You wait for ages for an article from Nat, and two come along together! Here is his take on the two players who left the club today, both of whom have played key roles for the club in the past.

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Anyone who regularly looks at the forum on Joys and Sorrows will know that my favourite Blues player is, or maybe it should now change to was, Martin ‘Tiny’ Taylor. It all stemmed from the fact that in my old Season-Ticket seat in the Railway, he became a bit of a cult figure for his cumbersome stature. Many a game there would be where someone around me would start a ‘Tiny for England’ chant.

But, despite a pretty obvious lack of pace or agility, there was a sharp and, in my opinion, rather unappreciated Footballing brain. He may have had his limitations when chasing after the likes of Drogba, but I don’t think he was ever out-thought by any Striker. His reading of the play and positioning was excellent. You would hardly ever see Tiny make an error in judgement.

But, at the risk of sounding patronising, it wasn’t Tiny’s ability that made him stand out. It was his attitude, on and off the pitch, which was exemplary. Perhaps the most notable example was after his (and I stand by this adjective) innocuous tackle which was desperately unfortunate to break the leg of Eduardo. When people who should’ve known better, such as Arsene Wenger, condemned him for what was an accident, he didn’t bite the bait and rant, he (after apologising to Eduardo) picked himself up, dusted himself down, and just got on with it, such was the placid nature of the man.

But it wasn’t the only example of having a mindset which unfortunately belies many players today. It’s fair to say that in all his time at Blues, under Bruce and Big ’Eck, he was never a concrete regular starter in the team. But you’d never have known it. Despite the haphazard nature of his selections, he never once spouted his mouth off. He just bode his time, kept himself sharp and was always ready if needed. That is the hallmark of being a proper Professional. The most prominent example probably being at the end of last season. Left out of the Preston debacle at home, he came in for THAT game at Reading, marked Kevin Doyle out that match and we won Promotion.

I wish him the best of luck now that he’s moved to Watford. But I doubt he’ll need it. For a free transfer, Malky Mackay has made a very shrewd signing for that level of football, and Watford have a great defender for the next few years.

Today also saw the news which, to be honest, I greeted a lot more enthusiastically. Gary McSheffrey has been offloaded to Leeds in League One until the end of the season, when after his contract expires here he’ll presumably move on for good.

For too long now we have been hoping against hope that he would turn into the McSheffrey he was for a few months until the start of 2007. When I write that down now it looks incredibly daft. At most clubs, someone who hadn’t performed well on any consistent basis would’ve been bombed out long ago. But Bluenoses were, inexplicably in my opinion, determined that, sometime soon, Gary Mac would be back.

For a while I have been saying it was time to cut our losses with him. He hasn’t scored from open play in the League since we beat Stoke 1-0…in February 2007. In our last Premier League season, he was picked on a regular basis (thirty-two appearances altogether) yet, in my eyes, never came close to coming up to scratch. He looked lacklustre, lazy, generally lethargic. And yes injury hampered him last year, but even before his spell out he didn’t look great, and his subsequent loan spell at Forest wasn’t brilliant. I think it’s fair to say Billy Davies wasn’t falling over himself to clinch his signature permanently.

For me, when I’ve watched him in the past few years, his performances and body language on the pitch are of a player who looked like he didn’t really want to be at Birmingham City. Hopefully a new club and a significant drop in the standard of football my re-invigorate his career. Leeds is a big club, who should go up to the Championship and will be one of the biggest clubs in that division if they get there. Maybe he can be a part of that and rediscover the magical form of when he first joined Blues.

Nat