Boyhood Birmingham fan Allsop relishing Wembley 'dream'

Ryan Allsop has kept 20 clean sheets for Blues this season

Birmingham City goalkeeper Ryan Allsop has been to Wembley before - once as a fan, twice as a player and he has been on the winning side each time.

But, when he heads back for this Sunday's Vertu Trophy final against Peterborough United, it will be his first visit as a Blues player - and, for Allsop, at the age of 32, that is beyond the stuff of dreams for the boyhood fan.

"It was an easy decision to come here to join my boyhood club," said the summer signing from Hull City, who was Chris Davies' first signing as Blues boss.

"And I've played at Wembley twice before, for Wycombe Wanderers in the League One play-off final and for Lincoln City when it was the Checkatrade Trophy. And I've been on the positive side both times.

"To play at Wembley is a dream - but to do it for your boyhood club is something else."

The 1-0 Trophy win over Shrewsbury Town with the Imps in 2018 was in front of a crowd of 41,261, barely half the number who will be there on Sunday.

Two years later, when Wycombe beat Oxford United 2-1, it was the summer of the Covid pandemic and the only people who saw it were at home watching on TV.

But they both still left their mark on him.

"Everything is so intense," he said. "Hopefully I can use my experience well.

"The atmosphere and all the emotion surrounding it is something you can't really describe. I remember playing for Lincoln that day and I came in from the warm-up just drained from the atmosphere."

Uppermost in his mind when he walks out, on what is still the world's most famous football pitch, will be his nearest and dearest.

It was his dad who first started taking him to Blues games more than 20 years ago - and who was sat alongside him at Wembley when the club last went there and won, the extraordinary 2011 League Cup final triumph over Arsenal, the same year the club were last relegated from the Premier League.

"A really memorable day - and a massive day for the club," Allsop said.

But Allsop was already a St Andrew's regular by then.

"I remember I used to have soccer school on Saturday mornings and I'd rush home, have lunch and then go to the game with my dad.

"I'd always want to go in the Blues shop. I remember getting a shirt and a Beau Brummie [mascot].

"My favourite player was Peter Ndlovu but I loved them all really, Gary Rowett, Martin Grainger, Darren Purse, Michael Johnson, Ian Bennett, Martin O'Connor, Dele Adebola, Stern John, Stan Lazaridis, all these sort of players."

Boyhood Blues fan Ryan Allsop has kept 20 clean sheets in league and cup games this season

When Blues did go up to the Premier League for the first time under Steve Bruce in 2002, they did it in Cardiff, as Wembley was still under its seven-year reconstruction.

But, having been there as a fan 14 years ago, Allsop is so full of pride to now go back as a Blues player.

"I've got the chance to play for Blues at Wembley in front of my family - and not many can say that.

"My family are the ones who have motivated me and been beside me in everything I've experienced in football and life.

"My three children, my wife, my mum and dad, they've ferried me about for ever and they never miss a game. My auntie too. She hasn't missed a game all season.

"I'll feel emotional when I see their faces. Then it's a case of putting my game face on and concentrating on the job in hand."

'To be able to call myself a Blues player is special'

Following the departure of John Ruddy to Newcastle United and the release of Neil Etheridge following relegation last season, Blues signed two keepers this summer - Allsop and Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

Allsop actually started the season as second choice, making only three cup appearances, before getting his first league start in the 1-0 home win over Huddersfield Town on 1 October.

But there has been no looking back since, having let in only 18 goals in his 32 league appearances and he said just playing for Blues every week fills him with pride.

"To be able to call myself a Birmingham City player is special," he said.

"I'm so proud to put the shirt on and I just want to give 100% and make people feel proud of me.

"I try to take it in all the time when I'm playing for Blues at St Andrew's and the fans are singing. I just want to make sure I'm taking every single moment in."

Ryan Allsop was talking to BBC Radio WM's Richard Wilford.