ST ANDREW’S, the home ground of Birmingham City Football Club, was the first place where I was allowed to swear.
It was the first place I tasted beer — at the age of eight — and the first place I tasted Bovril. It was also where I placed my first bet.
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It was where I’d go with my dad to watch the Blues from the Tilton Road Stand and, when I was old enough to go without him, me and my mates would travel there on the No 93 bus from Chelmsley Wood for a fare of 50p and go on the Kop.
That place holds so many memories for me. So many rites of passage.
But despite all that nostalgia, I was delighted to hear this week that St Andrew’s is going to be bulldozed to make way for a new stadium less than a mile away, which may hold up to 60,000 fans.
That’s bigger than Villa Park, by the way, and that sort of thing always matters.
I’m very nervous that the club I supported, and then captained for two seasons until last summer, are going to be relegated to League One this season.
But the fact that the club’s American owners, Knighthead, are determined to go ahead with a new stadium whatever happens on the pitch, proves they will drag Blues into the 21st Century.
At times like this, with Blues next to bottom in the Championship and in a desperate relegation battle, hope for the future is crucial.
The owners are talking about a £2billion investment and intend to hold NFL matches and concerts at the new ground, along the lines of the impressive Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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It will be the sort of stadium where Blues fan Jude Bellingham might want to return later in his career.
More importantly, if a new Jude Bellingham comes along, he might not be in a hurry to leave.
The scale of the planned redevelopment of the Bordesley Park area is similar to what Manchester City have achieved with the Etihad campus.
Blues chief executive Garry Cook was at City in the early years after the Abu Dhabi takeover, so he knows what he is doing. I love the ambition of chairman Tom Wagner — even if his plans mean the end for St Andrew’s.
I’m a football historian, a traditionalist. I loved playing at atmospheric old stadiums like St James’ Park and Anfield more than new grounds.
Although Anfield was never the same after they changed the tunnel area.
But St Andrew’s has been dilapidated for some time now. While I was playing for Blues, two of the stands were completely closed for a while.
People will miss the old place for a couple of years, particularly older fans.
But I don’t hear too many Arsenal supporters pining for Highbury any more.
West Ham supporters miss the old Upton Park but that’s because the London Stadium is not a purpose-built football ground, so a lot of them struggle to call it home.
That won’t be the case for Blues. The club needs a fresh start and if I was still a player there, I’d want to prove myself so I could stick around and be part of the brave new world.
It probably helps that the new stadium, which they hope to open within five years, is so close to St Andrew’s in a place that also holds memories for me.
It will be on the site of the Birmingham Wheels Park — what us Brummies call the Wheelie Park — which closed in 2021.
We used to have school trips there. As a primary-school kid, I’d be having 30mph crashes on the go-kart track.
It was a dangerous, dirty old place. Let’s say it was not really in line with modern health and safety or environmental measures. But I loved it, as a couple of generations of Brummies did.
When I was growing up watching Blues, we were a Premier League club.
In the era under Steve Bruce’s management we had some fine players like Christophe Dugarry and Mikael Forssell, who were brilliant to watch.
The night we thrashed Aston Villa 3-0 at St Andrew’s, with a horrible mistake by keeper Peter Enckelman, is part of our folklore.
The chances of recapturing those days, even bettering them, will be significantly boosted by a new stadium.
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And I actually never liked the taste of beer or Bovril anyway.
Tom Brady’s effect on Birmingham
A lot has changed at Birmingham since Tom Brady became an investor in August.
- John Eustace sacked in October with club sixth in the Championship
- Replacement Wayne Rooney sacked in January after winning two of 15 matches as club slip to 20th
- Stadium renamed St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park as part of commercial agreement
- Gary Rowett returns to club as interim boss in March after Tony Mowbray steps back for medical treatment
- Land purchased for £2-3billion Sports Quarter project including new stadium
- Plans revealed for new fan parks at St. Andrew’s for 2024/25 season