[Lord Snooty]

Birmingham City v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Tuesday October 3rd - 19:45 ko
at St Andrew's

Huddersfield Town travel to Birmingham to St Andrew's on Tuesday night for Game Three of the new Darren Moore era. That's three games in eight days, with the first two ending in one all draws, adding to the three match unbeaten run at the conclusion of the Neil Warnock era, to make it a run of five games unbeaten.

We have ten points so far this season from the first nine games, which is two points less than this midweek's opponents. Those opponents, like ourselves, are under new ownership from the good old US of A. Their new owners are Tom Wagner and what the BBC website describes as "high profile" Tom Brady. According to Wikipedia he is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons.

They were both present at St Andrews when the takeover was completed in time for their home game with the Leeds Urinals, a game they won with a late winner from former Town player Lukas Jutkiewicz (I still struggle to spell his name correctly ). They followed that with another couple of wins, which took them upto the dizzy heights of 3rd place after four games. They have only taken two more points in the next five matches though and so don't come into this one in the greatest of form.

No team news yet, but worryingly Yuta Nakayama limped off injured on Saturday. Let's hope that when Big D holds his press conference on Monday, he has some good news on that front.


Tickets:

ADULT – £24.50
SENIOR – £19
16-22 YEARS – £19
UNDER 16 – £5.50



Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 44 wins to City's 40, with 35 draws.

119 games. Our most played opponent. And I still haven't been there.

Going back to the start of our Football League life, we broke our club scoring record twice against Birmingham. The first season, 1910/11, we set the record with a 7-1 win. James Macauley got a hat trick in that one.

Then three seasons later, we went and beat that by winning 7-0 at Leeds Road. This time Thomas Elliott scored a hat trick. He's on the front row, second from the left on this old photo of the 13/14 squad.

Probably the biggest game we had against them was in 1972. It was the last time we made it to the FA Cup quarter finals and 52,500 turned up at St Andrews to watch it. Unfortunately we lost 3-1 with Trevor Cherry getting our goal.

We did beat them in the 2018 FA Cup though, again at their place. After a 1-1 draw at ours, we were level at 1-1 after 90 minutes of the replay, but then Steve Mounie, Rajiv van La Parra and Tom Ince scored in extra time to give us a 4-1 win.

Last season, we had an early season visit to St Andrews, which was switched to a Friday night game, due to the Commonwealth Games being on at the time and Birmingham had a lack of stewards available for a Saturday afternoon. We lost 2-1 with Danny Ward getting a consolation goal after the Bluenoses had gone into the interval with a two goal lead. Scott Hogan and Przemyslaw Placheta scored the goals.

The game at home came at a time when we were the rubbing rags of the Championship. We had the co-ordinates firmly set on destination relegation. Mark Fotheringham had just been dismissed and a diabolical defeat at Stoke followed. Birmingham were our bogey team at the JSS, having not beaten them in a league game since 1996. How could this possibly go any other way but another Town defeat.

Enter Neil Warnock and Ronnie Jepson. And enter Troy Deeney. He scored early on, what hopefully will now be his last goal against us, seeing as he's gone all plant based and joined Forest Green Rovers.

Watford loanee, Joseph Hungbo then went and scored an absolute beauty in the 25th minute to draw us level and then shortly after half time, it was young Jaheim Headley firing home from a long punt out (perfectly weighted pass?) from keeper Nick Bilokapic.

A thrilled Warnock praise his side's spirit and commitment.

"I loved it when Etienne Camara got blood on his face," he added. "You have to go through things like that. You have to make sacrifices but the rewards are greater.

"Every one the fans have gone home happy, and every one of the players now believes. That's a big thing and that's why I am in the game and why I came back. I owed Huddersfield something because I didn't really want to leave when I left but it was something I couldn't tolerate.

"It's not all young'uns. Yes young'uns are good [but] experience does count for a bit."

So what's going on down in Bordesley? Managed nowadays by John Eustace, the former Kidderminster Harriers boss.

He's 43 years old, started his career in the Premier League with Coventry City, but spent the majority of his playing career in the Championship with Stoke, Watford and Derby.

After he hung up his boots, he had a couple of seasons managing Kidderminster, getting them to the Play Offs twice, but then left to be assistant to Steve McClaren at QPR. He left in the summer when Mark Warburton packed in, but wasn't out of work for long as he got the Brummie job when that disgusting Leeds scumbag Lee Bowyer was given the heave-ho.

Saturday's line up at Norwich:

21 John Ruddy - 36 year old ex Norwich keeper with one England cap.
12 Cody Drameh - Full back on loan from the BellEnders.
5 Dion Sanderson - Was on loan from Wolves, but now signed and is club captain.
26 Kevin Long - Ex Burnley, Irish international.
23 Emmanuel Longelo - Wing back from West Ham.
34 Ivan Sunjic - Croatian midfielder signed from Dinamo Zagreb.
28 Jay Stansfield - Adam's lad, went back to play for Exeter last year, now on loan from Fulham.
11 Koji Miyoshi - One of Yuta's Japanese buddies.
6 Krystian Bielik - One of Helik's Polish buddies.
45 Oliver Burke - Much travelled 26 year old, now on loan from Werder Bremen.
9 Scott Hogan - Ex Halifax, Irish international.

Subs:
1 Neil Etheridge - Ex Cardiff, Philippines international keeper.
4 Marc Roberts - Ex Halifax defender.
7 Juninho Bacuna - Played in the Premier League with Huddersfield Town.
10 Lukas Jutkiewicz - Played in League One with Huddersfield Town.
17 Siriki Dembélé - Signed from Bourenmouth in the summer.
19 Jordan James - Welsh internationalmidfielder.
20 Gary Gardner - Ex Villa midfielder.
27 Brandon Khela - 18 year old Sikh lad.
44 Emanuel Aiwu - Austrian midfielder on loan from Cremonese.


Club connections:

Ned Barkas came to Huddersfield in 1921. He signed from Norwich, though he was born and raised in the north-east, playing for South Shields and Hebburn Colliery before becoming a Canary. He was a right back and with us having England internationals Sam Wadsworth and Roy Gooddall as competition for that position, he didn't make that many appearances. He did play 131 times though in his seven years with us. There were enough appearances for him to win League Championship winners medals in 1924 and 1926 as well as winning an FA Cup runners up medal in 1928.

Then former Town assistant manager Leslie Knighton, who had been manager of Arsenal before Herbert Chapman, joined Birmingham City and made Ned his first signing. He made nearly 300 appearances for them, many as club captain. One of them was skippering The Blues at Wembley in the FA Cup Final of 1931 against local rivals West Bromwich Albion. It was another runners up medal as the Baggies won 2-1.

Knighton then got the Chelsea job and brought Ned in, in 1937. He was 36 years old by now though and only played 26 times for them before winding his playing career down, including a short spell as player/manager of Solihull Town.

Ned died in 1962, in Little Bromwich, Birmingham, at the age of 60.

Pat Beasley already had two League Championship winners medals with Arsenal by the time he came to Huddersfield in 1937. Those were won with Arsenal in 1933/34 and 1934/35, the 2nd and 3rd seasons of their hat trick of Championships. In his time down at Highbury though, he missed out on the 1936 FA Cup Final. So he would have been dead chuffed that when he came to Leeds Road, we reached Wembley again in his first season and he got in the team. Just like Ned though, it was another runners up medal.

He was a right winger and made over a hundred appearances for Town and that was part a career record of well over 400 appearances either side of the Second World War. A good number considering he lost six seasons due to the cessation of League football.

After the war, he played for Fulham and then Bristol City, the latter as player/manager, winning the Division Three (South) title. In 1958, he moved to Birmingham City, firstly as joint manager alongside Arthur Turner, but then solely in charge for the 1959/60 season.

This would also be his last season in charge, but one in which he would lead the team to the Final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a competition which has now morphed into the Europa League. After beating Cologne, Zagreb and the Belgian side, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, they met the mighty Barcelona in a two legged Final.

A crowd of 40,524 turned out at St Andrews for the first leg, which ended goal less. The second leg had 70,000 in at Camp Nou and the Bluenoses got battered 4-1.

He resigned after that and after a managing job at Dover and a scouting job with Fulham, he retired to Somerset. Pat died in Taunton at the age of 72 in 1986.

October the 3rd down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

Nottingham Forest were our opponents in a League Cup 2nd round 2nd leg match at Leeds Road, on this date in 1989. They were still managed by Leeds reject Brian Clough and were the League Cup holders, not the shower of shite they are nowadays.

Town were still in the 3rd Division, managed by ex Republic of Ireland manager Eoin Hand (pictured below) and we earned ourselves a decent chance of winning the tie with the giant tree trunks by drawing the first leg at the City Ground with Ken O'Doherty scoring.

Forest scored first through Tommy Gaynor, but then Craig Maskell equalised just before half time. Future Town player Gary Crosby, gave Forest the lead after the break and then Nigel Clough, who had been taunted by the Town fans throughout the first half, scored an absolute screamer to shut them up and surely close the match at 4-2 on aggregate.

But no! Back came Hand's heroes. First Maskell netted direct from a 20 yard free kick and then Mike Cecere unbelievably levelled it up at 3-3 slotting home in front of the Cowshed after Maskell had set him up. The game went to extra time, but we couldn't get the winner and sadly, the rules of the competition at the time had Forest going through on the away goals rule instead of the excitement of a penalty shoot out. 

The Football League double champions Huddersfield Town, under the new management of Cecil Potter, were on an unbeaten run at the start of the new season in pursuit of that third title. We had gone seven unbeaten and on this date in 1925, made it eight with a 3-2 away win against Everton. George Brown was the hero, with a hat trick.


On this date in 1936, we had another win against Leeds Urinals. This was a routine 3-0 win at home against them with goals from Len Butt and two from Duncan Ogilvie. He was a new signing from Motherwell and he was to return back up there soon afterwards, in exchange for Willie MacFadyen, after only 18 games for us.


Back in Division One after promotion, we played Aston Villa at home on this date in 1953. Vic Metcalfe got one of the goals in a fantastic 4-0 win, but it was Jimmy Glazzard who was on fire, scoring a hat trick to take his tally to eight in three matches after a hat trick against Sheffield Utd and two against Middlesbrough.


And finally today, a 6-3 win. It was at Leeds Road against Portsmouth on this date in 1959. Jack Connor scored a couple, as did Les Massie. Kevin McHale scored just two days after his 20th birthday. And the sixth goal came form Ken Taylor, returning to the team when the cricket season had finished, having just starred in a successful County Championship title winning season with Yorkshire.

Birmingham City in popular culture: Well Birmingham has such an array of superstars that I thought I would ignore every one of them. They've all been highlighted over the years in this particular section of our match threads. So instead, here's a play on words of the new Birmingham City co-owners, Tom Wagner and Tom Brady.

Now to be known as The Tom Tom Club.......






Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 1-1 Ipswich
Coventry 1-1 Town
Town 2-2 Stoke
Town 2-0 Rotherham
WBA 1-2 Town
Town 0-4 Norwich

Norwich 2-0 Birmingham
Birmingham 0-0 QPR
PNE 2-1 Birmingham
Watford 2-0 Birmingham
Birmingham 1-1 Millwall
Birmingham 1-3 Cardiff (EFL Cup)

Town are 17th in the Championship table with 10 points. City are 12th with 12.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Delano Burgzorg (2)
Michal Helik (2)
Jack Rudoni (2)

Brummers:
Jay Stansfield (3)
Lukas Jutkiewicz (2)
Juninho Bacuna (2)
Scott Hogan (2)

[theo_luddite]

I hope my seat isn't on the end of that row
What happens when you build a bloody big new pair of stands and don't do any maintenance?
Keep right on to the end of cracks!!

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Big D has held his presser, Town have put it on their website, complete with 9 minutes of nothing at all to begin with.
Do Town no longer have anyone that can edit a YouTube video?

[Lord Snooty]

[ritchiebaby]

I was hoping that Unit 4+2 came from Brum, because "the concrete and the clay beneath my feet
begins to crumble", but no.

[jjamez]

What odds on our old mucker bacuna scoring, or even worse, lukas

[Lord Snooty]

It's bound to happen. 

[theo_luddite]

4/1 with Uncle Joe

[Lord Snooty]

We're on telly tonight, if you have Sky Sports, it's on the red button.

[theo_luddite]

The 19:07 and 19:37 trains to Bordesley and their returns at 21:50 and 22:26 ish have been cancelled.

Long hikes to from Brum Stations though BMO to Bordesley 18:53 & 19:23 still running

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19:23 running at least 11 mins late. If you've just ordered a beer in a city centre pub in Brum, get it necked if you want to see the kick-off.

[Lord Snooty]

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What the hell happened there? Looked like it went straight through him.