The Birmingham Courier
Match22 Aug 2026
No mercy from Birmingham
Milton Keynes Dons will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Birmingham were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals for Ibrahim Osman
The match ball belongs to Ibrahim Osman, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ibrahim Osman, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
Jack Robinson hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Birmingham can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Carlos Vicente runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Birmingham
Ibrahim Osman 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ben Barclay gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ben Barclay has just signed for Birmingham, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Fredericks 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Luis Vázquez at his very best
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Birmingham.
In brief
- Player ratings Tommy Doyle changes it off the bench
- Market Ben Barclay joins Birmingham on a free
- Market The shop window has Lee Buchanan in it