Criticized Lee Bowyer called Birmingham’s dismal 6-1 loss at Blackpool his “worst day in football” but insisted he would not retire unless pushed by the club’s hierarchy.
The Blues suffered a drubbing on Easter Monday at Bloomfield Road when Jake Beesley’s double helped the Tangerines to their first win in six Sky Bet Championship matches.
An angry crowd of 3,500 traveling fans raged at their players throughout the one-sided contest as the mathematically safe Birmingham slumped to their third consecutive defeat, including 10 goals conceded in the last two games alone.
Former Blues midfielder Bowyer admits he feels the pressure in the San Andreas hot seat and believes a full club overhaul is required to get his stuttering side back on track.
“This is my lowest day in football,” he admitted.
“I have been in football for about 20 years as a player and coach. As a player, every time I walked off the field I had my head held high and could look my coach in the eye and say I gave 100 percent.
“But that didn’t happen today. To lose the way we did, to have your own fans singing the songs that they sang, that they had every right to, that’s horrendous.
“It was not acceptable, that is the worst day I have had in football.
“There are so many things that are wrong, but there is no excuse to come second in the entire field and not fight for this football club.
“I apologize to the fans who spent their hard-earned money to come here and support the players.
“It is not acceptable what they have just paid to see.
“We need a cleanup. It’s plain and simple. This has been going on for years: we have crossed the line and there is no excuse.
“Is it going to be fixed quickly? No I dont think so. Nothing will change. I wish I knew about this situation before I came here.
“I will be here as long as you want me, I never associate myself as a deserter and I will continue to fight.
“I’d be stupid if I thought my job was as safe as I think it should be, but this is the hand I’m dealt.
“Obviously, people are not going to be happy at the top, and they have every right to be.
“If the owners want to have a conversation with me and tell me to go ahead, then I’ll go ahead.”
Beesley took just three minutes to open the scoring before CJ Hamilton and Kenny Dougall gave Blackpool a 3-0 lead at half-time.
Former Rochdale striker Beesley scored his second after the break and, despite Ivan Sunjic saving one for Birmingham, Jerry Yates’ penalty and Callum Connolly’s long-range late free kick capped off a dominant Tangerines display under the Sun of the Beach.
Blackpool sit 16th in the Championship table and boss Neil Critchley said: “It’s a great day.
“What we have done today is to be clinical and take risks, which we have not done in previous games.
“Our overall game was better in some of the other games we’ve played recently, but we lost.
“The counter-attack goals we scored, the first two goals, were high-quality goals.
“When you score and take advantage of those opportunities, it gives everyone a boost, you are full of confidence and the game is different.
“During 20 minutes, I have to be honest, I don’t think we were very good, we gave the ball up a lot, they got a lot of corners and some chances on the counterattack.
“But then we scored from a really good, well-worked corner – we took our chances today and that’s what made the difference.”
