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A forum about football, for football fans
Having secured a job recently at Southampton Football Club on matchday hospitality, I was for two sweet hours an insider. At any time, I was able to pop my head above the parapet and view some Championship action; I was in the stadium before the kick off and before any fans were allowed in; I stood just a few yards from ex-Saint, Nicky Banger, who was being interviewed in the suite I worked in... And most exciting of all, the rumble you felt when thousands of fans celebrated each of the 3 goals the Saints hit in a 3-1 victory. A good day all round!
The nPower Championship
Friday 5th August 2011
Hull City (0) 0 - 1 (0) Blackpool (Taylor-Fletcher 81 Att: 18,907)
Saturday 6th August 2011
Brighton and Hove Albion (0) 2 - 1 (1) Doncaster Rovers (Buckley 83, 90 8/ Sharp 39 Att: 20,219)
Bristol City (0) 0 - 3 Ipswich Town (Chopra 13, 60, Martin 51 Att: 13,107)
Burnley (0) 2 - 2 (1) Watford (Austin 77, Treacy 84/ Forsyth 45, Yeates 70 Att: 14,617)
Coventry City (0) 0 - 1 (0) Leicester City (Baker sent off 39/ Peltier 52, Vassell sent off 11 Att: 21,102)
Derby County (2) 2 - 1 (1) Birmingham City (Shackell 26, S.Davies 42/ Davies 19 Att: 27,210)
Middlesbrough (1) 2 - 2 (0) Portsmouth (Emnes 24, Williams 54/ Norris 47, Varney 90 2 Att: 18,196)
Nottingham Forest (0) 0 - 0 (0) Barnsley (Att: 22,951)
Peterborough United (0) 2 - 1 (1) Crystal Palace (McCann 58, Ball 73/ Scannell 33 Att: 11,604)
Reading (0) 2 - 2 (0) Millwall (Manset 86, 89/ Henderson 49, Marquis 62 Att: 18,531)
Southampton (2) 3 - 1 (0) Leeds United (Hammond 10, Lallana 25, Connolly 52/ Gradel (pen) 90 5 Att: 25,860)
nPower League One
Brentford 2-0 Yeovil
Carlisle 0-3 Notts County
Charlton 3-0 Bournemouth
Huddersfield 1-1 Bury
MK Dons 2-2 Hartlepool
Oldham 0-2 Sheff Utd
Preston 2-4 Colchester
Sheff Wed 2-0 Rochdale
Stevenage 0-0 Exeter
Tranmere 1-0 Chesterfield
Walsall 1-0 Leyton Orient
Wycombe 1-1 Scunthorpe
nPower League Two
AFC Wimbledon 2-3 Bristol Rovers
Bradford 1-2 Aldershot
Gillingham 1-0 Cheltenham
Macclesfield 0-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Morecambe 0-1 Barnet
Northampton 0-0 Accrington Stanley
Port Vale 2-2 Crawley
Rotherham 1-0 Oxford
Shrewsbury 1-1 Plymouth
Southend 1-0 Hereford
Swindon 3-0 Crewe
Torquay 2-2 Burton Albion
Former Blackburn Rovers and Rangers midfielder, Barry Ferguson, has completed a move to Bloomfield Road to join Blackpool from fellow Championship side Birmingham, and open another chapter in his career.
The 33-year-old former Scotland international had 12 months left on his Birmingham City contract, and has joined the Seasiders on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.
Ferguson at St. Andrews
He told Blackpool's official website: "I'm delighted to be here and I'm raring to go.
As soon as I spoke to the manager my mind was made up. I saw a lot of Blackpool last year and played against them as well and I was very impressed."
His statistics are as follows:
Rangers - 1997-2003 - 24 goals in 151 appearances
Blackburn - 2003-2005 - 1 goal in 36 appearances
Rangers - 2005-2009 - 20 goals in 137 appearances
Birmingham City - 2009-2011 - 0 goals in 72 appearances
Sunderland continue to add to their squad today, with the signings of two new players. Having signed Connor Wickham from Ipswich on Wednesday, Bruce has secured the signatures of Craig Gardner, Birmingham's 24-yr old midfielder, and Ji Dong-won, the K-League's 20-yr old Chunman Dragons' striker.
Having scored 10 for Birmingham last season, including winning the Carling Cup as a Blue, Gardner makes the switch for an undisclosed-fee. Despite his efforts, Birmingham failed to avoid the drop and Sunderland were only too happy to swoop.
Ji himself has a habit of scoring, hitting 6 in 11 international appearances for his native South Korea. He is the second Korean that Bruce has signed as manager, having signed Chon Won-hee for his former club, Wigan Athletic, in 2009.
Bruce told the Sunderland website:
"The boy has been in fantastic form for both club and country and he was one of South Korea's stand-out performers at the Asian Cup so we are delighted to bring him to Sunderland.
The Barclays Premier League is very different to the K-League so there is hard work ahead but you just have to look at players like Park Ji-sung and Lee Chung-yong to see how well Korean players are adapting to its pace and physicality.
I believe Ji can be an excellent acquisition and he has certainly impressed us over the long period we have been watching him."
In addition to Wickham, Ji and Gardner, Sunderland have signed Sebastian Larsson from Birmingham, and goalkeeper Kieren Westwood from Coventry City.
Scotland to Sheffield?
Having been relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2009-10 season, Sheffield Wednesday finished only 15th in League One last season. This season, they'll hope to 'do a Southampton' and win promotion back to the Championship- perhaps their rightful home.
This year they'll be joined by city rivals, Sheffield United, who were relegated in 23rd place last season.
To signal their intent, the Owls have joined the hunt for Ipswich Town striker Jason Scotland. The former Wigan striker has provoked interest from Brighton, newly promoted to the Championship themselves, and, whilst they can offer a higher grade of football, Wednesday chairman, Milan Mandaric is attempting to tempt him to Hillsborough.
Blackburn interested in a 4th Cissé
Blackburn have made a fresh bid for Freiburg and Senegal striker Papiss Cisse, a 26-yr old who finished 2nd top scorer in the Bundesliga last year.
If he joins the Rovers, he will become the 4th Cissé to play in the Premier League, joining Édouard Cissé (West Ham), Aliou Cissé (Birmingham, Portsmouth), and the most famous, Djibril Cissé (Liverpool, Sunderland).
The German club insist they won't accept anything less than €15million for him, which is believed to be double Blackburn's initial offer. However, Steve Kean, Blackburn Rovers gaffer, has upped his offer, to above the club record transfer fee.
There are a number of clubs interested in Cissé, however, and Blackburn will have their hands tied financially to offer the expected fee. Zenit St Petersburg, Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Moscow and all keen on Cissé, and the wages on offer in Russia and Ukraine could hamper Blackburn's bid. In addition, Arsenal, Liverpool and Fulham have all been believed to be 'keeping tabs' on Cissé.
Sunderland set to sign Gardner
Craig Gardner, 24-yr old Birmingham midfielder, is close to a switch to the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has long been interested in bringing lifelong Birmingham City fan to the North East, and is poised to make a significant transfer breakthrough as he closes in
It is understood the 24-year-old is close to agreeing a move to the Black Cats following Birmingham's relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season.
Part of the side who lifted the Carling Cup in February with a famous 2-1 victory over Arsenal, Gardner began his career with Birmingham arch-rivals, Aston Villa. However, he and his team-mates were unable to prevent Birmingham from slipping out of the top flight on a dramatic final day of the season, and following manager Alex McLeish's departure, Gardner looks set to exit St. Andrews.
Mon, Mar 17:
Birmingham 1-1 Newcastle
SUMMARY:
Struggling Newcastle United ended their four-game losing streak with a 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Birmingham at St Andrews Stadium overnight.
Playing alongside Socceroo Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins in a new look front-line, Michael Owen pounced in the 56th minute to score the equaliser and to earn Newcastle just their third point in 8 games - they are still without a win since Kevin Keegan took over as manager.
Owen celebrates his goal against Birmingham
The home side deservedly took the lead just after the half hour mark when James McFadden fired home to go into the break at 1-0. However, it was the visitors that emerged from the break looking the more menacing of the two sides and began causing the home defence all sorts of problems.
Owen finally made the all-important breakthrough when he was first to pounce on a loose ball after Birmingham keeper Maik Taylor could only parry Obafemi Martin's shot to salvage an important point for the Toon army.
Newcastle's much improved display in the second-half shows that on paper, this team is far from relegation material. In reality, however, they look completely disjointed at times and that is their biggest undoing. Will they get relegated? It's hard to say given their sporadic performances however the sneaking suspicion is that they will still be around in the Premier League in season 2008-09.
[Image Source: GettyImages]
As good as the home and away kits for Birmingham City in 07/08 looks, the contrast in kit colours just simply isn't enough considering the vast array of colours a lot of teams use for their kits these days.
To solve this problem, Birmingham City has a red 'third' kit for season 2007-08 which is available for purchase at their club shop here.
[Source: BirminghamFC]
Of all the English Premier League sides, it appears that newcomers Birmingham City has the most traditional of home and away kits in that the colour of the kits are similar yet easily distinguishable.
The new away kit is predominately white with a dash of blue on the shirt and blue shorts.
This is in slight contrast to the home kit (see here) which features a lot more blue on the shirt, but plain white shorts.
This is a nice and simple match of colours and I feel it is definitely one of the best looking set of home and away kits in the Premier League this season.
[Source: Birmingham]
Premiership newcomers for the EPL Season 07/08, Birmingham City, has unveiled their new home kit.
The Umbro manufactured kit sponsored by F&C Investments is dubbed the new "Penguin home shirt" and according to fans, one of the best yet for its retro styling.
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