Marked for Lee Buchanan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Jonathan Panzo: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
AFC Wimbledon pay $480.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomoki Iwata, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
A promise honoured at Birmingham
Something was said to Luis Vázquez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Jan 2027
West Bromwich Albion will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Birmingham were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ibrahim Osman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stockport County have kept their man, and Birmingham go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
He is 22 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Luis Vázquez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
AC Milan paid $33.7M and Birmingham took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Carlos Vicente has gone, the accounts have $33.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market31 Aug 2026
Lee Buchanan 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Birmingham asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Birmingham
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Paul Ross to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Lee Gregory
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Vicente commits to Birmingham for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Birmingham asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Christoph Klarer’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Carlos Vicente knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Vicente trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 Aug 2026
Lee Buchanan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Birmingham has been clear about where Lee Buchanan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market10 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Birmingham
José Ortigoza arrives at 39 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Carlos Vicente keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Birmingham say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Birmingham would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.