Birmingham issue statement condemning racially motivated gestures towards a Charlton fan

Birmingham City issue a statement condemning racially motivated gestures which were made towards a Charlton fan on Saturday afternoon.

The League One leaders picked up a 1-0 thanks to a goal from Jay Stansfield, however the afternoon was marred by the actions of a home fan, which the club have become aware of.

They have issued a statement apologising to the Charlton community and add that sufficient action shall be taken against the supporter once West Midlands Police have completed their own investigation.

I was sat right in-front of it. Some middle-aged woman and a couple friends started making monkey gestures at some black Charlton fans.

Letting our fan base down. So sorry to the away fans. Hopefully a lifetime ban incoming; no place for it, and it’s not at all who we are.

— Extra Human (@human47469) February 16, 2025

BIRMINGHAM CITY STATEMENT:

The Club is aware that at yesterday’s match against Charlton Athletic, a supporter in the home end made racially motivated gestures towards an away fan.

We would like to apologise to our visitors from Charlton and stress that this mindless action does not represent our football club.

Birmingham City has a zero tolerance for such behaviour and we always take action.

We are working closely with West Midlands Police to identify the individual concerned.

Once identified we will support the authorities in their investigations and once that is concluded we will take appropriate action ourselves.

We will keep supporters updated on the investigations.

Laughing my arse off at this, at least they look like they’re having fun😂😂 #BCFC #CAFC pic.twitter.com/AITRZ8pzhB

— AJ (@AyJay66) February 16, 2025

Laughing my arse off at this, at least they look like they’re having fun😂😂 #BCFC #CAFC pic.twitter.com/AITRZ8pzhB

— AJ (@AyJay66) February 16, 2025

Twitter users gave their reaction as Birmingham issue statement condemning racially motivated gestures towards a Charlton fan…

@RyanDeeney2194: You wear our emblem. You support our foreign ownership. You cheer players with English, European, Asian and African backgrounds. You sit amongst one of the most multi-cultural fanbases in the country. Why do you hold such hate?

@PaulFulford: Well done, Blues. There’s no place for racists in our ranks.

@bengoldietv: They ain’t one of us. No real blues fan would ever do that. We’re a club for everyone 💙 #bcfc

@Con_Bcfc: Get them banned for life

@Tarantini_1875: You see pretty much every colour, religion and race under the sun in and around St Andrew’s on a match day. Boggles the mind that someone can associate themselves with the club and also do this. One of our best players this season is an England born Muslim of Nigerian descent FFS

@stellytalks: That’s not who we are. This is so disappointing!

@paul8290: Fair play to #BCFC for coming out with this statement, and I have given their fans alot of stick since the game but their fans seem to be in agreement whoever this was deserves a lifetime ban so again fair play to them for that #CAFC

@91xMH: Absolute fucking twat! Does not represent our fan base one bit. He/she ain’t a true blue. As a person of colour myself, The amount of love and kindness I have been shown by our fans and the friends I have made. That’s the true #BCFC family. Not that twat.

@DaveSherlock3: We need to take responsibility for this it’s our cross to bear… embarrassing. Better Standards need to be set.. this is not the club my uncle brought me up supporting. This is not what I want my kids hearing. Life time ban … end of

Birmingham extend their unbeaten league run to 15 games as they beat Charlton 1-0 at St Andrew’s to maintain their status at the top of the table.

Jay Stansfield netted in the 23rd minute to go nine points clear of second-placed Wycombe and the Blues side have a game in hand.

Birmingham boss Chris Davies said: “We have done that many times this season, and we had to show it today.

“In the first half we blew them away and should have been 3-0 up. They had nothing to press, we were playing balls in behind and making good runs.

“The football was very good and very strong, we were more aggressive, and we got our goal and could have had more.

“The second half became scrappy, and we had to show that fight and determination, win duels, and we did that very well.

“I think we’ve proven in the last few months that when it gets scrappy, we can stand up and fight, and when we have to play football, we can play football, and that’s a good balance as a team to have.”

“We want to make it a long afternoon and a long evening for teams when they come and play against us,” he said.

“But we just must give credit to the players. It takes a lot every three or four days to get up and go again, and play with intensity, and play with determination and physicality.

“It’s not easy and every team wants to beat us or draw against us, so full credit to the players because they have shown a real determination and resilience.”

Charlton’s Nathan Jones said: “I’m a bit disappointed but they gave me everything, they really did. We just needed a bit more guile, a bit more cleverness.

“They’re the best team in the league – they’ve spent more than anyone, they’ve got a huge budget. They’re well coached, a difficult side but we want after them and it took an error really to give them the game, otherwise there was nothing in the game.

“I thought at the end we were pushing. I thought it was a little bit of nativity from us at the end because we kept giving free kicks away – they saw the game. We’d nullified them to very little, we’ve got to be a little bit better in possession. I thought we didn’t the energy that we normally have today. It’s a three-game week, it’s a big effort and we’ve just fallen short today.

“I’m really proud, really proud of the club. The fans were absolutely outstanding. They outsang theirs. They had more than 20,000 supporters but our fans out-sang them and that showed where we were second half and that they weren’t any kind of dominant in any way.”