BIRMINGHAM CITY
Feast your eyes on this Blues bonanza!!
The Blue half of Birmingham started life as Small Heath Alliance in 1875, and after a few name changes settled on Birmingham City in 1943.
As Small Heath they were the founding members and first Champions of the 2nd Division in 1892/93.
Since then they've gone on to win another four 2nd Division titles, and agonisingly been runners-up in the F.A. Cup twice.
Major success finally arrived by clinching the League Cup in 1963, and again in 2011, with exciting runs to consecutive Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals in 1960 and 1961, worthy of a mention.
Blues legend TREVOR FRANCIS is the main man on this collage. He was a teenage wonder back in 1970, making his debut at 16, and he never looked back, going on to score over a 100 goals for Birmingham and play for England.
Sensationally, Trev was then the first £1Million British player, when signing for Nottingham Forest in 1979. He's best known for his winning goal in the European Cup Final that year with Forest, but his most consistent goalscoring form was with the Blues. He even came back as manager and got them to the final of the League Cup in 2001.
Here he is below, and as ever keep an eye out for these other bits on the collage ...
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| Trevor Francis in his classic Blues kit of the early 70s |
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| Retro pin badge, dating from the 70s. |
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| Two brilliant cigarette cards of Harry Hibbs, a goalkeeper who served Birmingham and England with distinction from 1924-1939, playing 389 games for the Blues and gaining 25 caps for England. He also played in the F.A. Cup Final of 1931. The top card is from the 1920s and other, with the superb caricature drawn by the artist Mac, dates from 1935. |
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| This is the current Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers Association, Gordon Taylor, seen here in his playing days! He turned out for Birmingham as a winger in the early 70s. |
I hope you've enjoyed these four brand new collages of mine featuring all the major Midlands clubs.
My full list of RETRO FOOTBALL collages now reads like this:
ARSENAL
ASTON VILLA
BIRMINGHAM CITY
CHARLTON ATHLETIC
CHELSEA
CRYSTAL PALACE
EVERTON
LEICESTER CITY
LIVERPOOL
MANCHESTER CITY
MANCHESTER UNITED
NEWCASTLE UNITED
QUEENS PARK RANGERS
SOUTHEND UNITED
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
WEST BROMWICH ALBION
WEST HAM UNITED
WOLVES
I'm currently making new greetings cards of these teams, with a revamped design, to go in my unit at The Customs House in West Bay, Dorset. I'll let you know when they are ready!
Next on my list might be LEEDS UNITED and NOTTINGHAM FOREST, although I'd like to have a crack at the two Glasgow giants, CELTIC and RANGERS.
Stay tuned for more news!!!
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