Blues’ Vertu Trophy trip and summer plans

National World - LocalTV

A look ahead to big events for Birmingham City

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00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and the Virtue Trophy final. Now, obviously, we've

00:06mentioned before, it's a final that Blues will want to be in now and probably never

00:11again in terms of the league position to be entering the league cup instead, the Carabao

00:17Cup as it is known now. In terms of that, the day out at Wembley, we mentioned how great

00:22it is for confidence, how great it is for this new sort of era at Birmingham City as

00:26well. If they can go and win a bit of silverware there and brag that, that's fantastic for

00:31these owners and the new project and it could help attract players in as well. In terms

00:37of the final, 43,000 tickets sold just for Birmingham City fans. This shows how big they

00:43are and we discussed when they went first down to the Championship how big of a club

00:47that they are to fall. If you look at the table, there are so many in there that used

00:52to be in the Premier League not so long ago as well. So, they've done such a great job

00:56this season and this could be a bit of an icing on the cake job if they are to go to

01:01Wembley. What do you feel ahead of the Wembley trip? It's going to be a great day out for

01:05Blues fans.

01:06It absolutely is. It's just such a big boost for morale, isn't it? I know that they're

01:11obviously dominating League One, expected to win that title, but to win two pieces of

01:14silverware in the same season after so many years of struggles and pain under the old

01:19ownership, to have the new ownership coming in, not quite going to plan with the choices

01:23appoint Wayne Rooney, getting relegated later in that season, but then to have the boost

01:28again of winning matches, to go up, to get another trophy as I mentioned, and the trip

01:32to Wembley, that can make such a difference for supporters that just having that day out,

01:37getting away from, I mean, St Andrews is great to go to, but having something a bit different,

01:41having that day out at Wembley is so, so important. I mean, when your own club gets there, it's

01:46such a great thrill, isn't it, to be in and amongst the support. Birmingham City, 43,000

01:51tickets, as you mentioned, selling out their entire allocation, fighting to try and get

01:55more and more. Unfortunately, that is it now, it has been capped at 43,000. Peterborough

02:00for comparison is around 20, 21, 22, and then they've not sold out their allocation just

02:05yet. And for comparison as well, last season's Virtue Trophy final, or Papa John's as it

02:11was known back then, 42,500 tickets sold overall. Birmingham sell 43,000. It's going to be an

02:18incredible day, an incredible atmosphere, and Chris Davies determined to get that trophy

02:22over the line.

02:23Yeah, and just looking at their home form, they're unbeaten at home this season, 17 wins,

02:28three draws, zero losses. How important has that been in terms of their chase? Obviously,

02:34you want to make your home ground a fortress, but you may accept the odd loss there, but

02:39they've taken nothing there. Obviously, the FA Cup lost to Newcastle, but outside of that,

02:46in terms of the league, it's been absolutely flawless at home this season, and hopefully

02:50they can carry that into the championship.

02:52Yeah, absolutely. They need to make it a fortress, and you'd expect them to do that with the

02:58amount of signings they made in the summer, the amount of money that was spent, but to

03:01actually go and do it is a different thing entirely. Having the club and the team gelling

03:06so many new players is important. A new manager, you've got to remember that Chris Davies had

03:10never been a proper manager before this. He'd only been an assistant coach. Some top clubs,

03:16but he would only be an assistant. Now, stepping into his first role, I think he's proven he

03:20was ready for that, and just the leadership, the morale, the togetherness at the football

03:24club is so important to have that, and to go unbeaten at home, that would be an incredible

03:28achievement. Still a few matches to go, admittedly. They could still lose one, especially when

03:32the league is probably wrapped up before the end of the campaign, but it would be great

03:36for them to wrap that up. It'd be a great statistic and one that they can bring in with

03:39great confidence going up to the championship.

03:43Just in terms of the summer window, obviously we've mentioned a lot of players have dropped

03:48down to Blues' level to join them, to invest in this project and get them back up. How

03:54do you see them spending in the summer? They've been very ambitious so far. The championship

03:58is a bit of a different kettle of fish, though, in terms of the financial restrictions you

04:04can face. What do you think they're going to be prioritising in terms of the summer

04:10window, in terms of investment into new players?

04:14I think we'll see some investment, but just not as much as last year. Last year was an

04:17incredible rebuild and one we won't ever see again, probably at League One level. Yes,

04:22in a championship it brings more money, they'll have more revenue, the prospect of potentially

04:26going to the Premier League. Could they take a gamble, spend a lot more money and then

04:30go up and rebuild that revenue out of that? Potentially. It could surprise us all and

04:34go and spend even more tens of millions on players. I don't think it'd be that much.

04:38Getting someone in like Phil Newman on a free transfer, a fantastic centre-half wanted

04:43by Bundesliga clubs, is a great step in the right direction. Making sure that Taylor Garden

04:47Hickman joins permanently from Bristol City for less than a million pounds, great business.

04:52Alphonse Samstedt coming in for the Icelandic international, a similar fee after his loan

04:57spell. Some great business done so far. I think more shrewd additions like that, free

05:02transfers, potentially loans in from the Premier League could be done. And then maybe, as I

05:07say, they could invest a little bit more into those maybe attacking positions. We've

05:11got Jay Stansfield there already at Birmingham, but Alfie May, he's done well at times. He

05:16had a big gold drought. Could they maybe try and sign another striker to support Jay Stansfield

05:20at that level? Potentially. But I suppose it's just a wait and see job. Probably not

05:24as much money spent, but still investment nonetheless.

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