The Tanner Report

On the Rust we supporters are encouraged to be subjective about our team, let our hearts rule our head. My head says that new but temporary manager Kit Symons does not have the skill-set to achieve promotion but my heart so wants him to succeed. After the fiasco of Magath here is a nice guy steeped in Fulham mending the wounds of a regime that won only 5 games. Kit has now won two on the trot and with Bolton coming to the Cottage on Wednesday there is every chance of making this three. We do hear reports that Kit was not that nice at half-time, ripping into the players who (according to my reporter) were playing so poorly we might have been 4 down. Once level Birmingham, who have an appaling home record, put up little opposition and for the first time since April  in the league we came away with the points.

There are still areas of concern: MaCormack has in no way justified his £11m tag; the defence is still porous; four managers and the Magath “system” has left the team shell-shocked and consistency of selection is the order of the day. There is still a point deficiency and goal difference to overhaul. Nonetheless we will wake up this morning with some joy in our hearts and those 1500 fans that made the trip to Birmingham, and did much to revive the team, must be the happiest of all.