A day, (Or Two), in the life of a Blues reporter

December 14, 2009 by KevB8ll · 1 Comment
Filed under: Blues News, Matches

I’ve spoken to Andy Walker of the Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury and Birmingham Post a few times, and I asked him what it was like to be a sports journo following the Blues. Well being good at what he does, he sent me this!

Nice one Andy, I hope you all enjoy it.

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ABOUT ME

Having cut my teeth with just over three years as sports editor on the Solihull News and Times, I moved to the Birmingham Post and Mail group in April 2007.

Initially I worked solely on the Sunday Mercury where I covered all sports and all clubs on the Midlands patch until a restructure of editorial set-up in November 2008. That saw all sports reporters become responsible for all three newspapers – the Mail, Post and Mercury – and me become number two Blues reporter behind chief sports writer Colin Tattum.

As well as helping with the various print requirements, me and Colin now have a weekly video show on called ‘Blues View’ as well as popular liveblogs from Blues games home and way.

From a personal point of view, one of my favourite moments covering Blues has to be last season’s final day victory at Reading to secure promotion back to the Premier League. It was the perfect ending to what had been a long, laborious season during which Blues had faced their fair share of critics. That sunny afternoon in Berkshire made those miserable midweek trips to the likes of Plymouth and Barnsley feel like a distant memory and I was pleased for Alex McLeish, who is a top bloke to deal with.

WIGAN ATHLETIC AWAY – Saturday December 5.

9am – It’s time to hit the road to Wigan and my first visit to this ground since Latics chairman Dave Whelan decided to name the stadium after himself. Although the game doesn’t kick-off until 3pm, I always like to set off early for away games. That way I can compensate for any unexpected traffic problems and get settled in at the ground to do a bit of pre-match homework before the crowds arrive.

11am – Arrive in Wigan in good time. As most stadiums don’t open their doors to the press for a 3pm kick-off until 12pm, I decide to pop in to a local Asda for a coffee and to check the latest sports news on my mobile. I notice that my Lee Bowyer story on his feelings towards Match of the Day 2 presenter Adrian Chiles’ snide comments has attracted a good amount of comments on birminghammail.net, as I expected.

12.30pm – I’m one of the first to arrive at the DW Stadium’s press room, which resembles a primary school classroom presumably they must use it as an education centre during the week. After signing in, I have a bit of a catch up with colleague Colin Tattum, BRMB’s Tom Ross and Blues’ friendly media team before firing up the laptop to check my e-mails and Twitter account.

1.30pm – Few more faces filter into the press room now including a couple of famous ones associated with Villa more than Blues. Big Ron Atkinson is here doing the game for BBC WM while Alan McInally is on Sky Sports duty. Initially I’m baffled as there appears to be no sign of food, until I discover that the attached interview room has a selection of pies with mushy peas on offer. A big perk of being a sports journalist is that you are often treated very well at football stadums, certainly in the Premier League, and that usually includes a decent spread of food – ask any hack and they’ll confirm that Arsenal’s facilities at the Emirates Stadium are by far the best.

2pm – Head up to my seats in the stand, while the press bench is not flush with space, it’s certainly not the most cramped I’ve ever been in (Fratton Park and Old Trafford are two that spring to mind) but can’t complain as long as you’ve got a decent view (something that Vicarage Road’s press bench doesn’t really offer).

2.30pm – Log-on to our liveblog and it appears to be as popular as ever. While I try to paint a picture of the pre-match atmosphere, Colin fends off the usual questions on transfer targets. Blues team announced and, unsurprisingly, it confirms that McLeish has stuck with the line-up that beat Wolves a week earlier.

3pm – The game gets underway and there are plenty of empty seats as we have come to expect from this stadium. While the travelling Blues fans are in good voice, their team don’t start as brightly as their hosts.

3.45pm – Half-time and it looks as though Blues’ unbeaten run will be coming to an end as they trail to a brilliant Charles N’Zogbia goal. With the press room a good five minutes walk away, I decide to sit tight in my seat and crack on with my match report for the Sunday Mercury.

4.50pm – What a second-half and what a comeback from Blues. Two free-kicks from Seb Larsson and a Christian Benitez goal set up a 3-2 victory after Jordi Gomez made it a nervy finale with a set piece strike of his own. After ten minutes tapping away in the stands, I decide to head down to the post-match interview room and continue from there.

5.30pm – Wigan boss Roberto Martinez is first out and I noticed how he utters the word ‘character’ a record amount of times. While he is obviously disappointed, at least it didn’t turn out to be 9-1. A journalist on the front row asks Martinez his opinion on the World Cup draw, not really relevant but the chap is obviously responding to orders from his sportsdesk.

6pm – Alex McLeish is next to emerge. Lavishes praise on his troops, mentions how Benitez is starting to settle more following Ecuador’s World Cup exit and also how he hopes Larsson will go on to contribute the same amount of goals he did when Blues were last in the Premier League. Same journalist asks same World Cup question. A few of us then move in closer for a Monday newspapers only press conference, where I get a bit more on Carson Yeung’s continued commitment to attend games. Colin arrives from mix zone (the place where you go to get player quotes) duty and remarks on how the Blues squad had all emerged from the dressing room together as they’re shooting off on their Christmas do, which later turns out to be in Glasgow.

6.40pm – Sunday Mercury match report and follow up piece all filed. Bump in to McLeish and his wife in reception, exchange pleasantries before heading off.

8.30pm – Arrive home, end of a long but overall enjoyable day.

Andy Walker

WEST HAM HOME – Saturday December 12

1.15pm – Park up close to St Andrew’s before heading to the press room. Big crowd expected today, should be close to a sell out.

1.45pm – Sign into the press room, pour myself a coffee and have a chat with a few of the assembled hacks about Carson Yeung’s restructuring of his board. Lamb shank, chips and gravy is on the menu today, gets the thumbs up from me. Stoke V Wigan is on the box, not really expecting a classic but a stunning goal from Maynor Figueroa makes it worthwhile the Sky cameras being there.

2.15pm – Head up to the press box to log on to our liveblog. While me and Colin field the usual pre-match questions, a man fires blue Santa hats into the crowd via a small cannon before Saint Nick himself abseils into the stadium. Ground starts to fill up and there’s a big turnout from West Ham (around 3,500), ends up being just short of a sell out. A freelance journalist that I know arrives and tells me that there has been a spot of bother with West Ham fans in Digbeth – shame, surely it’s about time that undesirable element was stamped out of the game for good.

3pm – Games kicks-off and Blues start brightly. Same Blues line-up named for the fourth consecutive game, can’t change a winning team.

3.45pm – Goalless at half-time. While West Ham have started to edge their way back into things, Blues are narrowly the better team. I get started on my Sunday Mercury match report and keep an eye on the liveblog, while Colin kindly brings me a coffee.

4.50pm – After a nervy finale, Blues hold out for yet another victory – it’s now four on the bounce. With Hammers fan and in-form Blues midfielder Lee Bowyer scoring the winner (yet again), it gives me an easy intro for my match report. After ten minutes tapping away in the press box, I head down to the press room to await the arrival of Alex McLeish.

5.30pm – McLeish arrives at his post-match press conference nice and early and once again enthuses at the impact Bowyer has had since arriving at the club. I’m getting slightly bored of writing the ‘Bowyer match-winner’ line but that’s just testament to the tremendous season he’s having – a shock England recall maybe? Gianfranco Zola arrives during McLeish’s press conference and is shepherded into the radio interview room.

5.45pm – McLeish holds his Monday only post-match briefing in the usual tunnel area and it lasts about ten minutes. In which time, Bowyer, Stephen Carr, Roger Johnson and Gregory Vignal all pass suited and booted. Blues vice-chairman Peter Pannu is hanging around and he congratulates Bowyer for his contribution. A miserable looking Zola also wonders by.

6pm – Head out into the players tunnel to see if there’s anybody left to talk to. Several journalists are interviewing Barry Ferguson. After waiting around for a few minutes, I decide to head back into the press room to crack on with my Sunday Mercury requirements.

6.15pm – As this is the last home game before Christmas, Blues sponsors F&C Investments have decided to lay on beer, cider and mince pies for the media as a thank you. So that means that I’m able to finish my match report and follow up on Bowyer while sipping a beer – not bad at all.

7pm – All done and dusted. I head home and discover that it’s been a good day all round for local clubs with Wolves and Villa picking up hugely impressive wins at Tottenham and Manchester United respectively. Let’s hope the Baggies come up next season and give the Premier League a West Midlands look.

Tags: Adrian Chiles, Alex McLeish, Andy Walker, Barnsley, Barry Ferguson, BBC, Birmingham City, Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Carson Yeung, Christian Benitez, Colin Tattum, Dave Whelan, Gianfranco Zola, Lee Bowyer, Match, Match of the Day, Peter Pannu, Plymouth Argyle, Premier League, Reading, Roberto Martinez, Roger Johnson, Sebastian Larsson, St Andrews, Stephen Carr, Sunday Mercury, West Ham Utd, Wigan

How Times Change – A Response to Colin Tattum’s Article

December 1, 2009 by KevB8ll · 7 Comments
Filed under: Blues News, Kev's Ramblings

*Update – this was top story for the Blues on the Newsnow feed 1/12/09.

Colin has kindly given me permission to use his recent blog post in this article, thanks Colin. You can read the original here. I have selected certain parts of his blog and given my thoughts on it.

Strange how football can change, isn’t it? Thirteen months ago Blues were sunk 3-1 at home by Reading. The Royals had not long defeated Wolves 3-0 at Molineux and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Eck was ridiculed when he said Reading weren’t necessarily any better than Blues, just more clinical. Most observers had Reading as certs for the Championship title.

I think I have said that I live in Devon. Well I remember this game, my lad had just played football in Plymouth and we were on the way home and we were listening to it on the radio. It sounded grim! I can remember saying to my son that we were going to spend another season AT LEAST in the Championship! Reading looked unbeatable.

The situation was made worse, by me having a colleague who is a Reading fan! I was seriously questioning the commitment of the board, the players and definitely the manager!

Fast forward to May and Blues won the shoot-out with Reading in Berkshire to clinch promotion.

I DEFINITELY remember that day! I blogged what happened on that afternoon. I remember thinking as the game went on, what had happened to Reading? Were they really the same side that appeared to be rampaging through their games in the first half of the season?

That day we were well organised, calculating and clinical. You could see the foundations of the side we see now.

Carry on some more to last weekend and Reading finally won at home – at the 18th time of asking in the league, stretching to 301 days. Blues defeated Fulham to move, temporarily, into 12th place in the Premier League. Reading edged out of the relegation zone into 20th by their win over Blackpool.

I spoke to my colleague the other day. He is so frustrated at what has happened to Reading. Coppell was being talked about as a future Man Utd manager, but has now seemed to have disappeared. Reading now seem more like a club going backwards rather than forwards.

Blues however, seem to be improving all the time. Roger Johnson and Scott Dann are an absolute revelation. I can remember wondering what Alex was thinking when he signed these two players, but hands up – I know nothing, and they are proving to be absolutely AWESOME purchases. Couple that with the great season Bowyer and Ferguson are having, and things are looking good.

I have seen comments around the WEB of fans believing that Alex McLeish could well become our best manager since Jim Smith, and although we MUST NOT get complacent, isn’t it great to be summarising positive things. We must remain focused, and I have seen enough that I believe that Alex will keep the players feet on the ground – and help us to progress.

Kev

Tags: Alex McLeish, Barry Ferguson, Birmingham City, Championship, Colin Tattum, Jim Smith, Lee Bowyer, Premier League, Reading, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Steve Coppell