After a busy week spent moving out of my home to a holiday flat whilst preparing for a move next week into our new home, I felt the calling to go to St Andrew’s Knighthead Park, the home of my beloved Birmingham City for their season opener against Ipswich Town, as they celebrate a return to Championship football after securing the League One title last summer . I drove four hours from Worthing to meet an old school friend at Digbeth’s custard factory, having parked at a Just Park car park on Liverpool Street, and we used a few hours to catch up on our lives over the past fifteen years, before parting as I began a walk up the hill to the stadium.

Now regular readers of my blog will know I have been a long suffering Blues fan since being taken by my Dad to see Blues play Stoke in 1977, where goals from Trevor Francis and Kenny Burns (playing upfront before Brian Clough signed him for Forest and converted him to the role of centre half, allowing him to win the Division 1 title and two European cups) saw the home side win 2-0 and set me off on a love affair with the club which hasn’t dwindled. I think for seven year old me, it was the sight of the green pitch, the smell of food, smoke and the grass, plus later when I went to an evening game, the bright floodlights and crowd atmosphere that connected with me. Years later I still get a sense of that feeling at games even as I have hit my mid-fifties.

Now we all know supporting Blues has been tough over the years, lit with occasional moments of joy. But for us fans the last year or so, since Tom Wagner took a controlling share in the club have seen a huge shift forward. First Tom Brady came on board, then came the announcement of the launch of the proposed new Sports Quarter in Birmingham, which would see Blues move away from St Andrew’s to a new 62000 seater stadium located on the Wheels Adventure Park site, close to the existing ground. To support this proposal a new transport link has been given government backing and would see the metro system and trams linking the ground to Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ge80g3ezo

(Link to BBC article about the proposals for development of the Birmingham Sports Quarter – July 19 2025)

The owners have invested into improvements at the current ground too, creating a fan park and ensuring the pre match atmosphere builds some hype and entertainment. After the decision to remove John Eustace in the first season of ownership, led to a disastrous appointment, in the form of Wayne Rooney, which played a major factor in the club’s relegation to league 1, the board rebuilt the club strongly, appointing Chris Davies as manager, from his coaching role at Spurs, and paying a league 1 record, £20 million to secure Jay Stansfield alongside a collection of enthusiastic and talented players, such as Christoph Klarer, Paik Seung-Ho, Demarai Gray and Phil Neumann. Promotion was assured with an EFL record 111 points in 2024-25, which has led to the present day, with the club having sold 20,000 season tickets, leading to a real buzz around the club and a growing sense of expectation. This has all been documented in the Amazon Prime documentary about the club.

Today’s season opener was against Ipswich Town, widely tipped by many to be the most likely champions in the division this year, after a relegation from the Premier League in 2024-25. Manager Kieran McKenna is still considered one of the UK’s finest young coaches, despite failing to secure Premier League survival for the Tractor Boys at his first attempt. Over the summer, Ipswich Town lost the talented Liam Delap, who joined Chelsea for £30 million and the experienced Sam Morsy, who left to join Kuwait SC. Ipswich managed to strengthen their squad, adding Azor Matusiwa from Rennes for almost £8 million, to shore up their midfield, as well as securing 40 year old Ashley Young, on a free transfer from Everton.

For the Blues, the matchday line up showed league debuts for new signings, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Demarai Gray, Phil Neumann and Kyogo Furuhashi, in a team that looked to have attacking flair and width in the presence of both Gray and Keshi Anderson. Up front Furuhashi and Jay Stansfield began a partnership that should offer a real threat to Championship defences this season.

The Blues came out to a loud and passionate home support, who sang loudly the Blues anthem of “Keep Right On” which really seemed to fire up the home team as they gathered into a huddle, prior to kick off.

The game started well with Birmingham City having the most attacking opportunities. In the seventh minute Kyogo Furuhashi broke free and delicately lobbed Alex Palmer in the Ipswich goal, only to see the referee strike the goal off due to an infringement. The Sky Sports coverage I saw when I got home that evening, did make this look like a harsh decision.

The remainder of the first half saw the Blues create some good opportunities with Jay Stansfield uncharacteristically shooting over the bar wildly when given an excellent goal scoring chance. An error by Ryan Allsop when attempting to clear under pressure, presented a chance to Ipswich Town’s Szmodics, who squandered a good opportunity for the visitors. As the halftime whistle blew both sides went into the break with the score deadlocked.

The second half came to life on 55 minutes when the home team finally broke through, a Furuhashi shot striking the post and rebounding into the path of Stansfield, who gratefully lashed the ball home. The home fans went wild, as the newly promoted Blues took the lead against the side who many predict will win the league this year.

Blues then absorbed Ipswich pressure, as Westwood changed things up for the visitors, throwing Ashley Young on for his debut alongside Broadhead, Chaplin and Al Hamadi. Just when it looked as if the home team would open their account with a win, in the final minute of added time, the visitors were awarded a penalty. Substitute Lyndon Dykes jumped to head away a ball with his arms raised and seemed to head the ball onto his hand, which the referee saw and immediately called a penalty. Up stepped George Hirst to calmly slot the ball home, levelling the scores and then launching a celebration in front of the home fans which led to a scuffle between the players.

At full time both teams left the ground with honours even. Blues would have learnt to stay focussed for the whole 90 plus minutes because at this level, teams will not give second chances, however their fans would have been pleased with the confidence shown tonight, against one of the league’s stronger sides. I began the four hour drive home, having thoroughly enjoyed the matchday experience at St Andrews Knighthead Park, and looking forward to an exciting season ahead for the Blues. The Ipswich fans too, would have left not too unhappy with having snatched a point in a potentially difficult away fixture.