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Cover Story: Chris Wood strikes against Club Brugge in Europe
We take a closer look at the story behind our most recent matchday programme cover
2026-04-13T12:00+01:00
One of the rules of footballing engagement for supporters is to ‘never fall in love with a loan player.’ Whether we ever were besotted with Chris Wood to the point of proposing marriage is a moot point, but there is no question that every Blues fan loved his work in the old city of Bruges on the evening of October 20, 2011.
Still only 19 when he took to the field in Belgium, Chris certainly didn’t look it. Born in Auckland, he was a typical son of the land of the All Blacks - a giant, hulking, powerful figure who would have looked just as at home at Twickenham as at St. Andrew’s. Yet he was already a veteran of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with a vuvuzela to prove it.
Blues were back in Europe courtesy of the League Cup win the previous season. What was not part of the plan was that we were there as a Championship side, though that, in part, was why Wood was with us. A component, along with Boaz Myhill, in the loan swap deal that took Ben Foster to The Hawthorns, initially for just a season. In the opening weeks of the campaign, Chris had already caused a stir, the loanee ripping up the Lions, banging in a hat-trick against Millwall, our first loan player ever to bag three goals in a game.
We duly defeated Nacional in our play-off game to reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, and were drawn in Group H alongside Maribor, Braga and Club Brugge. We got off to a false start with a 3-1 home defeat to Braga, but a win at Maribor gave us fresh heart as we travelled en masse to Belgium.
No English club had beaten Club Brugge on home soil across 43 years of trying - not West Bromwich Albion, not Chelsea (twice), not Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, not even Liverpool in their 1976 pomp. And, let’s be honest, when Joseph Akpala gave the hosts a third minute lead, it didn't look as if Blues were going to change that record. That goal might even have spoilt the party but perhaps fortified by an afternoon’s worth of Stella Artois, Blues fans remained in good spirits. About 50% proof by then.
Boaz Myhill recalled: “That was an amazing night. What I remember most was the smell of booze from behind the goal - so funny! All the way through, you were very, very conscious of the smell of alcohol coming off our supporters! It smelled like everybody had had a good time before the game!”
With a slightly woozy version of ‘Keep Right On’ ringing out around the Jan Breydel Stadium, the players were suitably inspired. After 26 minutes, we were level, David Murphy catching the Bruges defence napping, coming in at the back post to level things up.
The game remained locked at 1-1 deep into the second half when, in the final moments of normal time, Akpala and Pablo Ibanez went up for a header, the two coming together with a sickening crunch of skulls. It was Pablo who came off worse, left unconscious for several minutes, the injury sufficiently fearsome to leave Guirane N’Daw in tears as he witnessed the aftermath.
Pablo was eventually taken off the field on a spinal board, though thankfully his injuries were not as severe as originally feared, and he was playing again a fortnight later. We did not know that at the time though, and it says much for the character of that Blues team that they regained their composure and they took the game to their opponents.
And then, nine minutes and two seconds into the ten added on for Pablo’s injury, Marlon King made one last run down the right and speared a cross into the box. Running onto it at the near post, ten yards out, right in front of the massed ranks of Blues fans was Chris Wood. History had come calling.
An instinctive jab of the right leg and the ball flashed into the Brugge net, a glorious finish from a tight angle, fit to win the game. Suddenly Wood was celebrating, the Blues fans were going berserk, a hero was born. And if, after that, there was a bar in the whole of Bruges that had a single drop of ale left in it that night, it would have taken Hercule Poirot to find it.
The return game was drawn 2-2 thanks to a blistering second half comeback from Blues, but defeat in Braga meant that when the Portuguese side travelled to Bruges for their final game, a draw would send both sides through. Casting no aspersions, but you didn't need to be a clairvoyant to work out what the result was going to be, and so Blues were out, despite defeating Maribor at St. Andrew’s to end the group on 10 points, one shy of Club Brugge and Braga.
If it did end prematurely, it was a distinguished campaign, both players and supporters had done Birmingham City proud, right across the continent. More than anything, it was a reminder of just why football matters, mobilising an army of supporters, taking us out into the world, creating memories that will last a lifetime, making friends in places we might never otherwise have seen. What else in our lives other than Birmingham City can do that?
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One of the rules of footballing engagement for supporters is to ‘never fall in love with a loan player.’ Whether we ever were besotted with Chris Wood to the point of proposing marriage is a moot point, but there is no question that every Blues fan loved his work in the old city of Bruges on the evening of October 20, 2011.
Still only 19 when he took to the field in Belgium, Chris certainly didn’t look it. Born in Auckland, he was a typical son of the land of the All Blacks - a giant, hulking, powerful figure who would have looked just as at home at Twickenham as at St. Andrew’s. Yet he was already a veteran of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with a vuvuzela to prove it.
Blues were back in Europe courtesy of the League Cup win the previous season. What was not part of the plan was that we were there as a Championship side, though that, in part, was why Wood was with us. A component, along with Boaz Myhill, in the loan swap deal that took Ben Foster to The Hawthorns, initially for just a season. In the opening weeks of the campaign, Chris had already caused a stir, the loanee ripping up the Lions, banging in a hat-trick against Millwall, our first loan player ever to bag three goals in a game.
We duly defeated Nacional in our play-off game to reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, and were drawn in Group H alongside Maribor, Braga and Club Brugge. We got off to a false start with a 3-1 home defeat to Braga, but a win at Maribor gave us fresh heart as we travelled en masse to Belgium.
No English club had beaten Club Brugge on home soil across 43 years of trying - not West Bromwich Albion, not Chelsea (twice), not Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, not even Liverpool in their 1976 pomp. And, let’s be honest, when Joseph Akpala gave the hosts a third minute lead, it didn't look as if Blues were going to change that record. That goal might even have spoilt the party but perhaps fortified by an afternoon’s worth of Stella Artois, Blues fans remained in good spirits. About 50% proof by then.
Boaz Myhill recalled: “That was an amazing night. What I remember most was the smell of booze from behind the goal - so funny! All the way through, you were very, very conscious of the smell of alcohol coming off our supporters! It smelled like everybody had had a good time before the game!”
With a slightly woozy version of ‘Keep Right On’ ringing out around the Jan Breydel Stadium, the players were suitably inspired. After 26 minutes, we were level, David Murphy catching the Bruges defence napping, coming in at the back post to level things up.
The game remained locked at 1-1 deep into the second half when, in the final moments of normal time, Akpala and Pablo Ibanez went up for a header, the two coming together with a sickening crunch of skulls. It was Pablo who came off worse, left unconscious for several minutes, the injury sufficiently fearsome to leave Guirane N’Daw in tears as he witnessed the aftermath.
Pablo was eventually taken off the field on a spinal board, though thankfully his injuries were not as severe as originally feared, and he was playing again a fortnight later. We did not know that at the time though, and it says much for the character of that Blues team that they regained their composure and they took the game to their opponents.
And then, nine minutes and two seconds into the ten added on for Pablo’s injury, Marlon King made one last run down the right and speared a cross into the box. Running onto it at the near post, ten yards out, right in front of the massed ranks of Blues fans was Chris Wood. History had come calling.
An instinctive jab of the right leg and the ball flashed into the Brugge net, a glorious finish from a tight angle, fit to win the game. Suddenly Wood was celebrating, the Blues fans were going berserk, a hero was born. And if, after that, there was a bar in the whole of Bruges that had a single drop of ale left in it that night, it would have taken Hercule Poirot to find it.
The return game was drawn 2-2 thanks to a blistering second half comeback from Blues, but defeat in Braga meant that when the Portuguese side travelled to Bruges for their final game, a draw would send both sides through. Casting no aspersions, but you didn't need to be a clairvoyant to work out what the result was going to be, and so Blues were out, despite defeating Maribor at St. Andrew’s to end the group on 10 points, one shy of Club Brugge and Braga.
If it did end prematurely, it was a distinguished campaign, both players and supporters had done Birmingham City proud, right across the continent. More than anything, it was a reminder of just why football matters, mobilising an army of supporters, taking us out into the world, creating memories that will last a lifetime, making friends in places we might never otherwise have seen. What else in our lives other than Birmingham City can do that?
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Cattell Rd.,
St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park,
Birmingham,
B9 4RL
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Cattell Rd.,
St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park,
Birmingham,
B9 4RL
Stay connected with exclusive Birmingham FC updates, match highlights, and behind-the-scenes content—straight to your inbox.
