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Here is Brian Judson's preview of the game
Full Record of Spurs -v- Birmingham City
Premier Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Away 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
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Total (Prem) 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1) 28 21 4 3 64 -22 47
Away (Div 1) 28 10 4 14 31 -39 25
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Total (Div 1) 56 31 8 17 95 -61 72
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2) 4 1 1 2 6 - 4 3
Away (Div 2) 4 1 2 1 4 - 4 4
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Total(Div 2) 8 2 3 3 10 - 8 7
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Total(Prem) 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Total(Div 1) 56 31 8 17 95 -61 72
Total(Div 2) 8 2 3 3 10 - 8 7
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Grand Total 64 33 11 20 105 -69 79
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As you can see from the above table, we have never previously played
Birmingham City in the Premiership. Indeed, they have not enjoyed top
flight football for so long that a generation of football supporters have
grown up without seeing Birmingham in the top flight. The Blues have not,
in fact, played in the top flight since 1985-86 when Spurs beat them home
and away, 2-0 and 2-1 respectively. That was the second season in which
Peter Shreeves and John Pratt had been in charge of our affairs. I
remember it mostly because we were fortunate to survive FA Cup trips to
Oxford and Notts County before losing at Everton.
I have only been to St Andrews once. That was for our FA Cup tie there on
April 8th 1967 when we drew 0-0 with the Blues. I remember the match
because Cyril Knowles spent most of the match feuding with Trevor Hockey.
Knowles would have been long since sent off in these days of yellow
carding purely for breathing on forwards but in those days there was far
more latitude in what is essentially a contact game. Mackay, noticing the
referee was beginning to get restless about Cyril, strode over to him and
gave him a stinging back-hander before telling him to cut it out.
The ground that day held 51,500 spectators and the atmosphere was
electric. The Blues fans sang their anthem "Keep Right On To The End Of
The Road!" and Spurs were fortunate to survive. Indeed our progress to the
final had an air of inevitability about it in some ways as all the breaks
fell our way during the run to Wembley.
It is surprising that Birmingham have never won the League Championship.
They have had many good players on their books but have never managed to
build a team that won the League. At present, Birmingham's priority must
be to survive their first season in the Premiership and then build on the
experience they have gained.
Over the years, Birmingham have divided their time between the top two
flights, equally divided between the two. Their longest spell in the top
flight was from 1920-21 to 1938-39. But as recently as 1992, they figured
in the old Division 3 for three seasons before starting their journey back
to the top flight. Trevor Francis steered them into a number of play-off
positions but never succeeded in making it. It was only after Steve Bruce
was appointed after Francis was sacked last season that the Blues finally
won promotion.
Birmingham have struggled since returning to the top flight but they will
have enjoyed beating Aston Villa 3-0 in September. In the first half,
Villa set out to defend for a point. They did not seem to have any higher
ambition. Morrison ended that hope in the 31st minute when he fastened on
to a Cunningham pass to score. Villa had to become more adventurous then
but Angel and Allback could make no headway against a Birmingham defence.
Villa sent on Vassall and Dublin after half-time and gave hope for Villa
fans. Then there was a bizarre incident when Enckleman conceded an own
goal in the 77th minute. Mellberg took a throw in and the goalkeeper, who
had performed heroics, somehow allowed the ball to trickle under his foot
as he trapped it and roll over the line. Graham Taylor remonstrated that
the goalkeeper had not touched the ball so there was a foul throw but was
overruled by the match officials. Horsfield added some icing to the cake
in the 83rd minute when he took the ball off Allpay, dashed into the area
and hammered the ball beyond the hapless Villa goalkeeper.
We will have to be at our best but whether we will feel up to it is a moot
point. The Daily Telegraph reports that Les Ferdinand is likely to be
released when the transfer window re-opens. The question that will be on
everyone's lips will;l be : who is going to score our goals when he goes?
Rebrov is also rumoured to be going and Sheringham is also coming to the
end of his career. Iversen has never been a consistent scorer and Keane
cannot be everywhere at once.
Having said that, I feel that if we decide to play as we did in the first
half against Leeds for the entire match at St Andrews. we should be able
to win. If, however, we play like we did against Leeds in the second half,
we can forget any aspirations of Europe and start to think about the wrong
end of the table.
COME ON YOU SPURS!
Cheers, Brian
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