Obscene, Vulgar & Unfair: Birmingham City's 2024-25 Summer Transfer Window
Blues have caused some controversy during a transfer window that has seen at least 40 squad changes. My thoughts as a fan on a summer like no other and how the parts fit.
I don’t know about everybody else, but I wasn’t overly fussed about deadline day.
Blues had almost completed their business. We had just added two or three extra bodies and looked stacked in every position. If anything, the day was going to be more about who leaves, with the potential of us adding another wide player if Miyoshi departed for Germany as anticipated.
The little one had woken me up at six o’clock in tears Friday morning so we got up, made a bottle and started the day. Cup of tea. Put on a wash. Get myself ready. Wake up my partner a touch earlier than she hoped given she was off for the day. A normal Friday. The only change was that I didn’t have to do the nursery run.
I’m at my desk wondering what task to start next when I get a ping on WhatsApp with a link to John Percy’s tweet:
Bloody hell, Birmingham City. Bid of around £9-10m has gone in for #Fulham striker Jay Stansfield, who scored 13 goals for Birmingham on loan last season. Blues trying to do a deal before the deadline: will be the most expensive signing ever in League One by a distance #bcfc #kro
Holy f*ck. We’re doing this.
It was impossible not to be invested in everything that followed. It’s on. The bid has been rejected. It’s back on. Fulham will do it if they sign somebody. Fulham are signing somebody. Now they’re not. But it’s on anyway. Fulham are definitely signing that guy. No, they’re not. The dream might be dead. Fulham are pissing about with the price. Reiss Nelson!!!
My missus laughed at me as we got in bed and I told her I was staying up to follow what happened. The WhatsApp group I’m in containing various like-minded Blues fans was popping off left, right and centre. I’m getting messages from friends and family asking if I know anything. I’m probably annoying some of the NTT20 squad with updates.
Then came the announcement. A lovely little sticker book with a Japanese flag in the middle. Tomoki Iwata announced. But the clue was there. In the bottom right-hand corner of a picture contain Blues’ current internationals, one of a Blues flag. Two posts followed announcing our new midfielder before a video of Tom Wagner thanking Blues fans.
It’s madness. It’s obscene. It’s vulgar. It’s hilarious. It’s the ultimate statement of intent. It’s done. A League One transfer record that will probably never be broken. Birmingham City’s transfer record by some distance.
Knighthead wanted to make a splash. They wanted to make a statement. They wanted to give back to the fans who have been so supportive of them since their arrival.
Jay Stansfield. Birmingham City. Permanently.
Job done. Window shut.
No Limitation on Ambition
This has been a window like no other.
It’s a window like no other in League One history, yes, but also in our history. We’ve spent more money that we’ve ever spent in one window, despite spending the last three decades in the top two tiers. And we’ve done this while letting go of the final remnants of the Xuandong Ren era.
All in all, we’ve signed 17 footballers.
Ryan Allsop; Bailey Peacock-Farrell; Alfie May; Emil Hansson; Alex Cochrane; Willum Thor Willumson; Christoph Klarer; Marc Leonard; Ayuma Yokoyama; Lyndon Dykes; Scott Wright; Tomoki Iwata; Jay Stansfield permanently. Luke Harris; Alfons Sampsted; Taylor Gardner-Hickman; Ben Davies on loan.
We’ve let go of 23.
John Ruddy; Neil Etheridge; Marcel Oakley; Marc Roberts; Ivan Sunjic; Gary Gardner; Scott Hogan released. Alex Pritchard; Jordan James; Juninho Bacuna; Siriki Dembele; Koji Miyoshi sold. Junior Dixon; Ben Beresford; Emmanuel Longelo; Tommy Fogarty; Romelle Donovan; George Hall; Tyler Roberts loaned out. Cody Drameh; Emmanuel Aiwu; Oliver Burke (barf); Andre Dozzell ending their loans.
That’s 40 squad changes. A necessary overhaul to achieve our goals.
As a fan, I’m open to acknowledging that my expectations changed during the summer. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was possible, I was shown the limitations of my ambition.
The idea of appointing Alex Neil felt sensible and something I could learn to get behind, even if not enthralled given his track record. I’d have been happy with John Ruddy staying. I thought we might struggle to attract players that could compete with Ethan Laird, Dion Sanderson and Lee Buchanan. Players such as George Byers and Danny Batth felt like sensible squad options to help us build. We maybe needed 10-12 players depending on who stays. I laughed at the idea of Jay Stansfield and spoke on the Keep Right On podcast about not wanting to overspend on him.
Throughout the summer, that mindset changed.
Attracting Chris Davies felt unique but exciting. The early signings were sensible but the three foreign additions set the tone with some smart folk rating them as mid-to-top Championship footballers as we broke the League One transfer record, allegedly. We saw off big interest to add Leonard. Sampsted had just qualified for the Champions League. By the end of the window, hearing that we were taking Lyndon Dykes felt normal. And when the news about Stansfield broke, we laughed but knew it was genuine, and not just because of where the news came from.
Factor in everything off the field that is happening and boy is it an exciting time to be a Birmingham City fan.
Sensible Beginnings
Let’s go right back to the start.
I’ve spoken about the appointment of Chris Davies and touched on my expectations for the season. Let’s dive into the transfers.
The first three fell into the sensible category but they were the right type of signings, particularly when it came to helping set the tone for pre-season.
Any football team that wants to improve needs to improve its spine first, something Blues have often forgotten when it comes to rebuilds – look at Gianfranco Zola receiving a collection of full-backs and wingers when attempting to turn us from a deep-lying direct outfit to Watford Mark II. Therefore, signing goalkeepers, a role that is pivotal to helping us in our attempts to play this new style, and a striker to lead from the front felt imperative. While we lacked depth, we at least went into pre-season with a starting XI to help shape this new Blues.
Allsop and Peacock-Farrell weren’t players that got fans excited but then the goalkeeper didn’t need to be that. Both are experienced, believed to be good characters and well versed in playing the kind of football that would be demanded of them. Allsop joined having played regularly for a side that finished 7th in the Championship last season for a team that spent a lot of time popping the ball around in defensive areas while Peacock-Farrell has played under both Marcelo Bielsa and Vincent Kompany.
Then there is Alfie May. He’s 31 and never played above League One and my initial expectation was that we’d end up signing a bigger name to take his spot. But he felt perfect to bring in early in the summer as a player that more than knows the league and doesn’t stop working, not to mention having scored 66 goals in his last three seasons. He's already become something of a leader.
May, along with the keepers, could begin to set the tone for Davies and his blueprint. Davies now had a starting XI to work with.
A solid, if unspectacular start.
Breaking the Record - Twice
Emil Hansson followed, our first foray into the foreign market.
The Swede arrived to minimal fanfare but his fee was the fourth highest spent by a League One club at the time and he spent last season in the Eredivisie. The now 26-year-old had proven himself for the second time in the Dutch second tier, contributing to 34 goals as his Heracles Almelo side won the title before contribution another 11 in 24 matches in the top tier, no mean feat while playing for one of the smaller clubs in Holland. At a rumoured 1.5 million, it was a decent outlay but on a player that had pedigree.
A couple of weeks later we added Alex Cochrane, a left-back formerly of Brighton and Hove Albion’s academy and most recently of Hearts fame. And it appeared that fans of the Scottish club loved the kid for his wholly committed displays and ability to play. He never shirked a battle and when you hear that, you feel pretty confident about how Blues fans will feel about him. As far as competition for Lee Buchanan went, this sounded pretty good.
Then we allegedly broke the League One transfer record for the first time. And then we did it again.
There was talk of us maybe doing it. We had been linked with Tobias Lauritsen for around £6 million while there was the confusion over the Eerdhuijzen signing. But to do it was a big statement. And we didn't do it just because we could, but because the players were the right types.
Willum Thor Willumson and Christoph Klarer. If the aforementioned pair had pedigree, these had it in abundance. Willumson was a regular for Eredivisie outfit Go Ahead Eagles as they qualified for the Europa Conference League as well as playing a number of games for the Icelandic national side while Klarer was an ex-Southampton youngster that had done well in Germany, thriving in the second tier before earning a move to Bundesliga outfit Darmstadt. The season didn’t go well, but he had more than proven himself capable.
Naturally, you read the numbers and see the stats and get buoyed by it, but then you look and see what smart people are saying. And thanks to the NTT20 squad, I’ve got a number of smart folk available to speak to and the belief was that all three were of a level above League One.
Speaking of a level above League One, Marc Leonard finished this little run of signings. He had thrived in his two seasons on loan at Northampton Town and the expectation was that he would be stepping up a level or moving abroad to continue his footballing journey. Few anticipated him staying in the third division, but Blues are no normal third division outfit. Another coup, particularly for half a million. Especially for a player that started all 46 league games the previous campaign.
Nine permanent signings. All of excellent pedigree and with much better records of availability than those we signed the previous campaign. And only three over the age of 26. Brilliant.
Questions and Answers
Things settled down slightly as we headed into the season and the first real questions were asked in terms of how players would fit in and why they were signed. They were answered pretty quickly.
Luke Harris’ arrival as a potential 10 meant we now had five options to play that position. What would happen to Tyler Roberts, George Hall and Romelle Donovan? Would Harris play wider? Would there be players going out on loan? We found out almost immediately that Harris would be competing with Willumson and the three remaining players would need to bide their time while they developed – more on them later.
Ayuma Yokoyama was similar. Did we need another left-winger with Hansson and Siriki Dembele on the books? Well, yes, it turned out. The latter was on his way out and hadn’t really stepped up in the way that Davies wanted him to. Yokoyama was the replacement, a direct, sharp winger that wants to receive the ball on the touchline and drive.
Alfons Sampsted. A right-back. Yes, we needed competition for Ethan Laird but as we saw last season, having two excellent right-backs that think they should play can cause some issues, or one would need to play out of position for game time. Would Sampsted be an option elsewhere? Would he potentially be an option at centre-back? No, it would seem. He’s well and truly competition for Laird. Two players for each position.
It helped change the mindset. We’re so used to trying to put together a starting XI and having options that can cover various positions. Do we need a right-back when Juninho Bacuna can cover and we have a spare midfielder? Need a left-wing-back? Na, Jordan Graham will fit in there even though it’s not quite his role and if he’s currently playing on the right, then someone can fill in for him. Scott Hogan isn’t available? We’ll stick Tahith Chong up top. Lee Buchanan can fill in at centre-back. Not anymore. Two quality options for every position.
And that’s when we reached the end of the window.
Covering All Bases
As we reached the final week of the window, we had two GK’s, two RB’s, three CB’s, two LB’s, two deep CM’s, five AM’s, four WG’s and two ST’s. The general consensus was that we could probably do with another CB, a CM and a ST. Anything else could depend on outgoings, perhaps.
The thinking from the board and management was different. Davies kept speaking about adding another 4/5 and we ended up with six, to finish up with two GK’s, two RB’s, four CB’s, two LB’s, four deep CM’s, two AM’s, four WG’s and four ST’s. A touch of versatility within there – Ben Davies started out as a LB, Gardner-Hickman as a RB, Stansfield can cover the front line, Anderson can play right or left. But the general gist was there.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman was first in. Similar to Bailey Peacock-Farrell, this felt like a Craig Gardner signing given we had chased him long before. He moved to Bristol City last season but joins us with a point to prove having not really established himself in the South West. He felt like a different profile, one that can play but who offers extra power and energy and tenacity in either the deeper or right sided central midfield role. Not to mention right-back.
Ben Davies was the fourth loanee to join and this just felt smart. Lee Buchanan and Dion Sanderson are missing for a few weeks. Davies is a centre-back that grew up as a left-back. He may not have played too much in recent season but that wasn’t for a lack of availability but more because he was out of favour because he was at top clubs rather than a lack of availability. He played almost every game for Sheffield United on loan and 27 times in his first season with Rangers. He was also the first signing we had made since Alfie May that was over the age of 27.
Lyndon Dykes wasn’t wanted by Queens Park Rangers which is the reason he was available, yet this still felt like a statement. He was wanted by clubs going into double figures and signed a long-term deal to become one of QPR’s better paid footballers the previous campaign. He only missed the European Championships due to injury and to sign him for a fee comfortably less than a million, knowing he can make the step up and has played over 160 league games in the last four season, seems okay. He gives us a different profile of striker but he’s mobile and works very hard, meaning he should fit what we need him to do while giving us a different kind of out.
Scott Wright was perhaps the first signing overall I questioned in regards to availability. This is a footballer that is now 27 but has never played more than 1200 minutes in a season. He played against us in pre-season and looked bright, scoring an excellent goal. He also gave us another forward option. And at 300k, we have hardly broken the bank for him. Still, the jury is out, even despite that debut goal.
Our fourth foray into Scotland saw us replace Koji Miyoshi with another Japanese international - Tomoki Iwata. Like some of the other players we’ve signed, I had never heard of him until we were linked but the noise is exciting. The consensus from a Celtic fan I trust is that the only reason he didn’t play more them was because of Callum McGregor, who has been a mainstay in their side for years. The only concern with this one is that his availability record was excellent in Japan but we haven’t seen enough of it on the British isles, meaning he could take time.
And then there was one more.
You Can't Do That
“It’s not fair”, they cry.
How is it right that Birmingham City can spend such money in League One? It’s wrong. It’s disgraceful. It's vulgar. It’s obscene. Absolutely mental. It’s like Will Grigg. It destroys the notion of competition. It’s more than Chiesa. They’ve spent more than Man City and Liverpool. They’re so being destroyed by FFP. They should have the book thrown at them. I hate it. How is it fair that other clubs have to compete with this? What were their fans saying when Derby County were doing this?
A lot has been made of the Jay Stansfield transfer.
There is no denying that it’s a sum of money spent by a League One club that is difficult to comprehend. Our owners wanted to make a statement and wanted to give the fans a present for sticking with them and they did just that. It’s a record that may never be broken.
And they didn’t have to break the rules to do it either. In fact, the right people are saying we’ve come nowhere close to breaking them.
Is it too much for the player in question? Probably. I think most would have anticipated a little less than 12-15 guaranteed. But it’s not quite as extortionate or outlandish as people are suggesting given he’s coming from a Premier League academy, is an England U21 international and scored 13 goals in the Championship for a struggling team while playing out of position. Not to mention Fulham didn’t want to sell him, his character is exemplary and his availability record has been excellent. And if we end up paying the extra £5 million that is rumoured in add-ons, then he has clearly been a success and helped us achieve our goals.
But it doesn’t really matter. Judge the fee paid as you wish. If you don’t think he’s worth it, okay. Like any big deal, there will always be judgement on whether the player is worth the fee and it’s a debate to be had. We will only know in time.
It’s the “not fair” comment that is grating me.
Why is not fair? Because others can’t do it because they lack the same revenue?
PSR and FFP and whatever other regulations rightly stop clubs just being bankrolled by their ownership, because it can all end in tears long term. We’ve seen that with various clubs, including our own. Our old owners bankrolled the summer of 2017 under Harry Redknapp, David Dein and Jeff Vetere and it was a horror show that not only left us facing points deductions but spending a long time trying to rectify it as our owners had to cover costs and losses and we had to reduce our budget season on season. It was a disaster. We only recovered this summer, some seven years later. It's unsustainable and creates debts that sometimes can't be wiped or recovered from.
Our owners and directors know that in order to compete, you have to build revenue. So that’s exactly what they’ve done. As of the end of last season, we had the kit deal with NIKE, the biggest shirt sponsorship deal outside of the Premier League in UNDFTD and a stadium sponsorship that makes us more than anybody else. And that doesn’t include ticket sales, improved hospitality revenue etc. Our revenue is phenomenal as we attempt to become a global brand. And because we’ve done that work, our budget is fantastic and it’s only going to improve.
Is it a risk? Sure. Any investment and reliance on incoming revenue and sales is a risk. It’s a risk to grow relying on incoming transfer fees each season. It’s a risk to spend and recoup it on sponsorship deals. It’s a risk to spend to the max FFP restrictions because your owner can afford it and then spend a couple of seasons cutting your losses before going again. But a number of the clubs that have followed the above, like Blues, have taken calculated risks rather than catastrophic ones.
As for the “what if they pack up and leave” argument, it’s the same for most football clubs, right? If the owners of Burnley, Oxford United, Northampton Town or MK Dons just stop putting in money or caring, they’ll be in the shit. Virtually every club in the EFL is running at a loss. We’ll be no different, I’m sure, but the loss will be very small at percentage – much smaller than a number of EFL Clubs based on figures presented in recent years.
We also have faith that our ownership will back up their calculated risk because they’ve followed through on everything they’ve said they were going to do. They are investing in the city as well as the club and it only further increases our belief they are in it for the long term rather than a quick fix or a risk banked on making money they don’t have back when they reach the Premier League. This isn’t like Derby County, Blues, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday being bankrolled to oblivion on their owners money alone.
“What about the League Two clubs coming up? How are they supposed to compete?” was one argument put forward.
How are we supposed to win promotion and compete with the clubs that drop down from the Premier League? Are we supposed to just sit and cry about how we get outbid for everybody and know our place in the food chain? Should a rule be put in place that nobody can spend more than a certain amount of money because it’s unfair on others? Sorry, Tottenham, you can’t buy Dominic Solanke for £65 million because Leicester City can’t do it. Sorry, Leeds, you can’t sign for Largie Ramazani for an eight-figure fee because Portsmouth can’t do it. Sorry, Peterborough United, stop spending a million or so on young talent because Shrewsbury Town can’t do it.
Or can we aspire to be more?
And look at the four clubs that won promotion this season. Stockport County and Wrexham have been bankrolled to win promotion out of the National League and League Two. Wrexham admitted in the documentary how much money they lost in the first year. Crawley Town and Mansfield Town’s owners went huge in spending before deciding they needed to reign it because they couldn’t continue to do it without the revenue in place and had to find a different way.
If this was a case of our owners coming in, defying the rules and doing as we pleased, then sure, kick off. We’ve been there. It’s horrendous when it all goes wrong. It’s wrong that it is allowed to happen that way and things have rightly been put in place to stop it. But it just isn’t the case here. We’re just doing things bigger and louder than anybody else right now and we’re the bad guys because of that, it seems.
People want us to fail and sure, slag us off. Pray it all goes wrong. As Blues fans, we did it with Villa and Wolves when they spent fortunes – and they did break the rules, only avoiding it because they won their gamble on promotion. We laughed at Derby County after it all went wrong for them. Everybody wants Wrexham to fail. Everybody wants the likes of Man United and Man City to fail. That’s fine. People don’t like teams that spend big money, or flex muscles such as famous people or sponsorships. We’ll try and use that as fuel to prove people wrong. Besides, all the complaining online will only help us afford more given our stadium sponsorship deal includes money earned for social media impressions.
Want us to fail. Believe it’s a risk. Sure. But this idea that we’re forcing the rest of the division to spend above their means now to catch up. Or that we’re ruining football. Or that it’s not fair? What utter tosh.
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Off You Pop
In order to do much of the above, we’ve had to let a lot of people go for various reasons.
The cleansing of the wage budget this was summer was long overdue. I’ve referenced it above but this was truly the end of the Dong and Trillion Trophy Asia era as we waved goodbye to Neil Etheridge, Marc Roberts, Gary Gardner, Ivan Sunjic and Scott Hogan and their wages. We've let go of around 150-200k in wages this summer and those five make up the majority of that.
Let’s run through them.
John Ruddy. A fantastic servant across his two seasons who may not have been perfect for what we wanted to do going forward but tried to lead by example and put standards in place, something that proved difficult. His understudy Neil Etheridge never really recovered after mistakes halfway through his first season, losing his place and never recovering it despite a couple of decent cup appearances. To his credit, he never came across as a sulker and was seen more than once praising Ruddy on the pitch.
Marc Roberts, Gary Gardner and Scott Hogan can all come under the same boat. Signed on big wages. Different characters but players that proved less and less reliable the longer time went on and needed to move on for the sake of their careers, let alone our football club. As for Ivan Sunjic, he deserves credit for returning from a difficult spell in Germany to play an important role last season, stepping up under Eustace and Rowett but ultimately never proving the kind of quality player that could run a Birmingham City midfield – if you want to talk about unnecessary fees spent on players, look no further.
Alex Pritchard was always signing for Tony Mowbray. Mowbray left. Pritchard never got going in a Blues shirt and it was a move that benefitted all parties.
Juninho Bacuna was a real wildcard who frustrated and amazed in equal measure. His work rate was rarely an issue, nor was his willingness to play various roles across the pitch when required – I still have fond memories of him marking Jack Clarke out of the game while playing right-wing-back against Sunderland. It’s just in his mercurial nature to be inconsistent and he never looked a player likely to stick with us for this campaign.
Siriki Dembele. It started so promisingly, enjoying freedom on the left-wing under Eustace as an outlet and maverick. But when the requirement turned from “win us the game” to “be part of the team”, he struggled. Both Rooney and Mowbray tasked him with playing in the centre of the pitch where he tended to struggle in receiving the ball in tight areas while the various defensive slip-ups didn’t enamour him to supporters who began to give up on him. He looked to have a chance under Davies and though he put the work in, it never felt like his face was going to fit. A potentially excellent signing for Oxford United.
Jordan James. This felt like a kicker, just because it’s always sad losing one of your own. He’s been on his way for the last three windows and the assumption was always that he would move on this year. Yet there is a way to leave a football club. Despite wanting to move on, he never kicked up a fuss, never refused to play, he played various roles under various managers, earned himself a Wales starting spot and went through pre-season like everybody else before moving on. A good kid and hopefully the move to France works out for him.
Koji Miyoshi. Koji. Koji. Koji. Limbs. Ah man, I’m going to miss him. He reportedly had a release clause and getting the opportunity to play in the Bundesliga and fight for his place in the Japan squad is worth moving on for, and now we’ve got Wright and Stansfield, it feels less of a blow. But he was one of the few from last season that could hold his head high, recovering from an ACL and moving to a new country to become a fan favourite.
Deadline day saw three players move out on loan – Romelle Donovan, Tyler Roberts and George Hall. It would appear that Donovan hasn’t been best pleased with the arrival of others so hopefully he heads out to Burton, proves Davies wrong and showcases what a talent he is. It won’t be easy given they’ve made over 20 signings this summer, but somebody needs to step up there. For Roberts and Hall, it’s all about playing games given the injury issues they have had over the years. Go out, play games, play regularly and hopefully they get stronger as the season goes on and their bodies feel better. They may not don the Royal Blue again, but this is still a chance to make an impression.
Emmanuel Longelo joins Cambridge United and it feels like we’ve seen the last of him now. No shortage of effort, just the wrong player for the wrong system at the time and perhaps symptomatic of our recruitment strategy in recent years. Junior Dixon, Ben Beresford and Tommy Fogarty have all joined professional clubs out on loan and it’s a great opportunity for them to prove themselves in men’s football.
Strong Start, More To Come
So that’s the window. How the hell does Chris Davies make this all come together?
I think we’ve already seen it, but knowing there is more to come
Blues are playing a fluid 4-3-3. Depending on the opposition, it may look more like a 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 out of possession. In possession, it’s just fluid.
In terms of the XI, we have two or more players for every role.
In goal, Peacock-Farrell has so far been given the nod ahead of Allsop. Laird, Klarer, Bielik and Cochrane has been the first choice backline. Sampsted will get an opportunity with Laird now injured while Sanderson, Davies and Buchanan are currently back up.
Paik appears a real favourite in midfield and the question is now who partners him with Iwata, Leonard and Gardner-Hickman all offering different qualities but also being exceptional players at this level. Willumson and Harris will fight it out for the third and more attacking midfield spot. Khela is also around and capable of covering most roles.
Out wide, Hansson is seemingly first choice on the left with Yokoyama backing him up, but we may see change once Anderson and Wright, who have so far started on the right, are back fit / up to speed. May is first choice up top with Dykes the alternative option and Jutkiewicz around.
The question then focuses towards Stansfield and it’s hard to say exactly where he will play, which should perhaps be the focus on the transfer above all else. He’s clearly too good for this level. But where do you get the most of out of his talent? Davies wants him on the shoulder but is open to him playing in any forward role, so maybe we will see some experimentation as he eases in. Either that, or he has a clear idea and we will find that out soon enough.
In terms of our style of play, this works in different ways.
The aim is to play quickly, stretch the pitch, tire out the opposition and attempt to create opportunities while snuffing out any attempts to be countered before they start.
Davies has experimented but our in possession shape has fallen on a fluid but clear set up. It’s a back three in possession with Laird high on one side and Hansson on the other. That allows the right winger to step inside. The midfield are more fluid, either having two drop in to show, or one drop in with the other two midfielders flanking the sitter and offering for the ball higher or wider. May, or whoever is up top, then has license to drop off and get involved to open the space for forward runners.
We may see some change further down the line – Davies appears to like the idea of his right-back coming in centrally rather than the winger – but that will take time and maybe different personnel. It feels like an idea on the back burner.
Bielik and Peacock-Farrell tend to be the spare man in possession depending on whether a team presses high or drops off, with both being technically sound enough to handle the ball and find the spare man or move it along, albeit the latter has been caught more than once thus far.
Where a team cuts us off centrally, we utilise wide areas, utilising RB, RW and RCM or LB, LW and LCM to play then quickly looking to get in behind or switch the play where the space is available on the other flank. Where a team goes more man-for-man, it’s about playing under pressure and waiting for somebody to switch off or slip up and make the most of the space, as we did for the first against Wigan. Where the options are quickly cut off to move the ball back inside, it becomes more about what the wide player can do 1v1.
And it all sounds obvious, but it’s so unique for Blues. We’re used to being the team that stops the good teams playing football. Now we’re the ones being stopped. And so far, so good – our high possession game is seeing us have at least 65% of the ball regularly and we’ve won three of our first four in the league.
Off the ball, it almost becomes man-for-man with the press high. You will see change depending on if we play a back four or back three, as it will change who steps up with May to press the backline. The full-backs are stepping up high to challenge and the centre-backs are having to be more comfortable defending wide positions. Most of the chances we have conceded so far have come more from us losing possession rather than the opposition out playing us, so being set defensively with the ball is the challenge now.
There’s work to do. We have to be braver with the ball once we beat the initial press and be better with our decision making in the final third. There are details to sort out in our shape defensively while in possession to ensure the gaps aren’t too big for a counter. There’s a ruthlessness missing to our game that means we aren’t creating a glut of chances before the final 10/15 minutes. But it’s details and communication and tweaks rather than what we faced last season under a certain somebody when our attempts to play high possession, high energy football just saw us be bad at every facet of a football match.
When does everything click? Who knows. We’ve got ten points from four games without really hitting close to top gear yet. We’ve signed 17 players this summer, including six in the final week, and only four before we returned from our trip to Austria. The chances of us having a regular starting XI that is fit and firing in every game is unlikely and part of the reason Davies was so insistent on having at least two quality options for every position. What we are seeing now in terms of the starting team and shape may not be what we see at the end of the season depending on for and availability as players dip or step up.
For now, it’s all about continuing to learn and grow with every passing game and hope to win more football matches while doing so. And if and when it does click, well, we should hit some very, very good form.
The Final Word
So how does this window rank? On paper, it’s probably the most enjoyable window we’ve ever had. The reality is that we will only find out how successful it has been come May and perhaps even further beyond that.
The interesting element is seeing who steps up now and who steps up later on. Klarer and Cochrane have immediately made themselves mainstays while Leonard, Willumson and May have all proven they’re up for the battle. Some of the later additions that missed pre-season, such as Sampsted, Wright, Stansfield and Iwata may take a little more time to settle and take to their roles. Fortunately, guys such as Bielik, Laird and Paik have taken on roles as leaders to help the new guys navigate their way into the campaign.
I’ve been impressed with how British the core is. Of those playing in the centre of the pitch, only Klarer, who grew up at Southampton, Iwata, who has spent three years at Celtic, Paik, who has been with us since January, and Willumson have little experience of English mens football. While it's not a requirement to have British players to be successful, it certainly helps ease the process for Davies by having a number of players that know the British game when trying to implement so much change.
The other important thing is that we haven't just spent money on a bunch of old journeymen in order to achieve our goals. The recruitment this summer isn't just about this season but what follows too. Sure, there a couple of additions that may not transfer well to a higher level. But only a couple. Of our 17 signings, 12 are aged between 21 and 27 and should be able to step up with us if/when we realise our ambition and win promotion.
What we’ve learned most is that our owners well and truly mean business. They’ve put their money where their mouth is and continued to back up their promises. The future is so, so exciting.
Like almost everybody, I’m confident of promotion. Exactly how that promotion happens remains to be seen. Ideally we are celebrating with a title, but just getting over the line is the important thing, especially given all the change. Get over the line and return to the Championship a different animal.
We’ve had years of sorrows. Let’s have some joy now.
KRO.
I really enjoy your articles Ryan. They are always considered and balanced, no high drama like so many blues fans. Having followed the blues for over 45 years with more sorrows than joys, like you I have real hope for these owners and the team they have put around them. What impresses me is their willingness to learn from their mistakes and go again. I am sure there will be bumps in the road this season but like you I believe this team will settle and grow and this includes the manager.