Birmingham's Journey to European Dreams: A Casey32 Story

[casey32]

Febuaray Report

Results

(Home) Bolton 2-1: Dominated the game controlling it with ease, conceded a late goal. Goals from Love and Bastos.

(Away) Everton 1-2: Preview of the League Cup final. Had enough chances to win it but failed to take them, a close game. Goal from Love.

(Away) Man City 2-4 (FA Cup 5th Rnd): Outplayed and outclassed not for the 1st time by City. We made chances but didn't take them and overall Man City's control of possession won them the game. Goals from Love and Lukaku.

(Away) Ajax 1-4 (Champions League 1st Knockout Rnd 1st leg): A surprisingly strong Ajax side eased past the Blues at home. Players like Krasic, Aissati and Neymar proved too much for the Blues. Birmingham's European hopes look bleak. Goal from Lukaku.

(Away) Wovles 3-1: Another easy win nothing much to say really was quite a boring affair. Goals from Love (2) and Verkhovtsev.

(Home) Burnley 5-2: Conceded 2 sloppy goal but other than that a good win. Lansbury scored his 1st for the club, a rocket from 25 yards. Henri had a part in another as a long range effort came off the post hit the back of the Burnley keeper and then crossed the line. Goals from Lansbury, Penny o.g., Bassong, Montgomery and Lukaku.

Review

Sitting on top of the table but have played one game more then the chasers. The FA Cup has come to an end but the fans are excited about the trip to Wembly for the League Cup final. Europe looks to be close to over but their is still hope with a home leg remaining. Phil Jagielka will join Liverpool at the end of the season for £6.75m, the 30 is towards the end of his peak and Birmingham looked to sell at the highest price before it was too late. Birmingham are currently in the process of a takeover as Carson Yeung is looking to step aside. It is expect another board member will take his place .

League Table

Following this Report will be the League Cup Final wish me luck​

 

[casey32]

League Cup Final

Preview

Birmingham beat Stoke, Man City, Norwich and Aston Villa to get to the final and Everton beat Leeds, Scunthorpe, Wigan , QPR and Arsenal. The league leaders are just favourites as the game is expected to be a tightly contested affair. Birmingham are looking for their 1st win since 1963 and of course narrowly lost to Chelsea in the 2010 final under Casey. Everton will be looking to win for the 1st time in their 135 year history. Birmingham willing be missing Jagielka and Fabio through injury and Lansbury who is cup tied. Everton will be missing Dos Santos who is injured and Fellaini suspended. The top scorers for Birmingham in the League Cup are Vagner Love, Lukaku and Montgomery all on 3 goals. Everton's top scorers are Yakubu 3, Yobo 2 and Cahill 1.

The Final

The Line-ups

90,000 sat in Wembley on a breezy day as Howard Webb blew the whistle to kick off the 2013 League Cup Final. The 1st chance went to Everton, Baines flew down the wing beating Hutton for pace before whipping in a dangerous cross... Ba out jumped Verkhovtsev smashing a header towards the goal... to the Blues fans delight the ball crashed off the crossbar before Joe Hart jumped on the rebound. Things from then on got worse for the toffees. Soon after Michel Bastos made it 1-0 as the winger seized on an error by Joseph Yobo finishing with a placed shot to send the Blues fans to joy. On the 28th minute full back Kyle Walker nearly gifted Birmingham a goal but they failed to capitalize. With 35 minutes gone up stepped Leon Osman the experienced midfielder made it 1-1 scoring a powerfull effort from the edge of the area. Everton did not stay on level terms for long as just over 10 minutes later in 1st half injury time Vagner Love put his side ahead for the 2nd time in the match. Wonderkid Romelu Lukaku scored what turned out to be the last goal of the game and the goal of the match, Lukaku ran from the halfway line before beating 4 players and smashing the ball past Howard into the top corner. Birmingham pick up their 1st trophy under Casey, what a day for the fans after the pain of 2010. Let the partying begin.

Match Stats

 

[casey32]

Finally some silverware now to take on the world......​

 

[DHolley]

Fantastic story mate hope this continues

 

[casey32]

I'll keep it up till Birmingham taste European success at least

 

[jthamrun]

Amazing story mate, keep it up

 

[jasonneverdie]

haha..i like u layout and everything....amazing...XD

 

[Adam 24]

great story m8

 

[JParker]

glad to see this story is still going
good luck in europe

 

[casey32]

Thanks lads

 

[Heskeyy]

Glad to see its back well done on the league cup, teams looking solid, hope the takeover lands you some money!!

 

[casey32]

I doubt it will as it looks like just a board member is replacing him

 

[casey32]

March Report

Results

(Home) Bristol 3-1: An expected result, the Blues controlled the game dominating all over the pitch a late injury time goal from Bristol restored some pride. Goals from Love, McCombe o.g. and Bastos.

(Home) Ajax 2-1 (Champions League 1st Knockout Rnd 2nd leg): Disappointing we made enough chances to see ourselves go through but a combination of nervous finishing and a great defence performance from Ajax keep the dream from progressing. Goals from Sulejmani o.g. and Witsel.

(Away) Man Utd 0-1: Very, very close game was a tight and nervy affair between the two tittle contenders. Rafael became the unlikely hero scoring the winner which may end up being their biggest goal of the season.

(Home) Tottenham 4-1: Faced a spurs side that is really struggling, this could be due to alot of their top players joining the Blues last summer. Two of who came back to haunt the club scoring in the game. Goals from Bassong, Kranjcar, Lukaku and Love.

Review

As we get to the business end of the season the league is very tight, with the Blues out of the rest of the cup winning the league will be the target with nothing else to distract them. They will face a tough challenge it looks to be a two horse race between Birmingham and United but you can never rule out Chelsea or City. Bastos will miss 4 weeks and Jenas will miss 2 weeks but on a high note Fabio the sorely missed Brazilian full back is very close to full fittest after missing 3 months of action. Lukaku won Young Player of the Month with Kadlec 2nd.

League Table

 

[casey32]

The next update should be an end of season report

 

[casey32]

April Report

Results

(Away) Fulham 5-1: Could of scored more but happy with a solid win. Happy days as Birmingham look promising for the tittle. Goals from Lukaku (2), Kranjcar, Bassong and Love.

(Away) Aston Villa 3-1: A big derby win as was a tough game on paper but Birmingham proved to be too much as their fire power was on form. Goals from Love (2) and Bassong.

(Home) Sunderland 2-1: Dont know how we won this won we should of lost be lady luck was on are side. Lukaku was injury and will miss 3 weeks and will probably miss the remaining games. Goals from Bassong and Witsel.

Review

Director Wiseman became the new chairman after a successful takeover, Wiseman informed the manager no future investment would be made as of now. The Blues are now £4m in profit but now have a £29.5m loan debt. Love won Player of the Month, Bassong was 2nd. Lukaku finished 2nd in Young Player of the Month, Casey also won Manager of the Month. Birmingham are now 3 wins away from the title as sitting in 1st but Untied still remain favourites here are the remaining games for both sides...

United: (away) Bristol City, (home) Wolves and (away) Burnley
The Blues: (home) Blackburn, (away) Liverpool and (home) Reading

League Table

 

[Jasonlfc96]

come on you can win the league!!!

 

[casey32]

End of Season Report

Results

(Home) Blackburn 0-1: The pressure seemed to get to the players in front of the expecting home crowd. Lukaku was sorely missed as Birmingham dominated but failed to convert their chances. Rovers got a lucky goal a seem to kill of the Blues tittle hopes......... but an inform Bristol City pulled of the unlikely beating Untied 3-2 keeping Birmingham on top.

(Away) Liverpool 2-0: Birmingham turned it on after stumbling in the last game Bassong rallied the troops and it paid off. After going 2-0 up Casey changed to a 4-5-1 to secured the win and it worked as Birmingham step one win away from the tittle. Goals from Witsel and Bassong.

the table going into the last game.........

The Last Game
It all came down to a home game vs Reading. Reading Parked the bus showing no intention of attacking, At half time it was 0-0. During the break the news that Untied were 2-0 up worried the Birmingham faithful. After the break Kranjcar came out and calmed the fans heading home from point blank range. The game then turned into a nervy affair of keep ball with Reading now will to throw caution to the wind looking for a point. Bassong ended the fear heading home a free kick to secure the league. Birmingham City Football Club the new Barclay's Premiership Champions!!!!

What a season we did the double completely blowing my expectations its gonna be tough to match next season but we have proved this season that anything is possible. It was a truly momentous occasion for the fans and with an average squad age of 24 things could get even better. Trevor Francis a club legend said he was in disbelief, Bassong during an interview paid special tribute to Casey saying he was key to the success. Birmingham winning the League in the biggest moment in their history. Casey went on to be named the Manager of the Year.

Vagner Love won Footballer of the Year and finished 2nd in the Top Goalscorer.

Lukaku won Player's Player of the Year.

Kadlec won Player's Young Player of the Year.

Team of the Year had 6 Birmingham Players involved

​

 

[casey32]

Start of Season 2013/2014

Vagner Love was named Fan's Player of the Year after a great season for the club. The clubs budget and aims were announced Casey has been given £35.5m to spend and £900k p/w for wages.

Casey has already confirmed some deals that will not affect the budgets the players are set to join/leave on the 1.7.2013.

Heres who is leaving....
Nordtveit to HSV £4.2m
Johnson to Roma £3.2m
Jagielka to Liverpool £6.75m
Collison to Burnley £5m
Emmanuel-Thomas to PSG £2.3m

Now for the new faces set to join......

Kolarov from Chelsea £3.9m. After Fabio has gone back to Madrid we needed a new left back i feel we have got a bargain and a top notch full back.

Brown from Man United on a free. I couldn't turn it down i feel Brown is one of the most underrated players in the premiership although he is getting on a bit he will ad experience and still seem to have quality left in him.

Macheda from Man United £3.1m. The young striker has been on loan at numerous clubs and has impressed Casey, with United in financial trouble Casey has jumped at signing talent on the cheap.

James from Man United £2.8m. More poaching from Casey signing the all rounder. James will hopefully impress will more than likely been on the 2nd team which will be used when resting playing and in some cup games.

Tangara from AZ £1m. When Lukaku got injured i noticed we had no back up striker that could head the ball. I signed the young striker as back up to the big man.

In transfer rumors Casey is reported stealed deals with cash strapped United for Shawcross, Valencia, Anderson and Delfouneso but it is unknown if they will be completed as the deals keep being delayed. Dentinho is expected to sign from Dinamo Kiev. Steven Defour is widely expected to sign on a free when his contract at Standard runs out. ​

 

[casey32]

Pre Season Report

(Home) AA Gent 6-1
(Away) Widzew 7-1
(Home) Rangers 2-0
(Away) Coventry 6-0
(Away) FCN Sint-Niklaas 4-0

Will start the Season with the Community Shield vs Liverpool, In the League we shall start with Villa at home, then Newcastle away and home to Wolves.

Below show the ins and outs of the summer just missed out on Defour......

In more detail here are the newcomers besides the previously mentioned....

Anderson from United £8m, again took advance of united's misfortune bringing in a quality midfielder who has a tough tackle, flair and experience.

Delfouneso from United £10.5m, another bargain after we were unable to get Rooney as they wanted £32.5m for him which we did not have we decided to go for a cheaper younger action. Now the strike force has depth with plenty of quality.

Shawcross £9m again from United, was hard not to take advantage of the situation and Ryan will add to a defence which now looks very strong with plenty of years left in all of them.

Dentinho from Dinamo Kiev £7.5m, a great talent will add more spice to either flank, has a eye for goal and an eye for a pass top player for a great price.

Most Likely Starting Eleven.....

 

[casey32]

How will Birmingham do next season? feel free to have your say......​

---------- Post added at 04:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 AM ----------

Interested in victor Moses had him with palace but unsure what he is like on 10.3 anybody want to enlighten me please