Birmingham City are looking for a fresh start following relegation to the third tier of English football. They’ve now got a new boss in and are readying for the new campaign, we’re taking a look at their objectives for the season, as they look for positives under their ownership.
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00:00Charlie, on to Birmingham City, obviously relegated now, a Ligue 1 club, a real slap
00:09in the face at times for them to realise that now, and their objectives have got to be promotion.
00:16The first time I've asked how they're going about that, obviously a new manager in, surely
00:20that's the set and stone objectives from these ambitious owners.
00:24Absolutely. Chris Davies looks like a very good manager. He's not been tested yet. As
00:29a manager himself, but he's been the number two for some top clubs, including Liverpool
00:35and Celtic, Leicester City, more recently Tottenham Hotspur. So, he comes in with a
00:39lot of experience and tactical nails that I think Birmingham will want to unlock. It's
00:43just whether that can work in such a physical, competitive division that is Ligue 1, we'll
00:48have to wait and see on that front. But they've got more funds than a lot of other clubs in
00:52the division to go and splash the fact that they've been able to make a few key sales
00:56over recent years and sell-on fees, etc. And of course, the new investment from Tom
01:00Wagner and Nighthead Company is going to help them to get that bounce back up to the championship.
01:06There's some audacious moves they're trying to make as well for players that are interested
01:10in championship clubs. They're trying to convince them whether they might make that drop down.
01:15Josh Windas is one of those we've been reporting about. West Bromwich Albion actually want
01:20to sign him. But Birmingham City are trying to challenge West Brom for Windas' signature.
01:25His contract's expiring at Sheffield Wednesday. So, there's no transfer fee involved, which
01:30means there might be a bit of a signing-on fee they could maybe offer him or some increased
01:34wages that might tempt him to drop below. But I think that's a testing thing. How many
01:39players can you really convince to drop down to Ligue 1? This isn't Wrexham where you've
01:43got Hollywood owners and you bring in all that publicity. And yeah, Tom Brady's kind
01:48of there with that aspect. He's not as involved as people thought. I think it's going to be
01:52an interesting window ahead. But they have got the money to spend. They are being ambitious,
01:57which is the main thing.
01:58Yeah, and how important is it that the Blues see this as a bit of a reset button to drop
02:02down and obviously hopefully come straight back up? But obviously, having the owners
02:07come in previously, now they're down together, they can see it as maybe a fresh start from
02:14next season.
02:15Well, it's a good opportunity to let players go that are on bigger contracts. We've seen
02:19that already. Quite a few expiring, letting them get moving. Ivan Sundic was a bit of
02:24a disappointing one because he was a record signing or at least up there with that £5
02:28or £6 million, I believe he cost a few years ago. Him going on a free, that's going to
02:32hurt. But these are the kind of sacrifices you have to make when you drop a division,
02:36when you want to have that fresh start. It was just so stale for so many years and they
02:40need to have that belief back. Winning some games, potentially going on to win the Ligue
02:441 title, will just give the fan base a boost and a belief that they can kick on in the
02:49Championship again. But obviously, a long way to go yet, we've not even started the
02:52season, we've hardly started the transfer window. So plenty more to unfold before we
02:56can make any predictions like that.