Watch: Birmingham City fans hold faceless mask protest against club’s owners before Sheffield United clash

Birmingham City fans held a third protest against the club’s owners during their side’s home game against Sheffield United this evening (4 February).

Hundreds of fans once again marched from the Bull Ring Tavern in the city centre up to St Andrew’s, and gathered outside the Kop before kick-off to protest against Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd (BSHL) before the match in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Many of the fans protesting outside the ground wore faceless masks which supporters say reflects a lack of communication from the club as well as previous uncertainty over who owns the club.

Supporters also arrived at St Andrew’s blowing whistles in protest against BSHL.

After arriving at the Kop, fans then gathered outside the ticket office prior to kick off before dispersing.

And as was the case before City’s last two home games against Barnsley and Peterborough United, fans once again aimed angry chants at the club’s Hong Kong-based owners during the protest to demand change at the top of the club.

Loud whistles could also be heard during the first half as supporters expressed their frustration with the Blues hierarchy.

An announcement was made for supporters to stop blowing the whistles during the first period.

Why are fans protesting before games?

The recent protests followed a social media campaign which began in January with supporters using the hashtag #BSHLOUT.

Supporters say they are unhappy with how the club is being run.

Under the ownership of Birmingham Sports Holdings, which took over in 2016, the club were found to have breached profitability and sustainability rules in 2019 after incurring losses of nearly £48.8m in three years, and were subsequently docked nine points.

Uncertainty over who actually owns the club, the state of their St Andrew’s ground -part of which has been closed for more than a year due to structural issues - and increasing financial losses have all been used in protest at the owners.

And with the club consistently struggling near the bottom of the Championship - narrowly avoiding relegation over the last few seasons, fans say there has been little information about what the owners intentions are for the club going forward.

Lee Bowyer’s men are currently 17th in what is Blues’ 11th straight season in the Championship.

Blues board respond to fans

Birmingham City’s chairman Wenqing Zhao issued a statement to the club’s fans for the first time to address their concerns over how the club is being run last week.

In the letter, Zhao spoke about a number of issues which fans are currently unhappy about , including St Andrew’s and the board’s communication with supporters.

With some fans saying there is uncertainty over who owns and runs the club, Zhao said in the letter: “I would like to be clear that ultimate control of the club lies with our two majority shareholders, Mr Paul Suen and Mr Pech Vong.”

He has also said that the board and owners take responsibility for the growing discontent among the fans - you can read Mr Zhao’s letter in full, here.

The letter came after the club invited a selection of fans to meet board members on January 20 to address their concerns.

Blues issued a statement following the meeting and revealed that the owners have “no intention” to sell the club.

The club said: “The board stated that the club is not up for sale and the owners have no intention to sell. Like any business, it does have a value but the owners have invested, and continue to invest, heavily in the club.”

During the meeting, board member Edward Zheng also described the ‘large cultural difference’ that has impacted communication with fans.

It was acknowledged by the chairman and the board of the club that the culture ‘has to shift’ and communication lines will be ‘more open moving forward.’

The club have been forced to close the lower sections of the Kop and Tilton Road End at St Andrew’s due to structural issues which has caused frustration among fans.

Birmingham’s project manager, Michael Moran, discussed the structural issues with St Andrew’s stadium, detailing the extent of the repair works required, and the reasons part of the stadium has been closed for more than a year.

You can read what the club said about the issues with the stadium, here.

During the meeting, the board also said that it does have an allocated budget to sign players ‘where considered appropriate’.

The statement added that the club is in a ‘far healthier financial situation’ than it was three years ago when it breached the EFL’s Profitability & Sustainability (P&S) rules.

Blues’ technical director and former player Craig Gardner also said in an interview with talkSPORT last week that the club are aiming to challenge for promotion to the Premier League in the near future.

Gardner said: “In my head I’ve got a three-year plan.

“At the minute the money side of the things are outweighing the on-field performance side, so we want to basically reverse that and start getting performances better, results better, whilst we’re bringing the wage structure down to a decent budget.

“So we’re working really hard on that to try and be creative, that’s this year. Next year is about stability with this club, we have to grow and say, ‘right we’re here now, we’re a stable club’.

“In year three we’ve got to compete because I don’t want to be involved in a stable club for four, five, six years, so our recruitment is very important.”

Statement prior to protest

Blues issues the following statement before Friday’s game against the Blades:

“The Club understands the frustrations felt by sections of the fanbase and supports the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

“The support shown for Lee Bowyer and the team in recent weeks has been commendable, but we implore that if you choose to protest it continues in this way and does not adversely affect the football being played on the pitch.

“Whilst the large majority of recent demonstrations have remained nonviolent and supportive of the players, we have seen a number of incidents in recent weeks that we do not condone.

“A small number of fans made their way on to the lower tiers of the Kop during our game with Barnsley, which is still unsafe to host spectators. Two female stewards were assaulted by spectators at this fixture. During the Peterborough game, a number of minor incidents with stewards were also reported.

“Anti-social behaviour was seen by both sets of supporters during our away fixture with Derby County, with four arrests. Videos of seats being thrown across the supporter divide have circulated on social media, and the Club does not tolerate this behaviour and will be working with Derbyshire Police to source evidence and issue banning orders to home and away fans.

“We ask that potential demonstrations do not affect the 90 minutes of football, your safety, the safety of other spectators or the safety of our staff inside St. Andrew’s.

“We welcome hearing your thoughts about the Club and we hope you begin to see improvements around St. Andrew’s in the coming months.”

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