Birmingham City fans protest against owners in march before Championship tie with Sheffield United wearing white masks to represent ‘faceless owners’ making slow progress at the club
- Birmingham fans protested against their Chinese owners before Friday’s match
- Fans wore white facemasks to highlight the ‘faceless’ ownership of the club
- The owners are accused of doing slow progress on their stadium redevelopment
- Birmingham asked its fans to respect their match against Sheffield United
- Club chiefs have blamed a lack of communication on cultural differences
Birmingham City fans protested against their owners’ running of the club by collectively marching to the ground in plain white facemasks before their match with Sheffield United.
Blues fans are said to be unimpressed with the Birmingham Sports Holdings group, led by Chinese businessman Paul Suen and the slow progress they are making on the redevelopment of their St Andrews’ stadium which has seen most of the ground closed this season.
Supporters will blow whistles in the 18th and 85th minute of Friday night’s match in order to call time on the current ownership, even though the club asked the protesting fans to not let the demonstrations affect the Championship fixture.
Birmingham fans marched in protest against their owners before their match with Sheffield United on Friday night
Blues fans wore white facemasks to highlight the ‘faceless’ ownership currently at the club
The protest began at the city’s Bullring Tavern, as fans marched towards St Andrew’s with the club preparing to face the Blades sitting 17th in the second tier, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
One fan told Sky Sports News: ‘We’re upset about not knowing who our owners are. We are upset about being owned by faceless businessmen. This is our club, this is our history, this is our passion.
‘This (the St Andrews’ stadium) is a building full of memories for us, memories not shared by the people who own us.’
Birmingham released a statement earlier on Friday, calling for the fans to remain ‘peaceful’ in their protests, despite acknowledging their concerns about the club.
Blues fans have complained about the slow progress on developing their St Andrew’s ground
It read: ‘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.
Birmingham released a statement calling on fans to respect the 90 minutes of Friday’s match
‘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.’
In an interview late last month, Birmingham City director Edward Zheng blamed a lack of communication between the club and the fans on differences between British and Chinese culture.
‘This club is not for sale,’ he told talkSPORT. ‘We have no intention to sell the club. I just think this is because of the cultural differences.’