ANDY WALKER

Staff writer

The presence of Jack Frost at St Andrew’s on Saturday morning was an untimely and unwelcome sight for Birmingham City’s board of directors.

2009 was going to be the year when the Blues’ much-maligned board turned over a new chapter and finally put an end to their rickety relationship with the club’s supporters.

The heralded ten-point plan, as part of the recently-announced New Year...New Start campaign, was going to be a step in the right direction, a chance to raise the roof at St Andrew’s on a match-day once again and bring back the disenchanted.

St Andrew’s will become a venue that oozes history, be home to a big screen and rock to the sounds of a crisper and clearer public speaker system.

However the postponement of Saturday’s FA Cup third round encounter with Wolves due to a frozen pitch raised a sore subject that wasn’t included on that list of ten points - undersoil heating.

A bugbear for years and something that their fellow peers in the Midlands are proud to make use of, the subject of undersoil heating just won’t go away for Birmingham City.

There was a noticeable silence from the club over the weekend with regards to the touchy issue but questions will continue to be asked whenever these chilly winter months are upon us.

This recent magnet for criticism is the last thing that those at the helm of Birmingham City needed and, as they have promised, now is the time to listen to the St Andrew’s faithful.

If that is what they decide to do then those ten points will soon have to become eleven or they will find themselves out in the cold once again.

The cancelled FA Cup tie will now be played on Tuesday, January 13, with the winners due to face Middlesbrough in the fourth round at the end of the month.

Meanwhile recent Birmingham trialist Seamus Coleman, the Sligo Rovers defender, is awaiting a call from Alex McLeish after expressing his satisfaction with his showing at Wast Hills.

The 20-year-old Irishman spent a week on trial and played in a friendly game against Sheffield United. Now he is waiting to see if he did enough to earn a dream move into the English game.

“I was happy enough with the way things went with Birmingham but I’m still a Sligo player,” said Coleman. “I’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I trained with the first team and played a friendly with against Sheffield United. They have an excellent set-up.

“I always said that I would love to play in England. If a move happens, then it happens.”

While Coleman waits, Birmingham winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie looks to have already been told that his six-month loan deal from Spartak Moscow won’t be extended.

Today is the deadline for the option to extend the Ghana international’s loan and it is believed that Owusu-Abeyie will now seek another English club rather than return to Russia.

n?A number of other matches fell victim to the weather. Sheffield United’s game with Leyton Orient, Cheltenham’s match against Doncaster and Swansea’s trip to Histon were all called off.