History

History states that Birmingham City started life as Small Heath formed by cricketers who wanted something to do during the winter months. Previous grounds included waste ground off Arthur Street and Muntz Street, but it was in 1906 that Birmingham (having changed their name in 1905) moved to new premises at St Andrews. Legend has it that when moving to their new premises the club had to evict a camp of gypsies, much aggrieved at their removal from site, one of the gypsies allegedly put a curse on the club that it would never win any of the major honours whilst playing at St Andrews.

Now nobody ever believes in these things but the club has not won any of the major honours in its 130 plus years of trying. A single League cup victory against the auld enemy Aston Villa in 1963 doesn’t count as not every club entered the competition in its early days. Birmingham City (having added City to its title in 1945) were one of the first English clubs involved in regular European competition having been inaugural members of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, an invitation competition. The sojourns in Europe provided funds for the development of St Andrews and the provision of floodlighting at the ground. Birmingham reached the final in 1960 only to be beaten over two legs by Barcelona and then the following competition they reached their second final to be beaten this time by AS Roma. That was then that as far as Europe was concerned until the Anglo Italian cup in the 1990’s but probably the less said about that the better.

St Andrews was mainly terraced (unreserved standing) having the Spion Kop and Tilton road as large terraces. A small terrace at the railway end of the ground was replaced with a two tier stand in 1961 with money from the European games. The ground was largely unchanged through the relatively successful period of the 1970’s but fell into much disrepair during the uncelebrated reign as chairman of scrap metal merchant Ken Wheldon who was so tight he wouldn’t even heat the water for player’s post match showers.

The dawning of a new era occurred in 1993 with the current owners David Sullivan and the Gold brothers taking charge. They oversaw significant redevelopment of St Andrews with stands replacing the Spion Kop and Tilton terracing and the Railway end being doubled in size. The final stage of redevelopment will be the old Main stand but any work is held in abeyance while discussions are still ongoing for a potential new ground as the City of Birmingham stadium. Currently the ground does look a little lop sided but some might say this adds to its charm.

General Ground Information

Turnstiles generally open 90 minutes before kick off. The usual rules apply – no bottles or cans, flares, fireworks, folding ladders etc.

The ground has undergone a huge transformation since the mid 90s with three new stands surrounding the pitch. The oldest stand, the Main Stand, was built just before the 1960s and is starting to look a little forlorn and out of keeping with the rest of the ground, though until, like many clubs, a decision is taken on whether to relocate to a new stadium or remain on the current site, there seems little point in commencing any building work.

The Main Stand offers decent views as, unlike many built at the same time, there aren’t huge numbers of supporting pillars obstructing your view. A downside is that it is dated and despite being two-tiered, it is smaller and more claustrophobic which supporters more cramped together in terms of seating and leg room. 

The Tilton Road End and Spion Kop Stand are one single tier stands with runs round half the pitch. As you would expect for a recently-built stand, views are excellent and access relatively easy with increased leg room and smaller blocks of seating which means you don’t have to squeeze past as many people to get in and out of your row. The Directors Box is housed at the back of the Spion Kop. With most grounds, despite been covered, the front rows can get wet if it’s raining and/or windy, especially in the Main Stand Paddock.

Opposite the Tilton Road Stand is the two-tiered Railway End stand and the rather odd-looking Olympic Gallery which is perched on the top. Away fans are housed in a section of the Railway End on the Spion Kop side with home supporters above and to their left, which can make for a decent amount of banter.

Food on sale inside the ground is the usual hot dogs, Balti pies, crisps and sausage rolls, alongside hot and cold drinks, and Carlsberg beer. Queues are long especially around half time, though in certain parts of the ground they now have stewards marshalling the queues which seems to work better than the usual free for all system. Unlike most grounds who will take the cap off drinks bottles before passing them over the counter, the caterers are only allowed to serve drinks in cups.