Brady pledges price cuts

The Blues board has come under fire for keeping their pricing policy for the recent Sunday morning game against Stoke when less than 16,000 turned up.

Brady admits the club has made mistakes, but made the bold claims on investment, while insisting the pledge on season tickets would remain whichever division the club was in next season.

Blues have dramatically slashed their budget after relegation from the Premier League.

But Brady insists that the with the new TV money coming into the top flight next season – every club will bank a minimum of £30m – Bruce can expect to be armed with major funds.

"Of course there will be serious investment," said Brady. "There's a lot of money coming into football next year from the broadcasting deal.

"Both Steve and I and the rest of the board have learned once you get there, it's the only place to be, the only party to be at.

Contract

"We've learned from our mistakes, we understand what needs to be done and that's going to take an enormous amount of investment.

"The board has got to stump that money up and invest that money in the club's future."

The first lady of St Andrew's also promised fresh terms for Bruce, adding she "would hope so" when asked whether he would get a new contract.

Brady also made this pledge on season tickets: "Season tickets will automatically be 20 per cent cheaper next year under the deal we already offered to season ticket holders.

"Regardless of what division we're in, those who want a season ticket next year, are guaranteed it will be 20 per cent cheaper.

"By doing that, matchday prices can be cheaper, so it gives us a better structure on which to build."

Brady added: "We're disappointed we haven't had sell-out games, but we recognise the reasons and that's why we continue to work to ensure we recapture people's leisure time and ask them to come back to Birmingham.

"We do that through gentle persuasion, pricing and through putting on what we hope is entertaining football. We made mistakes, we intend to put them right.

"We will have more flexibility to do that next year, but this year everyone is focused on getting us promoted."

Brady reduced prices for last Sunday's clash against Cardiff and the club were rewarded with a near sell-out crowd.

"Sunday was a reason to celebrate why we do the things we do – to get 28,000 gate at 11.30 on a Sunday morning is fantastic," she said.

"Even for the Stoke game, 15,000 people paid £29 to watch a match at 11.30am on a Sunday. That's a credible amount of people – pop concerts would die to get that."

Bruce is focusing on matters on the pitch – quite literally ahead of tonight's clash with Derby.

The St Andrew's playing surface has been heavily criticised after being relaid in January, but it remains bobbly and muddy.

Bruce said: "It will be relaid and redone in the summer. We've had agrominists looking at it this week. Basically it's knackered, it's a disaster area for us. We've got an inflatable cover on it this week.

"The last two or three days have been drying weather. It's been a wet winter and we've borne the brunt of it."