00:00It's shaping up to be a pivotal summer for Birmingham City not just in terms of recruitment
00:09but also in embracing the fresh challenges of life back in the Championship.
00:14As a securing promotion from League One, Blues are now preparing for a significant step up in quality
00:21with a renewed sense of ambition and energy around St Andrews.
00:25With a new campaign looming, the club must strike the right balance between adding experience to the squad
00:33and maintaining a long-term vision for sustainable growth.
00:38Birmingham already boasts a solid foundation, especially with several key players retained from their promotion-winning campaign.
00:47The summer focus now turns to smart additions, players who can raise the level
00:52without disrupting the togetherness that powered last season's success.
00:57We caught up with Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World to get his take on Blues' summer outlook,
01:03which positions are likely to be prioritised and how the club's hierarchy plans to back the manager
01:09while keeping an eye on the future.
01:11Charlie, on Birmingham City, obviously we mentioned the summer window was going to be big
01:18and you obviously put out on yourself that you weren't expecting it to be so big
01:23but the owners came and confirmed that they are going to go big again.
01:26This is an incredible era for Birmingham City.
01:29I mean, it started last season and they sort of built up.
01:32I mean, it could have even started when they got relegated
01:34and the positivity around that relegation was remarkable to see.
01:38But they are now back up to the second tier.
01:41They've now got a job to do again.
01:44Loads of transfer rumours in and out.
01:46I mean, these are big rumours as well.
01:47Big players, lots of experience that could happily drop down to the likes of Birmingham City
01:53and then there's also Wrexham as well.
01:55You know, why wouldn't a player want to come and join these teams at the moment?
01:58Because the only way is seemingly up.
02:01The momentum is really with those clubs, isn't it?
02:03You've got those who've been in the Championship for a long time
02:06and you would normally consider to have a better chance of finishing in the playoffs.
02:10But it's a weird anomaly in the case of both Wrexham and Birmingham.
02:14They're going to be immediately pushing for the playoffs, I think.
02:17But then what happens to the likes of West Brom and Middlesbrough and Coventry,
02:21who've been on the fringes or just about inside for so many years now,
02:24it's going to be really exciting to see.
02:26And as you say, there's probably going to be a lot of investment from Birmingham's side yet again.
02:30And there's been a lot of focus on trying to bring in free agents to start with.
02:34Of course, contracts expiring on June 30th means that the first part of the transfer window
02:39is probably more focused on those free transfers.
02:42But once we head into July and August,
02:44once we've had a few fixtures at the start of the season as well,
02:47a few areas of the squad, a few gaps might kind of get clearer.
02:51And then Chris Davis will look to improve in those positions.
02:54But yeah, I think there's some fantastic names being linked to the club.
02:58One that I quite like to see happen and makes a lot of sense is Tommy Doyle from Wolves.
03:04Been linked to a potential loan move or a permanent move.
03:07Permanent would probably be a bit too expensive at this stage.
03:11But of course, not really fitting into Vito Pereira's plans at Molineux
03:14could shift into that Birmingham midfield,
03:17competing with the likes of Iwata and Pike Sung-ho.
03:20It's been such an amazing partnership, Iwata and Pike.
03:22But if you have someone like a Doyle, who's maybe a little bit more creative,
03:26a bit better with his longer passing,
03:27it could give Birmingham a bit of a different dimension.
03:29But he's just one of many, many players that have been linked to the football club so far.
03:33And the fans are rightfully getting excited because a few years ago,
03:37they'd be spending a million tops maybe on a top signing and hardly that.
03:41And quite often they were flops.
03:43So and spending way too much wages on players that didn't quite deserve them.
03:46Now, yeah, the wages are high.
03:48The transfer fees are going to be high as well.
03:50But it seems like there's a lot more kind of thought behind every transfer.
03:53And they should start into Davies' plans pretty well.
03:56The Birmingham were up against a low block because teams just accepted that they were
04:00definitely the underdogs.
04:01They just sat deep and it was quite difficult to break down.
04:04Birmingham got a bit frustrated at times,
04:06but then Davies would be a bit more flexible about it.
04:08Might use his wing backs, push him a bit higher up
04:10or push a centre-half up a bit like Christophe Clara to really push defences.
04:14I think we'll see a bit more of that again.
04:17Of course, the quality of opposition will be tougher next season
04:20and maybe teams will come out of Birmingham a bit more.
04:22And that could actually suit Blues quite well because when teams come at them,
04:26of course, they'll be spacing behind.
04:28The pace of Jay Stansfield, potentially Kwame Poku coming on from Peterborough as well,
04:32could be really good for them to have.
04:34And yeah, I think it'd be really positive.
04:36Chris Davies, he's definitely a clever character.
04:39He showed that last season and I'm quite excited to see how he'll do in the Championship.
04:42Yeah.
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