Tom

Cumbrian Bluenose

[David Hunter @cyclingmole]

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[Mike Holden @binaryfootball]

The situation at Birmingham.

John Eustace and Wayne Rooney are polar opposite personality types.

Completely different functions, different attitudes, different temperaments.

They could hardly be more different.

• Eustace values control (work to a plan)
• Rooney values chaos (be ready for anything)
• Eustace is tribe above self (shared collective cause)
• Rooney is self above tribe (motivation comes from within)
• Eustace works to logical criteria (tactics and strategy)
• Rooney works to emotional criteria (desire and motivation)

The above variables all have their own merits. They each bring varying rewards in different contexts and scenarios, over different timescales.

The players don't know any of this. They haven’t got a clue what's going on.

They just know its different, and it has spooked them. Big time.

The players were content with the blueprint they were working to. They were invested in Eustace.

Then Garry Cook does what Garry Cook does and imprints his ruthless ambition on proceedings.

He doesn’t want content now, he wants success later. Big success.

Bigger success than most of those players are capable of achieving.

So now those players are wrestling with the realisation that this might no longer be a journey with a final destination for them.

They might be surplus to requirements sooner rather than later.

One minute, you're in a controlled environment and everything is settled, everyone knows where they stand and all the messages are predictable.

The next minute, it's all change and the messages are different. It's unsettling. And it's bound to affect performance.

This is no longer the season those players thought it was going to be. No longer the future those players thought they were going to have.

Back to square one.

All that conditioning in the summer?

All the stuff they thought their efforts and performances were going to be judged on?

It's just been ripped up and thrown out of the window.

Start again. New guy, new methods.

The players have gone into survival mode.

For them, this is a crisis situation. Nobody knows where they stand.

That collective cause that Eustace fostered?

Now it’s every man for himself.

When you're in survival mode, you can't be creative.

You can only be creative and fully express the best version of yourself when you feel safe.

And to feel safe in this context, you have to have strong convictions about yourself and your abilities.

The ones who do have a long-term future at St Andrew’s will be the ones who react best to this change and step up quickest.

If you can quickly adapt to this sudden threat to your livelihood, then you might just have what it takes to survive in the Premier League as well.

[Merseyside Police @MerseyPolice]

A simple request - share this far and wide, to everyone you know, and ask them to share if further still, so that there's no hiding place for anyone involved in the murder of little Olivia.

We need names.

Silence is not an option.

[Tom @TWBCFC]

@davidjpallas Are you able to follow me please so I can DM with an offer?

[Tom @TWBCFC]

@BCFC @OnelHernandez23 #BSHLOUT

[Lovintagefooty @lovintagefooty]

Size update ‼️ a few the sizing tags have faded so will have to update the rest tomorrow & get measurements. 🙌🏻 thank you for the unreal reaction blues fans! I appreciate it. Will be available to buy from Monday morning 9am. First come first serve 🙌🏻 at https://t.co/PS34Bl3lx7

[Tom @TWBCFC]

@classicshirts #classicfootballshirts

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[Tom @TWBCFC]

Taylor would be interesting given that he refused to play for Bowyer when Charlton were in a relegation battle because he was coming to the end of his contract.

[Tom Garry @TomJGarry]

Birmingham City Women's players and staff are angry and frustrated after the club's board declined to pay a nominal fee of under £500 to move their game v AVFC to St George's Park to ensure it was played, days before a frozen pitch saw it called off (1/2)
https://t.co/H6sOiucuCe

[Tom @TWBCFC]

BT commentator says Rodgers hasn’t beaten Liverpool for 9 years. Spent 3.5 of those years at Liverpool and another 3 years managing in Scotland 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Tom @TWBCFC]

Lee Mason on VAR for the Soucek red? Always been useless him. Gave a pen against us at Bramall Lane many years ago which was never a pen.

[Tom @TWBCFC]

Need a goal so take Hogan off and leave new striker Cosgrove on the bench 🤯

[Tom @TWBCFC]

@TheSpecialRon @dan_bcfc

[Tom @TWBCFC]

Soft defending, nothing new there.

[Tom @TWBCFC]

Good start, deserve that goal. This is where we usually let ourselves down though, got to keep this up.

[Tom @TWBCFC]

Here we go

[James Horncastle OSI @JamesHorncastle]

First meeting since Juventus’ exit from the Champions League brings with it a definitive decision: Sarri sacked

[Tom @TWBCFC]

@the3rdDuke Said this to my dad today. Relegation or administration. Or both.

[Tom Garry @TomJGarry]

Colleagues from @BBCSportWales, covering Swansea at St Andrew's tonight, advise that Pep Clotet did not turn up for his post-match press conference after the game.
They say they were told Pep “had other things to do” #BCFC