancy your chances of actually connecting with my nose but hell your welcome to try.

I know standing next to Gav you appear to be a giant Abbs, but in reality you're not that tall. (sorry Gav)

Finishing 7th is a great achievement, however we could have, and should have done better, and that blame has to be aimed at Hughes and the players.

However, i'm happy with 7th and hope that we can go a few better next season.

On an aside, I went to Welford Road on Saturday to watch Leicester Tigers vs Quinns for the final game of the season. I tell you what, we as football fans get treated like utter crap compared to how other games treat their fans, maybe we should stop excepting it and start trying for change.

Instead of being herded and treated like animals by clubs, maybe we should start appealing to be treated like customers who have paid a large amount of cash to have the pleasure of watching a sport.

And dont get me started on the number of people drinking beer in the stands who didnt start a fight, get naked or invade the pitch. Its as if people can be trusted or something. Amazing. And there was terracing in which, surprisingly no one died. I mean who would have thought?

Harumpfh

[Ozz]

You not go to Brum yesteday? The policing was unbelievable, in terms of number and mentality. As were the stewards. It was more secure than De Kuip in Rotterdam, arguably the most volatile ground in Europe. Hardly dared fart !

As for the match-thought the atmosphere that was great-loads of noise from home fans, who mostly appeared to be sub 45 year old blokes, most of whom looked like they should get their blood pressure checked. Zarate looked really good for them, and after a poor-ish first half, we battered them 20 minutes after half time. How many times did we get behind the full backs and to the touch line, only to spaff the chance created. And the subs were a mistake-we were playing them off the pitch !

Still, Stokes a bit nearer than Birmingham!

[OscarRaven]

Shocking result, shocking experience and the most over the top policing and stewarding I've seen in a long time.

Have to say I'd heard the reports from previous visits but to see a steward try and start a fight in the half time beer queue is absolutely amazing.

Have to say a good season overall but to throw away a European place like that is very very disappointing.

[thenodrog]

After finishing 7th, we need a cull?

I'll go along with that Paul........ as long as the cull is of stupid, wet behind the ears mboard members who know the square root of swet FA.

Bring it on.

btw just for the record if somebody offered me 7th position next season and finishing above Spurs, WHU Barcodes, pompey and City to boot .... I'd be tempted to snatch their hands off!

[MarkBRFC]

I'll go along with that Paul........ as long as the cull is of stupid, wet behind the ears mboard members who know the square root of swet FA.

Bring it on.

btw just for the record if somebody offered me 7th position next season and finishing above Spurs, WHU Barcodes, pompey and City to boot .... I'd be tempted to snatch their hands off!

Plus, its more than likely that 7th would get you into Europe next season aswell.

It would of this season if it wasnt such a bizarre season in the cup competitions.

[Hughesy]

Now there is no need to go over the top with the reaction to yesterday’s game. Yes we lost 4-1; yes we played poor from 2-1 onwards and also the 1st half hour but in a way it was kind of expected. A team that is about to maybe go down, losing £42m money by relegation, are always going to be fired up and you would always expect them to pick up a result – even though it was in vain!! (Bye Bye BIG CLUB)

To be honest when we were 2-1 down, we had nothing to play for. Villa were winning and we were losing – the players obviously thought that was it. Don’t kid yourselves they would have been aware as to what was happening at Upton Park and changes were made to try and get a win. We took off some tired players, who unfortunately for us 2 of them had been 2 of our better players on the day. As it happened we ended up collapsing and Villa ended up slipping up right at the end – such is life!

The reason we didn’t get into the intertoto isn’t because of this freak loss, its because we didn’t beat the likes of Reading away against 10 men and let our lead to Fulham at home slip.

[vintageadidas]

7th is a great achievment in my opinion! I was watching Ebbsfleet v Torquay at the weekend and it sunk in that we have no devine right to have a premiership club - we are very very lucky! We could easily be playing infront of 3000 fans against teams such as Rotherham. Playing against the likes of United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool twice a season is great and we should never forget that SURVIVAL is success for a club like ours !!!!!

However, this season we are the 7th best team from the 92 league clubs. We have players such as RSC, Benni, Bentley and Friedel.

I think certain Rovers fans have too high expectations.

[AggyBlue]

Everyone knows as well as I do that football can be a very emotional game. Especially on the last day of the season, we see tears of joy, tears of despair, anger etc.

It's not knee jerk reaction, it's what football can be for people, very emotional.

A lot of our fans vented anger because with just one more win we could have been in Europe next season but the players didn't seem to want it enough. So much so that Birmingham looked like they would score everytime the went forward.

Too many of our players don't seem to have the mental strength to keep going when all seems lost, would any of the top four have folded like we did or would they have kept going until the end, we all know the answer.

As a side note, the Axe came on the South Lancs bus after the game, thanked the fans for our support and gave his shirt to my ole man.

A final goodbye maybe?