John Baker who posts on J&S Forum, also has his own site called Blues Muse, wrote the following article for his site. He has given me permission to publish it here. You can find it on Blue Muse here.

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Just as it says on the box, yep, I had a dream and it was a doozy [how is that spelt anyway?]. Before I start though I’ll pour a cuppa and grab a few Digestives . . .

OK then, it all started back in 1964 . . . you know, that proverbial ‘stormy night when the curtains were drawn but the furniture was real’.

I nodded off and soon found myself on the Tilton for the very first time. It was quite a scene with 130,000 Blues fans baying for Chelsea blood, OK, say 19,000, but it was the Blues that bled to the tune of a 6-1 reversal that dark November day. However, this was a dream, and if I could just stay asleep things would get better. Right?

As I snoozed the Blues went though relegations and promotions, y’know, three relegations for every promotion, and then the Almighty Go . . . erm, Trevor Francis shows up . . . and Kenny Burns, and Bob Latchford, and Freddie Goodwin et al. Surely now my dreams would all come true!

Hagn on, I just dorpepd some Diesgtvie crubms on the kybeoard . . .

As you know, some dreams eventually turn into nightmares as when Trevor and co. left for greener pastures, much greener. Still, I dreamt on with the thought that in the next ten minutes, or the next game, even the next season things would change for the better. They never did. The dreams were great, but it got to where I hated waking up to face the reality of Birmingham City.

Just getting some more tea . . .

Dreaming on as one does, there were various glimmers of hope in the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s, but also a first ever trip into the depths of the old Third Division. But get this! I’m not dreaming when I tell you that the club actually made two trips to Wembley in the 90′s and it wasn’t in the guise of British Road Services to deliver stuff! We won there twice in what are considered by those that don’t dream like I do as ‘Mickey Mouse’ Cups. Bloody cheek! [I have several Mickey Mouse mugs that I drink tea and coffee from each every day]

Then all of a sudden am I still dreaming? . . . the Almighty Go . . . yeh, Trev again, came back and got us playing good footy but never quite making it to the promised land. Still I kept on dreaming, and dreaming and dreaming.

Then Steve Bruce took most of Trev’s team and got them into the Prem at long, long last. Now the serious dreaming really started! . . . but soon it was wake-up time down at St. Andys again, and I retreated to my warm cotton sheets for comfort. All I got from my dreams were two more relegations and one promotion, no, two promotions!

The tea is all gone so just hold for a mo while I go and get a glass of Cab. [Did I mention I'm real slow when it comes to this stuff?] . . .

I’ve just checked the calendar and that second promotion means that we’re now up to this season in this story. Sorry, I meant dream.

So there I am dreaming that we’d be a Prem team for a few seasons, and not daring to ask for more. At least I’d be able to get all the games on either my TV or laptop. But, beyond that selfish motive is the boyhood dream of a successful Birmingham City measured by where the fan sitting next to you is from. Nechells? Malvern? London? Germany? China? Hey, if it works for Manchester United, just maybe the Blues can be just as superficial? Well, that’s not my dream, but you know what I mean perhaps?

Mmmmmm, this Cab is good . . .

So as I dream away and we’re sitting at 6th in the Premiership for a day, I continue to dream. I dream that January comes around and Big Eck brings in some midfield creativity, cover for various positions, and unearths a predator around the box who is able to convert 50% of his chances, not 10% as we’ve become accustomed to. Don’t get me wrong, I want our incumbents to succeed but we’re talking decades of broken dreams here, and I’d like at least one dream to come true before I wake up dead.

Or am I still dreaming?