Birmingham City manager Steve Cotterill does not seem to blame supporters who dislike him right now.
As reported by the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham City manager Steve Cotterill has claimed that he does not dislike any of the Blues supporters who are critical of his tenure in charge of the club.
Cotterill managed to oversee a turnaround in the fortunes of the Midlands side a few weeks back but, over the course of the last few games, they have slipped back into the relegation battle courtesy of losses to Aston Villa, Millwall and Brentford.
The three defeats highlighted just how unpredictable this division can be and, once you find yourself in a rut, it is difficult to get out of it due to the frequency of the games.
“Invariably you don’t suddenly shoot from the bottom of the league to the top of the league,” he said. “This squad and what’s happened here hasn’t been a top six squad.
“This league has moved on massively over the years. I sort of don’t take it personal. I don’t dislike anyone for disliking me at the moment. I understand it, it’s not nice and it’s painful at times.”
It is hardly surprising to see the level of frustration increase among Birmingham fans, many of whom were still not convinced by Cotterill during the Blues’ run of good form. The ‘rebuilding process’ has been non-existent at times and, unfortunately for Cotterill, Birmingham supporters have a habit of wanting to see quick results.
It almost seems as if the Villa Park loss to their bitter rivals completely took the wind out of Birmingham’s sails and they were not able to respond to it. There was so much emphasis put on the Blues’ ability to compete with high-flying Villa, that when they couldn’t, their confidence was drained.
St Andrew’s has never been known as a fortress, much to the detriment of the Blues, but Birmingham will need to do everything in their power to change that when they host Barnsley this weekend in a huge six-pointer.
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