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SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY 13-5-05
After the heady start to this highly unusual season, the traditional Christmas slump and the familiar spring revivial, we still cannot say whether the campaign has been a successful one or not.
The bottom line is this. After fifty-two matches in four competitions and more highs and lows than we have experienced for many seasons, everything hinges on Sunday's result at the City of Manchester stadium.
If we get the point that we need, or better, then this season will be seen as a resounding success because we qualified for Europe through the league for the first ever time. A success, despite our pathetic capitulation in the two domestic cup competitions and our very own Lisbon tragedy.
Defeat on Sunday is a possibility that must not be discounted and should we all be commisserating instead of celebrating come Sunday night, then the season will be marked down as a failure, despite it being synonymous with our first taste of heady European nights.
Should we lose, much wailing and gnashing of teeth will take place. Everybody involved will be unmercilessly criticised, Mr Gibson apart, and the knives will be out for England bound Steve McClaren in a big way.
England bound Steve McClaren? According to various well-connected sources (Harry Haverton told me), it's a done deal because it won't be Sam Allardyce. Despite the Bolton boss' managerial talent being proven beyond doubt, his personality will prevent him from landing the biggest job. In the FA's eyes, that is more important than your ability to be successful in the role.
So that leaves Steve Bruce or Steve McClaren and the latter's experience at international level will ensure that Birmingham will not need to seek a replacement, come the time.
That time may arrive sooner than expected. If we do need to book a flight to Turkey, Hungary or Uzbekistan for an Inter-Toto Cup date, it could trigger wholesale changes within the club. Forget about the previous fifty-two matches. Everybody's future hinges on Sunday.
There comes a time when delivering the goods is not only essential but is the only option. Should we fail on Sunday then we weren't capable of producing when it mattered most. We will have failed at the final hurdle and will have to pay the price for that, however expensive it may be.
And can there be a bigger motivator for the players and management team? If the knowledge that a whole season's hard work will be wiped out by defeat on the final day is not enough to stir us onto a famous win, then there really is no hope.
On the other hand, if we are smiling at the end of an ugly, tension filled ninety minutes then we will be able to restore the belief that we had at the start of this season in time for next. That's how critical Sunday is, as if you weren't already aware.
There have been a lot of comments from fans who can happily accept some of our abject performances during the middle part of this season because we are in a much stronger position than we were in a few years ago. Of course we are, however the surest way to failure is complacency.
Surely it is better to follow our chairman's lead and adopt the driving ambition that has put us where we are today and will take us to further glory in the future. That means accepting that we have the right to expect to be in Europe every season and seeing it as failure if we don't get there.
It will certainly be seen as harsh if a cull takes place because of one result but if heads do roll in the event of us not qualifying for Europe, will it actually be because of one result? A more convincing theory is that it will be because of the lack of motivation in mid-season that cost us more than twenty points and at least four places in The Premiership.
It is of our own making that everything is resting on this one last opportunity. Never have we had such a good reason to win and never before has so much been at stake from one league match.
And as we have created the situation where everything hinges on Sunday, there can be no excuses for not producing the required result. We dug the hole for ourselves and if those who are responsible for our success do not produce, then the consequences will be theirs to carry.
This is more than a game and very much more than entertainment. Sunday shapes the future of our club and the future of some of the key figures currently at the club.
Those are the stakes you play for at this level and it's much more satisfying than watching England play. As Steve McClaren will be finding out within the next fourteen months.
Until next week.
Steve
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