A missed call from Tom Wagner and Birmingham City dream for Blues bunch on Knighthead’s doorstep

You don’t have to go very far to find someone proudly wearing a Birmingham City shirt these days.

Every corner of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands is packed with Bluenoses proudly displaying their club’s colours. That wasn’t always the case before Knighthead and Tom Wagner pitched up in the Second City 18 months ago.

Blues might be in League One but they now have a fanbase optimistic that better days lie ahead. With a promising young manager, an expensively assembled squad and the promise of a Sports Quarter and new stadium on the horizon, even the most pessimistic Blues fans have reasons to smile.

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Thanks to the launch of the Official Supporters' Club (OSC), Blues fans across the world are connected. There are branches in Austria and Norway, and even further afield in Australia, Thailand and Singapore.

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OSC chairman Sukh Singh said: “What’s come out of it for me is that post-Covid, I didn’t realise how many people were struggling and it’s brought a lot of people together. Not so much at St Andrew’s, but within the areas they live in.

“There’s loads of people that have been struggling. We have been able to help people create new friendships, help people go to the pub or community centres where they can get together and do things.”

Several smiles and shirts can be seen in New York City, more than 3,000 miles away from St Andrew’s, but on the doorstep of Knighthead’s offices. Trevor Willis, originally from Northfield, heads a group of 23 members in New York.

“It’s not just in New York, there’s fans in the group from Philadelphia and things like that,” Trevor told us. “Once the Official Supporters' Club started taking off there were more and more people coming out, not knowing that there were other Blues fans in the United States.

“When I started the group it was only going to be five or six people, and it’s ended up being 20-plus, and it’s only just started.”

Trevor and Co have tried to arrange to watch the games together across the pond, but that is easier said than done. It isn’t just match-going fans that are put out by TV bosses changing kick-off times.

Trevor added: “We met up at the beginning of the season but every time we’ve tried to meet up since the games have either been rescheduled for early kick-offs or cancelled!” Saturday’s game at Shrewsbury Town will kick-off at 7:30am in New York. “It’s ruined our plans a fair few times so far.”

The dream for members of the New York branch is for Wagner to show at one of their future meets. There was some talk of that happening during the summer but business commitments prevented Blues’ chairman from popping by.

“All the members who were there at the first meeting were hoping that was going to happen,” said Trevor. “We kept an eye on the door but things didn’t work out that way. One of the guys said his office is about a mile away from where we met up so we could have popped in and seen him ourselves!”

Trevor got even closer to some facetime with Wagner. He explained: “Paul Delves (OSC vice chair) has told me that Tom Wagner is very interested in speaking to us. He tried to call me on WhatsApp a couple of weeks ago, but with the time difference I was still asleep when that happened!

“I can’t remember what away game it was, but the time difference didn’t work out in my favour. I messaged (Paul) back asking what was up and he was like, ‘I had the owners here’. The time difference just messed it up. It would have been nice to speak to Tom first thing in the morning!”

Trevor has been supporting Blues since the early 1990s and his devotion is clear. Another member of the branch, Charlotte Jupp, visited St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park to watch the Northampton game. Mitch Pinnock’s last-gasp equaliser must have hurt more for Charlotte after she travelled across the Atlantic to see Blues take three points.

It was Charlotte’s first visit to St Andrew’s since taking in the Second City derby against Aston Villa in 2019. She enjoyed a very different experience this time around.

“I was really impressed by the changes to the ground and the experience outside,” said Charlotte. “It’s really smart of the owners to draw the fans to the ground earlier with the fan park. I was impressed with the shop too and left with an American Blues mug!

“It was strange having the big screens – I’m not used to that, but I thought it was good. I like how they have kept the old favourites like Mr Blue Sky too before kick-off.”

If Blues do go on and, as expected, win promotion back to the Championship, Wagner won’t be the only one celebrating in New York.