The Birmingham Courier
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Demarai Gray runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
Harry Cornick is a Birmingham player
The fee is $2.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Bristol City drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Birmingham
Christoph Klarer 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Birmingham supporters have found a favourite in Jay Stansfield
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jay Stansfield has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Jay Stansfield at his very best
Marked 8.64. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Birmingham.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Birmingham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Verdú 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Luis Vázquez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match29 Aug 2026
Honours even between Birmingham and Sheffield
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
- Squad Birmingham pick somebody else ahead of James Beadle
- The terraces The press have found their man in Jay Stansfield