Often Partisan

Blues Net Nasseri

Birmingham City completed the signing of Iranian u21 international Navid Nasseri on a free transfer yesterday. The 18-year-old attacking midfielder was at Bury last season and has been signed on a one year professional contract. He will start his career in the Professional Development side but it’s a given that if he impresses he could find himself in the first eleven.

It’s an interesting signing for Blues; it’s come somewhat out of left field it would appear and has had people reaching for Football Manager and Youtube to get the low down on him. I’m going to be honest – I know nothing about the Mancunian-born attacking midfielder and I’m not going to pretend I know anything.

For those who are interested, a poster on smallheathalliance by the name of Mattt posted this youtube video of Nasseri showing some good strength before scoring with a classy finish.

As much as he scored a great goal on Youtube I think this is a signing we can’t read much into; Blues are a bit short of numbers in the u21s because the amount of players who have made the step up to the first team in recent years so it makes sense to beef up those numbers a bit with someone promising who probably didn’t cost us anything more than a sell-on fee at most. That being said, it could just be that Clark has spotted another diamond out there like he did when he found Jordan Rhodes in the Ipswich reserve team while at Huddersfield and we could be quids in.

One of the other things that has been pointed out is that maybe, just maybe because of Nasseri’s heritage it might encourage more of the South Asian community that lives around St Andrews to watch the team – or even to join the academy. British-born Asians are massively under-represented in football despite many of them playing the game as youngsters and I’ve often wondered how much talent is getting missed because there doesn’t seem to be encouragement for them to join football clubs and academies.

One player who is joining Blues Academy is schoolboy keeper Ewan Mountjoy, who was featured in the Gloucester Citizen after being snapped up by Blues recently. The 13 year old is the latest product of a goalkeeping academy based in Gloucester which is run by WBA Goalkeeping coach Allan Hawkins.

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41 Responses to “Blues Net Nasseri”

  • Andy Turner says:

    Since when is someone of Iranian heritage ‘South Asian’?

    • Chris W says:

      You would be surprised what is covered under Asia in the modern world, Iran use to be Persian, along with Afghanistan, Kuwait Iraq and even Russia fall under the consensus of Asia.
      On the player, there is virtually nothing about the player apart from the one you tube goal and a few profile snippets, so we will jst have trust LC’s judgement on this one and “Watch this space”.
      KRO+DNM

  • dave mann says:

    dont know anything about him so cant comment on him personally but one for the future i think……as for now the squad looks good and from what ive seen in pre season ime feelinf quite optemistic and confident for the new season….we were speaking after the game with kidderminster and most of us said between 8th and 12th looks the best bet for the seasons finish and thats from regular supporters so take that as you find it….no playoffs but no relegation either. KRO.

    • Chris W says:

      Sounds like a boring end to the season then Dave…. :-)
      Last season I thought we were good for a mid-table finish but then we had the recalls at Christmas which pulled the rug from under us.
      So far this season I have not been able to see the lads apart from the on line snippets, I shall be at Notts tonight and am looking forward to it.
      I have learnt not to read too much into pre-season friendlies, we have had good pre-seasons and lousy seasons and vice-versa.
      The first three home games will be a bench mark, we have to get some home wins under our belt or the supporters will turn this season.
      From the snippets I have seen I am impressed and I wonder if we can’t hit the higher positions, but lets get the season underway and build on our performances in the real matches.
      KRO+DNM

      • dave mann says:

        spot on chris and boro Saturday week is what its all about and as you said if we can get a good start and get a couple of early home league wins under our belt then who knows….the thing is to not expect to much but at the same time stay possetive and hope momentum can take us higher than that 8th place………its never a boring season whatching blues chris you should know that but I understand what you mean by no relegation or playoffs to go for being boring but I don’t want to go through Bolton again……unless its for a playoff place then that would be something to look forward to….enjoy notts county pal, KRO.

        • Chris W says:

          Thanks Dave, I don’t think my old ticker could take another Bolton.
          I have never underestimated the Blues, but at the same time never expected too much either.
          The crowd have always played their part whether it be 30,000 like Wembley or the dark days of Wheldon when we scapped 5,000 at home. I’d be more than happy with 8th given the hand LC has got, but to be honest I would rather us sit comfortably lower half in the hope a new deal can be struck and we rid ourselves of BIHL.
          But, as always it will be another rollercoaster ride on the Blue train.
          KRO+DNM.

      • Raymondo says:

        Only a couple of weeks and we’ll be up and running! Looking forward to listening to the matches again on Saturday afternoon on my little portable radio while the missus drags me round the shops! She might even let me go to a few from here is Ashby.

        • Chris W says:

          Drop the missus at Morrisons over the road from the ground and nip over to watch the game then pick her up afterwards, sorted :-)
          Got to get her on side, do the shopping friday night and a wee meal on way home.
          KRO+DNM

          • Oldburyblue says:

            I like your style Chris.

          • Chris W says:

            Voice of experience, when I met the missus she had a set routine that did not involve football, just hair, shops, coffees and more shops.
            A slight alteration here, change in routine and the odd meal worked for me, now she quite enjoys the “football Widow” routine. I even went to Wembley for the Supporters Summit and all it cost was a fish dinner in Matlock Bath Wednesday night.
            KRO+DNM

  • Bluenosesol says:

    Methinks Andy is splitting hairs here. Traditionally South Asia is the India, Pakistan, Bangladesh region, however there are several iterations and Iran is in the South Asia region according to UN demarcations. It’s southern regions are on a similar latitude to southern parts of India. Now about this new kid, we don’t know owt about him, but 6 months before Trevor Francis scored 4 goals on his debut, everyone wandered why we had signed an underweight kid from Plymouth. My key observation is that with all the crap that is going on (or not going on) at BIHL levels, then you would expect the fabric of the club to evaporate and we would be struggling to field a team. In reality, we are replenishing our Under 21 stock to replace those kids who have made it to the first team. Fantastic to see that we are a fully functioning member of the Championship despite all the shenanigans. Well done to everyone AT the club and lets KRO for a great season ahead!

    • Richard Granfield says:

      I am old enough to remember Trevor joining Blues as a 15yo in 1969 under Stan Cullis’s stewardship. He was certainly not an “unknown” as he was hailed as the best thing to come from the West Country for years. As we all know he fulfilled his potential and then some.

      • Oldburyblue says:

        I beg to differ Richard. I don’t think TF ever reached his FULL potential…probably due to injuries to be fair. Yes, he played for some decent Teams and won a bit of silverware, but he had the potential to be England’s Cruff, Maradona or Messi. He was that good.

        • Richard Granfield says:

          Trevor won 52 England caps, won 2 European Cups, was the first million pound player, played 626 league games in 3 different countries scoring 231 goals and played for 25 seasons from a 16yo to a 39 yo.
          I concede that he didn’t win the Grand National.

          • Oldburyblue says:

            Nor was he ever the best England player of his time, which he should have been. 52 caps….double should have been the minimum. European Cups?….lucky to play for Clough and even them down the road managed to win one of those! I loved him when he was with us…being 1 of thousands attending the Reserves to see him after a long injury. He was WORTH £1m and had a long career…but I still say never at the real top, Forest, Man City, Sampdoria, QPR and Sheff Wed plus mercenary trips to the USA. He was better than that….why did the top teams never buy him. I feel like the boy in “The Emperors New Clothes” but I stand by my opinion.

          • Bluenosesol says:

            Trevor played for us for nine years before becoming the biggest UK transfer of all time. It was only because he played for unfashionable BCFC that he didn’t make the England team earlier. To that end, he didn’t reach his full potential because he wasn’t allowed to!

          • bluenoserob says:

            2 european cups?

          • Richard Granfield says:

            He scored the winning goal against Malmo in Munich 1979.
            He played in 1980 against Hamburg in Madrid.

          • mark says:

            sadly may only be one TF in a lifetime………….

        • beegeeblueboy says:

          I agree and it was because he stayed with us too long. Whether that was for his ego as being the best player in the team and/or didn’t want to be a smaller cog in a bigger machine only he can say. Or it could be he realised there was more than BCFC when he started playing for Tampa.

        • mark says:

          TF left blues because he would never have won any silverware with blues fact…but what he did do for some of us was to become a true blues legend……..

    • bluenoserob says:

      i dont see things unravelling ,the club has a modest playing budget and one or to staff who know what they are doing.LC will pick up a bargin or two if he can find them and take a punt on a young kid such as Nasseri .What we wont see is any big names coming in .

      • Chris W says:

        All we need is players who are prepared to give 100% for the badge, we don’t need big names as they usually come with big bank accounts that need filling and think they can just walk through a game.
        KRO+DNM

  • Jazzzy786 says:

    He’s Iranian not South Asian. Middle East? I agree there’s a lot of Indian/Pakistani kids in the area who play football as kids and some are very good but for some reason (some would say racism in game) do not take up the game professionally. The only two players I know of are Zesh Rehman (Fulham, Pakistani) and Michael Chopra (Ipswich, Indian). Would having an Indian or Pakistani in the team encourage more Asians to watch the team. Possibly, it would definitely raise the the profile of Birmingham City Football Club in the eyes of the local Asian community with more Asian youngsters believing that they too may have a chance of making it as a footballer with the club. I would hope that we would still employ and play him on merit and not some sort of ‘positive’ discrimination basis as happens in some jobs.

    The problem is that the Asian community doesn’t believe a professional footballer is a viable career and encourages its youngsters into well paid careers like medicine and banking. If you take examples from Asian successes in other sports such as Amir Khan (boxing), Monty Panesar (cricket) then a career as a professional sportsman is certainly possible but the club needs to work closely with the local Asian community and spot and encourage talent at a young age. The obstacle will be the parents.

    • Bluenosesol says:

      Its great to see more Asian lads supporting the Blues. As long as that trend continues it wont be long before we see the Asian kids coming through. They just need a couple to make the grade to become role models. KRO!

  • Staffs Blue says:

    Burke has signed for Forest on a 2 year deal.

    • Steve says:

      Good luck to him.Even if he wasn’t at his best,he always worked hard.

    • Chris W says:

      They wanted him for the last couple of seasons so I suppose it was on the cards.
      He was a good servant but became one dimensional as we didn’t have other options.
      I wish him well except when we play forest.
      KRO+DNM

      • Staffs Blue says:

        To be fair, on his form over the last season and a half, I don’t think any of our defenders would have too much trouble containing him. Push him out wide and he’s fecked… cus he can’t go past a full back anymore, hence his need to keep coming inside.

        • Chris W says:

          With Blues record against former players he will probably come back and score a hat trick.
          But you are right, that is what teams did last season, pushed him wide and had another player shadowing for the cut inside, thus snubbing him out and making us ineffective.
          KRO+DNM

          • Steve says:

            He was at his best when Stevie Carr was at RB.His overlapping runs were brilliant.They were a great pair down the right.Unfortunately Caddis or Spector didn’t do that enough and Burke was left on his own too much.Whether that was down to tactics i don’t know.

          • Chris W says:

            He was certainly more influential when Caddis did push forward last season but we seemed to be constantly on the back foot, so it was probably more to do with tactics.
            He seemed to have lost a lot of pace last season and become more predictable. As soon as he got to the 18 yard box he would stop turn and then cut inside, a defender with any nous would know how to snuff him immediately and it showed in his games/goals ratio last season.
            Maybe different tactics and personal he can become the player he was, just not against us.
            KRO+DNM

          • Staffs Blue says:

            Yes Burke played better when Caddis was supporting him going forward, but too often, Caddis was caught too far upfield and we conceded too many goals from crosses down that wing. Caddis didn’t know whether to stick or bust and Burke was no help.

            And yes, it was much better with Carr, but Carr was a real defender, not like today’s full backs, who are basically wing backs.

        • Steve says:

          But he can come inside and stick it in the top corner with his left foot.

  • Chris W says:

    Another good result tonight, first chance I have had at seeing the new look Blues.
    Like the look of Donaldson, I think he will be the new Zig for the fans. Thomas came on and looked a different player to the one we loaned. I would not want to be in LC’s shoes a week Saturday, there were some decent performances tonight, though even my neighbour admitted County were poor, got a pint out of him too.
    Said before you can’t read too much into friendlies, but the signs are promising.
    Some say Callie will be a push over but I think it will be our toughest test yet, either way, should be a good game.
    KRO+DNM

    • Staffs Blue says:

      I can’t wait for Saturday’s game. I would think that, bar a couple of positions, it should be close to our starting XI. I agree with you, I think Clark will have a selection headache coming his way, because every player (bar Robbo, Spector and Green) has done well this pre-season.

  • Steve says:

    Denny Johnstone has joined from Celtic on a 3 year deal.

  • mark says:

    masterstroke by clark again……… diamonds and his fellow countryman


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