Birmingham City Match Thread - Singing the Blues

O for 2 on league match threads so far - I'm hoping for something better ...

Birmingham City
It was all going so well. After years of the poor management of Carson Yeung Birmingham were bought by the American Shelby Companies Ltd, themselves a subsidiary of Knighthead Capital Management. Garry Cook, ex-Manchester City, was installed as CEO and New England Patriots legend Tom Brady turned up as a minority shareholder. The team was sitting happily in sixth place when a decision was made to replace ex QPR man John Eustace with someone who could create a winning mentality and a culture of ambition across the club: Wayne Rooney. Rooney managed two wins from 15 matches and left the club in 20th place. The club then appointed a safe pair of hands in Tony Mowbray who very unfortunately became seriously ill and had to take medical leave. Gary Rowett came in as interim manager but was unable to stave off relegation.

Mowbray resigned in May 2024 and was replaced by Chris Davies who was Ange Postecoglou’s assistant at Tottenham. He is best known as Brendan Rodgers number two having worked with him at Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester City. The question is what sort of a tune he can get out of a squad who do not see their future in League 1.

This is a squad full of players who have played most of their football in the Championship or above and six have international experience (Peacock-Farrell, Paik Seung-Ho, Miyoshi, Bielik, Willumsson and Sampstad). On top of this, they have spent something just north of £14 million on the squad bringing in players from far and wide. They have lost highly rated young midfielder Jordan James to Rennes and there must be a question about whether others will follow.

Last year there was a distinct lack of creativity and goals. Proven League 1 goal poacher Alfie May has arrived to solve the goals problem on a three year contract. At the moment his back-up is 35-year-old Lukas Jutkiewicz, so it is very much all eggs in one basket, unless others chip in. Tyler Roberts has talent, and Premier League experience, but cannot get out on the pitch much over the last couple of years. The creativity problem is addressed partly by Willum Willumsson, an attacking midfielder who scored and created in the Eredivisie for Go Ahead Eagles and is now expected to feed Alfie May. There are also lots of dribbly boys and tricky wingers. Siriko Dembele is still in the squad, having put up decent numbers in the Championship and Emil Hansson who provided lots of assist and progressive passes in the Eredivisie. Japanese winger Koji Miyoshi produced goals and assists for them last year and is joined by his compatriot tiny dancer Ayumo Yokoyama. Although they can’t all play at once (can they?), it makes for a high-quality bench.

In the centre of defence is club captain Krystian Bielik partnered by new arrival Austrian Christoph Klarer from Bundesliga 2. Accident prone Dion Sanderson, red-carded in the Carabao cup at Charlton will be looking to regain his place. Alex Cochrane from Hearts is the current left back, with Lee Buchanan unavailable. Ethan Laird is a very good attacking right back on his day, although his day does not come around often enough. However, a Saturday afternoon in London in August followed by a good night out would seem attractive. Icelandic international right back Alfons Sampstad might have something to say about this, having arrived on loan from Twente, presumably to play.

Marc Leonard garnered rave reviews at Northampton last season and will presumably play a big role for Birmingham in midfield. Juninho Bacuna and Seung-ho Paik provide quality as well.

So far they have played a possession heavy 4-2-3-1 and haven’t been beaten, although they drew at home to Reading. Given their strength on the bench, this is not a game for Orient to fade in the second half.

This club wants to go straight back up to the Championship and automatic promotion is the minimum expectation. This could all go right but also has the potential to go very wrong. Depending on Alfie May and 35-year-old Lukas Jutkiewicz to provide goals is a risky strategy as you are only one injury away from being short, so I would expect another striker to come in. There also have to be some doubts about the squad’s willingness to dig and work when things are not going right. This is a big squad and, even with rotation, there are going to be a lot of players not playing. Davies no doubt has high standards, but he has always worked with better players and as the number two – so who knows what might happen. Ultimately, the owners have the money so even if it does not happen this year, it will happen eventually.

Transfers
In: Bailey Peacock-Farrell GK (Burnley, £530K), Ryan Allsop GK (Hull City, £980k), Alfie May CF (Charlton, £950k), Emil Hansson LW (Heracles, £1.7 million), Alex Cochrane LB (Hearts, £1.2 million), Alfons Sampsted RB (Twente, loan), Christoph Klarer CB (Darmstadt, €4.15 million), Willum Willumsson AM (Go Ahead Eagles, €4 million), Ayumo Yokoyama LW (Sagan Tosu, €1 million), Marc Leonard CM (Brighton, €590k), Luke Harris AM (Fulham, loan)

Out: Neil Etheridge GK (Buriram Utd [Thailand], free), John Ruddy GK (Newcastle, free), Alex Pritchard AM (Sivasspor, undisclosed), Ivan Sunjic DM (released), Scott Hogan CF (released), Gary Gardner CM (Cambridge, free), Marc Roberts CB (Barnsley, free), Emanuel Aiwu CB (Cremonese, end of loan), Oliver Burke RW (Werder Bremen, end of loan), Zach Jeacock GK (Lincoln, free), Jordan James CM (Stade Rennais, €5 million), Emmanuel Longelo LB (Cambridge, loan)