The second rate city

Andy Munro has a bit of a moan.


I’ve got a £20 bet with a Villa-supprting mate about who will finish highest in their respective divisions and depressingly it looks like it could go down to the wire. Both our clubs were initially taken over by Chinese cartels with dubious financial credentials while Manchester seemed to effortlessly attract the oil money.

But never mind football. We are supposed to be the second city but it seems Manchester have that tag in most people’s eyes. We have all but given up our broadcasting status, letting the Mancunians take over the regional mantle seemingly without a fight. Even the local radio is ‘West Midlands’ rather than ‘Birmingham’. On that subject, we don’t even merit showing up in the half a dozen geographical key areas shown by the weather forecasters.

We have a West Midlands Combined Authority when it should be Greater Birmingham while Andy Street, an ex-John Lewis CEO West Midlands Mayor, fails to intervene or try to prevent us losing our flagship store as its equivalent in Manchester prospers.

Our music scene with the likes of ELO, Black Sabbath, UB40 and the rest have never been called a Birmingham scene despite their international fame while Manchester artists manage to to that for their city with ease. It’s all a bit depressing but, wait, we have the Commonwealth Games coming up only two decades years after they were hosted in Manchester – if they don;t get cancelled.

I’m a proud Brummie but I think we are ill-served by the politicians, quangos, assorted agencies and accompanying bureaucrats who supposedly represent us . Apart admittedly from the football we have plenty to shout about but seem to fail dismally to do that effectively.

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