Birmingham City
Manager: Lee Clark
Ins: Darren Ambrose (undisclosed amount), Hayden Mullins (undisclosed amount), David Lucas (free transfer), Peter Lovenkrands (free transfer)
Outs: Jordon Mutch (undisclosed amount), Ben Foster (undisclosed amount), Alpaslan Ozturk (released), Caleb Folan (released), Enric Valles (released), Cian Hughton (released), Luke Hubbins (released)
SCARF ACE: Lee Clarke has taken over from Chris Houghton at Birmingham
Strengths: Staying strong when looking pressure in the face. It is not easy keeping hold of your top players when you’re languishing outside of the Premier League. However, the Blues manager is not racing to panic stations yet. Clark told BBC West Midlands: “When you have good players like we have, you know they’re going to be courted. But the senior players I have here – I want to keep them all.” It’s not greed – it’s just smart management.
Weaknesses: The weight of the world on their shoulders. At least, that’s what it must feel like for any City fan. When the team slipped to the Championship at the end of the 2010/11 season, many fans expected them to dust themselves down and climb back into the upper echelon of English football the very next season. After that failed to transpire, one has to wonder how much longer fans will remain patient.
Last season’s performance: The Blues did not have a bad season last term, finishing in fourth position and almost always certain of a play-off place. However, fans were crushed when their team could not put down the scrappy underdogs known as Blackpool, with the seasiders condemning Birmingham to another season of Championship football.
If they were a celebrity: Kristen Stewart. They both make one mistake – albeit massive ones – and now they have the eyes of the world slap bang focused on what they’ll do next. Still, they are both fine to watch in their chosen crafts.
You might not have known: Move aside Joe Hart, there’s a new English sensation between the sticks. Birmingham City’s teenage goalkeeper Jack Butland impressed at the Olympics and is already putting in the kind of performances you would expect from a far more experienced player.
nPower Championship odds: 18/1
“When the team slipped to the Championship at the end of the 2010/11 season, many fans expected them to dust themselves down and climb back into the upper echelon of English football the very next season” – Dont know which fans you ave spoken to! Most fans I know including me, were simply hoping to avoid relegation and administration, especially after the arrest of the chairman!
Cheers for the comment, Bluenose Sol. Maybe we should have said ‘other teams’ fans.
What’s your expectation for Lee Clark in the hotseat?
Last season, I didn’t expect much. Lots hoped to simply stay up whereas looking at the squad, I felt we’d push for the playoffs providing we avoided administration! As it turns out, we did really well considering the amount of games we played in the cups and in Europe.
This season, I would expect the same again and hopefully having played a good 10 games less by the time we hit the playoffs, we’ll have enough left in the tank this time!
world domination
One has to wonder how long the fans will remain patient?? Really?? There’s been discontent for a while about the Carson Yeung regime and the way the club is being bled dry but also a genuine appreciation of the team that was moulded under Chris Houghton and the footballing progress that was made. I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that we are a certainty for, or entitled to, promotion to the premier league next season. I think the happiness of fans will be dictated as much by the style of football played and the team showing they are proud to wear the shirt than it will be by the final league table. Nice to know the “eyes of the world” are “slap bang on us” though. For a Championship team that’s quite a feat – 12billion eyes in total according to my calculations. By the way, could you post a link to the 18/1 promotion odds – the best I can find are 8/1.
it say 18/1 championship odds not promotion odds.