Say "no" to Bowyer

Dear Steve Bruce / Karren Brady / David Gold / David Sullivan / Ralph Gold

It has come to the notice of the members of Small Heath Alliance Internet Forum, via the press, that the club has been linked with the player Lee Bowyer.

We wish to make our feelings, and those of other Birmingham City fans, known in no uncertain terms.

We believe strongly that Bowyer is unworthy as a person to wear the clubs colours and represent the name of the city via that affiliation.

That is not to say we do not see some merit in his playing ability, or that we do not believe in giving players a chance to prove that they have seen the error of their ways. However, Bowyer is a different case altogether.

The West Midlands is quite rightly proud of its multicultural heritage and the signing of a player with Bowyers' " proven in court " record, would send all the wrong signals to certain sections of the community. Over the past few years Birmingham City Football Club has done much to distance itself from racism and, amongst others, we would implore you to look at press reports regarding Emma Keeney (who says Bowyer split up with her when he discovered she had an Asian grandparent because he couldn't risk any baby having any "brown" in it)", court reports of Bowyer's September 1996 court case when he was found GUILTY of affray and fined 4500 (after allegedly in an Isle Of Dogs McDonalds he threw his burger to the ground and said he wasn't going to eat anything served by a 'f...ing Paki' , before trashing the place), the fact he was tested positive for drugs in 1995 when at Charlton , the transcript of the judge's comments regarding Bowyer's behaviour and testimony in the court case after Sarfraz Najeib was chased by a gang of thugs outside a Leeds nightclub in January 2000 (they punched and kicked him, and broke his leg, nose and cheekbone, reducing his face to a pulp) , and of course not forgetting that he is currently facing
charges brought by Northumberland Police resulting from fighting with one of his own Newcatle team-mates on the pitch.

While, under Steve Bruce, Birmingham seem to be adept at taking so called "trouble makers" and seeking to help them work through their "problems", we view Bowyer in a slightly different light.

We have to say that very few of us would feel comfortable applauding the guy wearing our shirt and that quite a large section of the local community would have every right to feel that they have been ,to a degree, "slapped in the face" by his aquisition.

Again we understand , in the final analysis, that the manager picks the team and the board buys it. However, we feel in this case that the fans wishes should be taken into consideration as they are not simply of a footballing nature.

Violence, racism AND drugs, is there a worse player we could be associated with ?

We have encouraged people to leave their e-mail addresses in support of our feelings....