A BIRMINGHAM City fan who realised his dream when he played for the club has revealed how being jeered by the St Andrew’s faithful was the toughest experience in his football career.

In his new autobiography The Smell Of Football, Mick Rathbone speaks candidly about his “uncomfortable” spell at the club he had cheered from the terraces as a boy.

The father-of-three, who grew up in Sheldon, said: “I played c**p for Birmingham and the stick I got was justified.

“It was a real uncomfortable time and easily the hardest chapter of my career.

“I always felt the burden of my uncles being there (in the crowd) and my chemistry teacher.

“I always thought of them when I made a bad pass. I used to sit in the pub on a Sunday night and get stick from fans. Every fan on the radio phone-ins would call in saying I was rubbish.

“It was hard to take but it made me a stronger person.”

The book is also packed full of lighter, more humorous tales of nerve-wracking encounters with boyhood Blues idols.