As Birmingham City hit the reset button following their relegation to League One, we’re looking back at the start of this season to pinpoint who their top players have been, as a number of them are expressing Championship talent every week.
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00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and obviously an amazing start to life in League One, a
00:06sort of start, a reset that a lot of fans are happy with going down, they've got the
00:10backing from the owners. A lot of money spent in the summer and it has warranted this start
00:17to the season, this sort of upwards trajectory at the top of League One. How good have the
00:25midfield partnership of Paken and Watts actually been? There's certainly whispers of them certainly
00:32being better than League One quality.
00:34Oh, absolutely. I think those two could arguably be top of the championship kind of quality.
00:40If you whack them in a play-off contention midfield in the championship, I don't think
00:44the fans of those clubs will be complaining too much because their quality is clear to
00:48see every time they step foot onto that field. Not only do they work incredibly hard to win
00:52the ball back and progress possession, but also their passing range, their ability to
00:56shoot as well. Iwata has scored some fantastic goals for Blues so far in his early career
01:01at the club. The fact that Mark Leonard's summer signing, who was Northampton Town's
01:06best player last season, he's been on the bench because Iwata and Pake have been that
01:11strong. A really formidable partnership and one that is without doubt the best in League
01:15One and one that Blues will probably carry forward for the next two or three seasons
01:19if they are promoted back to the championship.
01:22Yeah, and how important is having big players, you know, top quality players when you do
01:26go down to League One? Because they do tend to see you over the tougher games and just
01:32get you through with that extra bit of quality.
01:34Yeah, it's huge. Obviously, a lot of money spent in the summer. Jay Stansfield being
01:38the big name addition and the big money addition as well, absolutely smashing that League One
01:42transfer record, scoring plenty of goals for Blues already, showing just how prolific
01:46he is. He's another player that is just absolutely levels above League One, let's be honest.
01:51And it was quite a surprise that he took that drop down, but he loves the football club.
01:55The fans have really got a great connection with him as well, and a good partnership being
01:58formed with Alfie May up top. Although May, last season's top scorer in League One, hasn't
02:03started every game, he's been a bit more creative playing a role just in behind Stansfield.
02:08They can swap around as well. You've got Lyndon Dykes, the Scottish international, who can
02:12also play minutes if Chris Davies wants to rotate. And having this much depth allows
02:17him to play well in a variety of competitions. I think Blues fans will be very happy with
02:21those guys. And Willem Willemsen as well, and Christoph Klarer, two other big name additions
02:26in the summer, costing around £2 million each. They are, again, players of championship
02:31quality and those that can probably expect to remain in the squad for many years to come.
02:36And then Christian Bielik being the new captain. Dion Sanderson was the skipper last season,
02:41had a drink driving charge and was dropped away from the captaincy. He's since dropped
02:45down the pecking order of starts altogether. So Bielik stepping up, a lot of responsibility
02:50for him, but he's done very well in that role. Just the way he leads from the back, he's
02:54got the experience. And then once again, he is a player that is definitely of a championship
02:59standard.