I love St Andrew's - but it's time for Birmingham City to say goodbye

I love St Andrew’s (@Knighthead Park). From the moment I first climbed the crumbling steps and looked out upon the green pasture spreading out in front of me I was captured. I’d been to plenty of other grounds but this one felt different.

That was in April 1993, when Derby County arrived to face a Blues side managed by Terry Cooper that was in the First Division relegation places. There were only 15,000 people there but even amongst the gloom – and the darkness and slight decay is what lingers most in the memory – there was hope.

A month earlier David Sullivan had bought the club – and its dilapidated ground – and it was like a defibrillator had been applied after years of underinvestment. That Paul Moulden scored an absolute beauty of a late equaliser and Blues pressed for a winner only to have Darren Rogers sent off hinted at something I would come to learn. This was a club that giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other.

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So started my slight trust issues with Blues – and my affection for a stadium that, for a few years, quite frankly didn’t deserve it. Nevertheless, even three decades on, it was still heart-warming to know it had been brought back to life for the Sunderland match. There’s still nothing quite like St Andrew’s throbbing to a late Blues winner and the feeling that ‘it might be a ******** but it’s our ********’ will probably never go away.

Of all the many indignities heaped upon Birmingham City by the previous owners, their lack of care for St Andrew’s was the most unforgivable. Who lets a football stadium partially close for three years?

Hearts are supposed to have four chambers not two and St Andrew’s has always been where Blues’ heart is. They faced Barcelona and Roma at the old place, Aston Villa were beaten 3-1 in the 1963 League Cup final first leg, 16-year-old Trevor Francis scored four against Bolton, 16-year-old Jude Bellingham scored on his debut against Stoke – and so much in between.

However, the news Blues could be moving to a new stadium on the old Wheels site in Bordesley Green is a step in the right direction. Society has changed, football has changed and Birmingham City has changed, seemingly for the better, despite my trust issues.

I’m viewing it like moving house. As long as the house is suitable (West Ham anyone?) it’s a bittersweet experience but one that is bearable if your family and your belongings come with you. Memories, after all, live in our heads and for me Moulden’s sumptuous volley will still be part of the story even if the gloom has cleared.

Are you in favour of a move? Have your say here