This story from the Spanish sport website Marca reports that Birmingham City's woes this season have nothing at all to do with the players not being up to Premiership standard – former manager Barry Fry claims it's all down to a curse placed on their St Andrews ground by Gypsies who were forced off the land when the stadium was constructed.
Quite how a curse placed on a Stadium that opened in 1906 is affecting the team in 2006, is unclear – perhaps it's one of those 100 year things? Nor does it explain why their away form (2 wins and only 8 goals scored from 16 matches) has been so woeful – their form at their 'cursed' home has actually been better than bitter local rivals Aston Villa (19 points against 18).
So, a big load of new-age crap then – but hopefully the management will take it seriously, if only so that current manager Steve Bruce follows Fry's advice of ridding the curse by "urinating in each of the four corners".
Update: It appears this story was originally from the Daily Mirror, and was also reported in last Wednesday's Mediawatch on Football 365. Lesson learned – the Spanish press is not the optimum source for up-to-the-minute news on English football. Who'd have thunk it?
27 April, 2006 at 11:31 am
Another excuse for the continual underachievement which seems to be made more likely by the sheer number of excuses that exist to blight us Blue Noses!