Marked for Stephen Hamilton
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Jul 2030
Demarai Gray was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Stephen Hamilton is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jim Thwaites is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Kanya Fujimoto out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Birmingham will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Sep 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Birmingham, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Birmingham may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Birmingham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stephen Hamilton is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Sep 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” George McCormick has his answer from Birmingham; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Kanya Fujimoto out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Birmingham will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Aug 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Ayden Heaven in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Birmingham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stephen Hamilton is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristoffer Lund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market13 Aug 2029
Matt Crooks told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matt Crooks has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Birmingham.