Birmingham City: away supporters' guide
RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.
THE OPPO – Birmingham City
DATE – Wednesday 25th February
KO TIME – TBA
THE GROUND – St Andrews, Birmingham – click here and here for maps of the area - the circle near the middle shows where the ground is.
St Andrews is just east of the centre of Birmingham, and is handily placed for the M6, M5 and A45 from the east midlands.
Away supporters are seated in one half of the Railway Stand’s lower tier.
Ticket details are still to be announced, but will appear on our ticket news information page as soon as we get the details from the club.
GOING BY CAR?
Travelling from the north east, get yourself onto the A1/A1M southbound; just after you pass junction 45 (for the A64 Leeds/York road) you’ll see signs for the M1 – so take the M1 southbound. You join the M1 at jcn 48 and you need to stay on it until you reach jcn 23A. Then leave the M1 for the A42 (signposted Tamworth and Birmingham) – after 14 miles this becomes the M42. After another 14 miles, leave the M42 at jcn 9 then join the M6.
Stay on the M6 until jcn 6 then join the A38M Aston Expressway. Take the second turnoff for the inner ring road.
At the top of the ring road turn left, onto the Ring Road East. Go straight over at the first three ‘islands’ and at the fourth, turn left towards Small Heath – St Andrews is just up the road on the left.
There’s street parking just off the ring road and also many local businesses make their car parks available for a small fee on match days.
GOING BY TRAIN?
The nearest train station is Bordesley, a 10 minute walk away from the ground, served by trains from Snow Hill.
From Sunderland go up to Newcastle Central Station then change for a train to Birmingham New Street. The 2.02pm will get you to Brum at 5.39, the 2.45pm arrives just before 6pm or the 3.06pm will get you there at 6.39pm.
If you’re coming from the south, get on a West Coast Mainline train at London Euston that stops at Birmingham New Street.
When you arrive at New Street you can either take a cab to St Andrews or it’s a 20 minute walk.
Unfortunately the last train out of Birmingham New Street that could get you back to the north east (via connecting services) leaves just after 9pm (I’ve heard of leaving early but 9pm is ridiculous). So if you’re travelling to and from the north east, you might want to consider staying over if you can (see below for suggested hotels).
For train times for that day, check the National Rail website.
ALTERNATIVELY…..
If you’re feeling flush, fly from Newcastle to Birmingham – the airport’s just down the road from St Andrews.
Not so flush? Take the ALS coach and tell them we told you to.
STOPPING OVER?
Ibis Hotel, Bordesley Pk Rd, Birmingham tel 0121-506 2600
Formule 1 Hotel, Bordesley Pk Rd, Birmingham, tel 0121-773-9583
Hotel Campanile, Aston, nr Birmingham, tel 0121-359-3330.
These hotels are all within easy walking distance of the ground
SCRAN AND BOOZE
There are plenty of pubs in the city centre but the pubs closest to St Andrews can be quite intimidating for away supporters, local police advise you to choose your watering hole with care! You might be just as well waiting until you get into the stadium than getting a pint or two in there - and as a bonus, the balti pies are said to be recommended.
LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH
There are ATMs from Abbey, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and Nat West on Coventry Road, less than half a mile away from the ground.
IN THE NEWS
Keeper Nico Vaesen has gone to Bradford City on an initial one month’s loan – he’s just returned from a loan period at Gillingham.
Steve Bruce is said to be keen to give Jeff Kenna and Bryan Hughes new contracts as soon as the Blues secure their Premiership position.
Man U and England’s Nicky Butt recently turned down a move to St Andrews.
THIS SEASON
Currently 9th of 20:
P24 W9 D8 L7 F27 A26 Pts 35 GD -3
HOME FORM
P12 W5 D4 L3 F14 A14 Pts 19 GD 0
HEAD TO HEAD
Including Feb 14th’s game, we’ve played Brum eight times in the FA Cup: they’ve won five, we drew two, and Sunderland have won one. Before this year’s 5th round, the last time we played them in the cup was in the 83/84 season.
LAST 6 MEETINGS (all comps, not incl 14.2.04)
12/04/03 Brum 2 Sunderland 0
23/11/02 Sunderland 0 Brum 1
09/05/99 Sunderland 2 Brum 1 (Phillips, Quinn)
19/12/98 Brum 0 Sunderland 0
10/03/98 Sunderland 1 Brum 1(Johnston)
14/09/97 Brum 0 Sunderland 1 (Gray)
Credits: Birmingham City FC, Link, Thomson Local, Rough Guide to English Football, Soccerbase, streetmap.co.uk, Yellow Pages, The AA, BBC, National Rail.
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