To Coyne A Phrase

The story of the Blues

LEE Clark’s dismissal as manager of Birmingham City was welcomed by most Blues fans.

I think the majority felt, as I do, that his inadequacies as a manager – in areas such as tactics – had been overlooked for too long a period because of the frankly appalling conditions under which he had to operate.

But his win record – especially at home – was dreadful and ultimately that’s what got him the boot.

It will be interesting to see if a new manager can get more out of the same group of players who make up one of the weakest squads in the Championship.

Even at this stage of the season not getting relegated would seem to be the priority.

The ownership situation desperately needs sorting out and hopefully now that acting chairman Peter Pannu has left the (football) club things will start moving.

Certainly Blues fans of my acquaintance and sources close to the club suggest Panagiotis Pavlakis (Panos), who is now effectively in charge, has the energy and desire to get things moving in the right direction and the contacts to get a new ownership team in place.

It is too much to hope for some positive news before the end of the year? Good news on and off the pitch would be the perfect Christmas present for long suffering Bluenoses.
 

Let them eat zaatar fritter

THE excesses of their younger days in the Bullingdon Club may be behind them but the top Tories still make sure no expense is spared when it comes to entertaining.

Amadeus, the catering arm of the NEC group, created a bespoke menu for the Treasurers Business Dinner held during the recent Conservative Party Conference at the ICC Birmingham.

How about this for a menu – fresh & smoked salmon with pea’s pannacotta salad, lime cured shallots & tempura seaweed crumble; zaatar fritter of pressed Moroccan lamb shoulder & sweet potato dauphinoise, griddled courgette, minted peas & beans with feta cheese; artichoke heart tortellini with chargrilled asparagus, crumbled Bosworth Ash topped with oregano focaccia and layered apple and caramel tartlet with vanilla pod ice cream & toasted hazelnuts.

Clare Evans, events manager for the Treasurers’ Department said: “The food and service was first class. The team at the ICC were extremely helpful and nothing was too much trouble for them. They helped us put on a fantastic dinner!”

I bet they did.

Why am I reminded of the scene in Tom Sharpe’s Porterhouse Blue in which the dons at a Cambridge college dine on turbot au champagne and swan stuffed with widgeon?

Doing the splits

I CHAIRED a round table discussion this week on the regional transport scene and rail travel was a key focus – as you would expect with Birmingham at the centre of all things HS2.

One issue that didn’t come up, however, is the strange business of split tickets.

For the uninitiated this is where the traveller buys a number of tickets for their journey. For example, for a day return trip from Birmingham New Street to Leeds, instead of asking for a return to Leeds you buy instead a return from Birmingham to Derby, a return from Derby to Sheffield and a return from Sheffield to Leeds.

By buying cheaper localised tickets you end up paying around £35 instead of £50+ even though you never leave the train and may be sitting next to someone who has paid the full price.

Ticket sellers don’t mind you buying them – though they rarely tell you of their availability – and ticket collectors don’t mind clipping the extra tickets. Sometimes they praise you for your ingenuity as if you’ve discovered a well-kept secret.

Which it is of course.

But now a new tool – TicketySplit – has been set up to “take on the ridiculous train ticket pricing anomaly that means buying two separate tickets sometimes costs less”.

It gives the example of a Birmingham to Newquay advance single costing £150 but with a Birmingham to Chetenham and Cheltenham to Newquay split ticket it instead costs just £65.

It’s just a thought but a train operator that guarantees selling you the cheapest possible ticket option for your journey might find itself rather popular with passengers.

In the future when rail commuters will have increased choice about which operator to use this could be a game changer.

Just ask the supermarkets.

Have a great weekend.