Inside Birmingham City 'party': Jay Stansfield's tears, Garry Cook's message and no shows

Jay Stansfield stole the show at Birmingham City’s end-of-season awards dinner by collecting all five gongs. It was a strange evening in the ICC building to mark Blues’ campaign just over 24 hours after relegation to League One was confirmed.

To their credit, the vast majority of the squad turned up to mingle with supporters and celebrate the other successes at the club in the past 12 months. Notable absentees included Krystian Bielik, Siriki Dembele, Scott Hogan and Oliver Burke.

Chief executive Garry Cook started the evening with a speech that rarely moved away from his key message: “The comeback will be greater than the setback.” We all hope so.

Cook was able to delight supporters at the end of his speech by revealing that a memorial statue for the late, great Trevor Francis has been commissioned. That piece of news understandably sparked the loudest cheer of the night.

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Tired and weary Blues fans turned up in numbers, and they clearly enjoyed parts of Cook’s opening gambit. Comedian Axel Blake acknowledged that he didn't fare so well - but it could have been worse.

The women’s team failed to achieve their promotion goal but a fifth-placed finish in their respective Championship is greater cause for celebration than relegation. Neve Herron, Martha Harris, Lilly Agg and Libby Smith took home their respective accolades.

But Stansfield was the big winner on the night. The 21-year-old claimed the goal of the season award for his debut belter versus Plymouth, young player of the season, top scorer, players’ player and supporters’ player of the season. When Stansfield accepted one of his awards he made reference to 'the number of managers coming in', which sparked laughter. The elephant in the room had finally been addressed, albeit unwittingly. “I don’t know why you’re all laughing!” he quipped.

By the end of the night, when host Pete Graves called Stansfield up to the stage for a fifth time, there was almost a look of embarrassment on the forward’s face. That soon turned to tears when the wrench of leaving Blues hit home.

It is so rare that a loan player is held in such high esteem. Birmingham City has become his club. “The whole club means everything to me,” he said.

The ‘party’ that absolutely nobody wanted turned out to be a fitting send off for a player who has given absolutely everything for the cause. There will always be a place for Stansfield in Birmingham.