Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Birmingham is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kanya Fujimoto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan David was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sthabiso Ngwenya has his answer from Birmingham; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Birmingham will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A 2‑1 win over Rotherham United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Harry Ibbitson will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Birmingham escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Match29 Oct 2031
Stephen Carter wins it after the whistle should have gone
105 minutes played. Stephen Carter found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Rotherham United went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Birmingham they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Freddy Bernal 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Birmingham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kanya Fujimoto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Solís 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Birmingham told Sean Neave something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stephen Reid after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Birmingham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Birmingham is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Theo Julienne has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan David 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.
“I watch every Birmingham game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Norwich City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Birmingham they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Birmingham have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kanya Fujimoto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan David was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Birmingham and Rotherham United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Sheffield Wednesday spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Birmingham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shakur Samuels will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Birmingham the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Freddy Bernal 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Jhon Solís falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kanya Fujimoto. 2‑1 against Sheffield Wednesday, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Birmingham know it.
In brief
Player ratingsTheo Julienne was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
Kanya Fujimoto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan David 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mihael Rebernik has his answer from Birmingham; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Birmingham know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Birmingham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Kanya Fujimoto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan David was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan David. 2‑0 against Swansea City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Birmingham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Birmingham is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
7 goals in one match, Jonathan David on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Birmingham and Swindon Town.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sthabiso Ngwenya is living that version at Birmingham, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jonathan David at his very best