Blackpool 6-1 Birmingham: Tangerines stroll to easy win against poor Blues
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Lee Bowyer has been in charge of Birmingham since March 2021
Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer has described his side's humiliating 6-1 Championship defeat by Blackpool as his "worst day in football" and says he is prepared to "move on" if the club's owners want him to.
Bowyer saw his struggling side taken apart by a Blackpool team who had not won in their previous five games as Jake Beesley marked his first start with two goals while CJ Hamilton scored one and made another.
Beesley tucked home Hamilton's low cross after only three minutes as the Tangerines dominated the first half, with Blues the architects of their own downfall for a second successive game.
Hamilton lashed in a second after Blues gave the ball away in midfield before Kenny Dougall made it 3-0 from a short corner, as the visitors' defence dozed.
Beesley tapped in his second shortly after half-time as Birmingham failed to deal convincingly with a corner.
Although Ivan Sunjic pulled a goal back, Jerry Yates' late penalty and Callum Connolly's 35-yarder completed Blackpool's saunter to a first win in six games to pile more pressure on beleaguered Bowyer.
It was Blues' worst defeat since losing 6-1 at Hull in September 2017, in their last game under the caretaker management of Lee Carsley, between the departure of Harry Redknapp and the appointment of Steve Cotterill.
"That's the darkest day I've experienced in my whole football career. It was unacceptable from start to finish," Bowyer told BBC Radio WM.
"I never associated myself with quitting and failing in that way but I'm in charge and stand there in front of the players.
"That was my worst day in football."
Having thrown away a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to Coventry on Good Friday, Blues' defensive limitations were again ruthlessly exploited as the Tangerines raced into a two-goal lead inside the first quarter of an hour.
First, Hamilton tormented Onel Hernandez down the Birmingham left before drilling his low cross to the edge of the six-yard area, where Beesley slid in ahead of Nico Gordon.
Jordan Graham then carelessly poked the ball in-field from the touchline straight to Dougall. He fed Hamilton, who checked back inside his marker to fire past Zach Jeacock at his near post.
That prompted Blues boss Bowyer into a formation change, with Hernandez deployed at the tip of a midfield diamond, and it was not long before it mustered their best chance when returning captain Troy Deeney - making his first start in three months after injury - had a header well saved by Chris Maxwell.
Bowyer prepared to step aside
The visitors' soft underbelly was again exposed shortly after - this time from a quick short corner routine - as Dougall reacted quicker than the Blues' static defence to nod in Charlie Kirk's cross. That triggered more torrents of boos from the travelling fans and an impromptu team huddle led by Deeney.
Blues did start the second half slightly better, with Lyle Taylor forcing a smart stop from Maxwell, but it was not long before Beesley grabbed his second when Blues failed to properly clear a corner and Beesley finished off the rebound after Jeacock had parried Connolly's shot.
With a simmering atmosphere in the away end threatening to boil over with chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirt", Birmingham belatedly got their act together when Deeney's lovely pass on halfway set Hernandez clear down the left, and his cutback was side-footed in by Sunjic.
Beesley came close to his hat-trick but saw his header hit a post before Yates added a fifth from the spot, after Taylor had fouled Gary Madine, and Connolly smashed in a glorious free-kick from 35 yards.
Jake Beesley joined Blackpool from Rochdale in January
It completed a miserable Easter for Birmingham, who have conceded 10 goals in two games to slip to third defeat in a row, as their bleak season limps to a desperate end.
"There was no fight, no passion, no desire - I've never experienced as a player or manager your own fans singing what they were signing and they had every right to sing what they sung," Bowyer added.
"I'd be stupid to think that my job is as safe as I think it should be. We've conceded 10 goals in two games but this is the hand I'm dealt.
"Obviously people aren't going to be happy upstairs and they have every right to be - I don't disagree.
"I take full responsibility, so if the owners want to have a conversation with me and tell me to move on, then I'll move on."