Birmingham City’s hopes for Championship return season

National World - LocalTV

A look at Blues and where they stand ahead of their return to the second tier.

Transcript

00:00So, Charlie, as the summer sort of wilts to a bit of an end

00:03and the football starts getting underway again,

00:07Birmingham City, we've mentioned, you know, going into the summer,

00:11we weren't really sure how they'd operate,

00:12how they could afford to generally go and spend big again.

00:17They've ended up spending incredibly well

00:19with some sort of proven Premier League talent in there,

00:22the likes of Tommy Doyle from Wolves, an incredible signing.

00:26Beer Wolves, you know, we cover Wolves a lot as well

00:28and we saw him, you know, I think that's a perfect snatch

00:31for Birmingham City for a club to go and get him

00:33and how good he was in the Championship with Sheffield United as well.

00:37I mean, they've really, really strutted their stuff, this window.

00:42It's been a massive intent again

00:44and it's also sort of setting up for this, you know,

00:47another season under this regime, under this new era

00:51and, you know, Blues fans are certainly excited now.

00:55Oh, absolutely.

00:56I mean, I wasn't expecting them to spend masses of money this summer,

01:00but we knew they'd spend something

01:01because Blues have been projected to be amongst the top five

01:05for revenue this season in the Championship,

01:07which is incredible, really, isn't it,

01:08when you consider they're in League One last season.

01:10But Tom Wagner, the main owner, and then Tom Brady as well,

01:13getting involved in the transfer business,

01:15in the revenue side of things, it's all going so well.

01:18Tommy Doyle, as you mentioned, what a signing that is.

01:21He can play, obviously, a little bit further back in central midfield,

01:24or he can play as an attacking midfielder as well.

01:26His technical ability in the Championship, that's a joke.

01:29I mean, I know he didn't play much for Wolves,

01:31but I think that's because Vito Pereira prefers

01:33some of those more kind of defensive-minded central midfielders.

01:37And then you had Cunha in that 10-year-old last season.

01:40Doyle for Blues should absolutely shine,

01:42and as should the likes of Kanye Fujimoto,

01:45Kyogo Furuhashi, two Japanese players brought in this summer.

01:48Kyogo, if you're any Celtic fans watching along,

01:51we'll know exactly who he is or anyone who's been keeping any eye

01:54on the Scottish Premiership.

01:55He scored so many goals for Celtic before landing a move to Rennes in France.

02:00Didn't quite work out, and Blues have spent about £10 million to bring him in.

02:04He can play out front, he can play on either wing,

02:06he can play as a number 10.

02:08You've got Jay Stansfield as well, of course,

02:10who they broke the transfer record for last summer.

02:14You've got Kanye Fujimoto, who I mentioned as well,

02:17who played very well in the Portuguese top flight.

02:20And then in defence as well, they've also bolstered Phil Newman,

02:23who was at Hanover, really quick and tall centre-back,

02:26expected to start alongside Christoph Clara.

02:29Bright are so, Samuel, who was playing for Fenerbahce

02:32under Jose Mourinho last season.

02:33He's coming in at right back to offer competition for Ethan Laird.

02:37There's just so many exciting new additions.

02:38Blues fans can't quite believe what they're seeing at the moment.

02:41And the fact they're already being discussed

02:43for promotion to the Premier League is incredible,

02:45I can see why.

02:47Yeah, I mean, it's great having all these players surrounding the job,

02:50but the pressure will be mounting on Chris Davies in the managerial dugout.

02:54I mean, he showed a lot of character last season to come into this role,

02:59you know, with all the turbulence that had gone before him,

03:02the likes of Wayne Rooney's spell, and then that sort of downfall,

03:06and obviously the relegation.

03:08I mean, he's a massive feather in Blues' cap to have a young manager,

03:12an ambitious manager, who also believes in the project.

03:15It seems like the owners are really backing him.

03:17How confident are you that he's going to really impress

03:20in the Championship this season?

03:23He's definitely the right man for the job, no doubt about it.

03:26Coming into League One, I know everyone expected Birmingham to walk it,

03:29and they should do, really, with the signings they made,

03:31but you've still got to make all these new players gel.

03:34You completely changed the culture at the football club

03:36before there's so much laziness going on.

03:39And if anyone's seen the documentary, you'll see that Tom Brady ripped into that.

03:43The likes of Wayne Rooney as a manager, his work rate not enough.

03:46So many of the players didn't have the right mentality.

03:49The first thing Davies wanted us to do, apart from all the important transfer business,

03:52was the change of that mentality to make his team the fittest in League One,

03:56and you can see they reaped the rewards.

03:58I think they'll be targeting the same kind of form this season,

04:01both on and off the pitch.

04:03Davies says that every single training session is so, so important,

04:06and players that don't treat it as that will be out the door very quickly.

04:10So I think we'll see a few more players leave this summer,

04:13not necessarily for the lack of effort,

04:15but just because of the step up in levels and performance and fitness as well.

04:19It's going to be a tough challenge,

04:20but I think Blues have got what it takes to get up there into those promotion spots.

04:24Yeah, just on a bit of a pre-season prediction,

04:28where they're going to go in terms of the table, how it's going to look.

04:32They've obviously got them, they're one of the sides who've come up and are investing.

04:36You've got that pool of uncertainty now in the Championship,

04:39that those clubs that are lingering, maybe the likes of West Brom,

04:41Middlesbrough, Norwich, Bristol City, you don't know what they're going to do and produce.

04:45And then you've also got, obviously, the dogs who've come down from the Premier League as well.

04:49And then the likes of Sheffield United who missed out,

04:52who are going to be challenging once again.

04:53It's going to be an incredible season, an incredibly competitive division.

04:57Do you feel Blues have what it takes to get those massive winning runs,

05:02those runs where you have to play Saturday, Tuesday,

05:04and you have to pick up points every week?

05:07You know, this momentum they can carry on from that League One record-breaking campaign.

05:12You know, where do you sort of see them finishing up this season?

05:16Well, I certainly think Birmingham are very well-equipped to deal with that kind of schedule.

05:19I mean, the squad depth they've got is incredible in most positions as well.

05:23I can't really think of too many places in that team where you'd be worried.

05:27Even if there are injuries, there are so many players you can step up.

05:30Lots of versatile players as well.

05:32Someone like a Taylor Garden Hickman might not start too many games,

05:35but play right back, you can play midfield, you can play on the wing if you need them to.

05:39Those kind of players can really step up for Chris Davies' team.

05:42And I mean, I think the pressure is going to be there,

05:44but they're a team that's got a very good fan base, home and away.

05:47If you can put together good runs at home, as they did last season,

05:50completely unbeaten at St. Andrews in the League.

05:52If they could do similar this year, I mean, they're going to be right up there.

05:56It is all about those patches of form, as you mentioned.

05:58Can they do that consistently?

06:00I suppose we'll wait and see.

06:01But Blues heading into the new season in a very good position indeed.

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