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The right kind of investment
There has been news of a couple of good additions to the club this week despite the lack of players coming in so far in the transfer window. The appointment of Ewan Chester as Football Consultant will beef up the scouting system and give Gary Rowett more options to choose from while the £450,000 investment to improve the “dome” at Wast Hills will add to the improvements made within the Academy.
I’m really pleased by the appointment of Chester. I’ve said on multiple occasions in the past that I felt the one possible weakness Gary Rowett has been finding and bringing in new players and I’m glad that has been addressed by bringing in someone else with expert knowledge on that front. Blues don’t have money to burn on the transfer front so it’s all the more important that we make efforts to find the gems out there – Maikel Kieftenbeld is an example of who can be brought in at the right price to become a mainstay in the team.
With the money awash in the Championship this year I think we’ll be looking again at lower leagues or Europe for new players and while this may seem unambitious to some I think it can be very shrewd; it only takes one player to make a real splash for the club to then have a seriously saleable asset to allow them to bring in many more.
Likewise, this is why investment in the Academy is so important. Blues have been more dependent on their academy in recent years – but it has paid dividends as we’ve seen players like Nathan Redmond, Jack Butland and Demarai Gray come through. Yes, we’ve been forced to sell them on and that is sad – but the more players we can bring through, the more the club becomes self-sufficient and the less reliant it becomes on the vagaries of bringing players in through the transfer market.
With the loan window being abolished this year I think it’s going to be more important than ever to have a competitive u21 team which has players that can step up and fill holes caused by injury and suspension in the first team squad; likewise I think Blues’ policy of playing many more u21 games will be needed too to keep players match fit and on their toes as we can’t loan out players on temporary deals either.
Many people have talked about levels of investment needed when the club takeover finally completes but I think most are referring to spending millions on transfers and wages for the first team. While it’s nice to bring in a higher calibre of player through that method the investment in the backroom and the infrastructure is more important as it will give us a longer term boost for the club – and maybe continue this theme of homegrown heroes. After all, it’s so much nicer to cheer on a player who’s come through the ranks, isn’t it?
Tags: Ewan Chester, Infrastructure, Positivity
45 Responses to “The right kind of investment”
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Dead right Dan and always nice to hear an after match interview with a brummie accent KRO
Doesn’t mean they’re going to be local. My cousin provides lodgings for the academy. She hasn’t had an English lad yet.
Well the local boys don’t get or need Accomodation. majority of boys in the academy are local, but only the ones that come from distance are provided with Accomodation, that’s probably why she’s not had any local boys stay with her.
I should imagine the local lads live at home Steve, wouldn’t that make sense?
I said English.
Butland was from Bristol.Would he have gone home ?
only if GR prepared to play them otherwise you are continually shipping them out….
We don’t have a lot of choice at the moment.
Even if he isn’t prepared to play them-if you are selling them on for a couple of hundred thousand at a time you are making sure the academy “washes it’s face” each year
Spot on 68 – EXACTLY the way I see it.
What the hell is the point of that? I know football is a business but we want players who have a real chance of making the grade with us, not selling them on for a couple of hundred grand. This is all so small time, cheapskate, I never in my wildest dreams thought things could turn out like this.
Then you’re a fool – this is the real world.
Tell that to Burnley and Bournemouth little minnows, you are the fool This is the second city of England don’t tell me we have to be a feeder club.
Some of us have had the privilege of watching brilliant players over the years now we watch this total rubbish.
It may suit your agenda Daniel but not mine.
Who said anything about being a feeder club?
Read what is written, not what you think you’ve read, Tony.
I heard on the grapevine that alverchurch fc are selling their ground and will be moving to wast hills and that this would be the catalyst for further investment in the site. Not seen anything official on this though.
Can’t see that happening.
Oh no… That would be a travesty for Alvechurch if true ☹️
Got some great memories of Alvechurch FC. Because my dad was a viler,Alvechurch was the only time we went to a game together.
Yeah that. Great FA cup run with that goal machine up front Mason I think ?
Alvechurch FC have got the adjoining site “The Hays” on a 50 year lease, not wast hills. They are not selling their ground, the lease had run out and the owner wants to try and put houses on there.
It is true that Alvechurch FC have acquired the 19ish acres of the Hayes playing field, adjacent to the blues training ground, and they plan to build a new stadium to conference level with 3g pitch there, big things are happening for the church from what I know, and they have an excellent team!
If we bring in players from League 1/2, non-league, or even abroad, I’m fine with that. It doesn’t matter to me whether a player costs us £100,000 or £1,000,000, or a Bosman. As I’ve said before, I don’t care where we get players from, as long as they’re bought for the right areas of the team and are an improvement on what we have currently in those positions.
For instance, Grounds hasn’t had decent competition for the left back spot for 2 whole seasons.. and the centre back problem has existed for the last 3 transfer windows. It would be negligence to stretch that to a 4th.
Thanks for your thoughts Dan, I feel you’ve got it spot on with some interesting input from the regulars
Two players from the under 21’s who are most likely to make an impact next season are Luke Maxwell and Ronan Hale.
I know people will say (Dan) that Hale hasn’t played many under 21 games, but if you have Hale’s talent for goalscoring that is immaterial.
I compare Hale’s style of play and stature to Michael Owen, who played 1 game for England Under 21’s and 89 for England senior team.
Marcus Rashford hasn’t played for England Under 21’s and only 1 game for the Under 20’s, yet is going to the Euros.
My point being that age is unimportant actions are and Hale scored 28 goals in 22 appearances last season.
I would like to see more of Hale but I think if he is brought into the 1st team it would probably only be for cup games, I agree that he’s banging them in left,right & centre at the moment but it is a big step up. Tbh the only way to see how good they are is to actually play them but Rowett isn’t a chancer like Clarkie was & I get the feeling with him that it takes a special circumstance like having no fit forwards to use a raw recruit, even then i’m not sure he would
Personally i’d like to see Charlee Adams in the side more often, GR likened him to a Gleeson type of player, well for me Gleeson isn’t consistant enough, he scores great goals but bottles 50/50’s & his passing is often way off, so a bit of competition from Adams might gee him up a bit.
I see him being tried out in pre season which will give management the chance to look at him around the first team and see if he is worth a place on the bench. In my opinion pre season and early on in the season is the time to try out players before the league starts to take shape. You know then what your squad is capable of, if you still need to strengthen and sort out your pecking order for when it does matter later in the season.
Absolutely agree. If you’re going to try out players, do it when there’s nothing at stake. Pre-season is ideal to give young lads two or three games to see how they fare. If they’re not quite ready, fine, you’ve lost nothing in trying and the lads themselves then know how far they have to go.
Have you seen our pre season fixtures?, no one will learn anything in those games imo, there isn’t a decent team among them from which we can test ourselves
Imo, you never learn anything in pre-season games, but, these players can learn more about themselves, playing with first team players, see how they integrate. Watching our first XI playing Shrewsbury and Port Vale only serves to build up fitness. There’s nothing learned from it.,
Looks like centre half could also be a weakness in the Under 21’s this year with Mbende leaving. Who do you see filling the gap Dan? It was rumoured that Maxwell might be converted into a defender?
I wouldn’t want to throw a rookie into a championship defence. Konchesky is out of contract. Grounds is apparently a centre half. There’s one option.
I expect Grounds to be second choice left back and back up for centre half next year with Spector an option too. Harding plays for the Under 21’s but who will be alongside Harding. Is this the plan for Maxwell.
We develop young players and then sell them ready made to a bigger club .We then use that money to buy players of dubious quality certainly not up to the standard of those leaving. You do not get promoted like that because although having large wads of money isn`t the be-all and end-all it definitely gives you an edge. If this is our fate next season then i expect another mid-table finish at best. The ownership HAS to be sorted asap.
We all know that Bluey! I’m happy for mid table finishes until it is all sorted compared to the infamous season where we were seconds from going down that’s for sure. There is no doubt that those players that have come up through the development squad & have been sold on have basically kept this club afloat. I don’t think calling players a ‘dubious’ buy when they are making the step up from a lower league is something that helps a player’s confidence. Fair enough if they are a supposed established player at this level & simply have shown nothing of late to demonstrate why we should risk taking them on, then they have to accept that criticism unless it’s through injury. It is what it is right now, things could be very much worse, so I’m happy looking forward to the European Championship Finals with one eye on the transfer market. I’m not concerned at all :)
I’m with you Atko.Treading water is good at this stage of the game and it could have been a hell of a lot worse but for Mr Caddis’ intervention.Take Leeds downfall from being European cup semi finalists to the the bottom of our third division or Coventry City’s demise and you can get some perspective.After all these years they still haven’t recovered,our problem is a blip by comparison.
You can add Fulham to that. Europa League finalists not so long ago.
If we all know that Atko then why do so many still bang on about play-offs and promotion? We haven`t a hope at the moment.
Our on and off field problems fall in to significance compared to most teams .. Let’s not over exaggerate when we are in a far better position than we could be and as far as transfers go PLEASE let’s not rush things .. The season only finished on Monday !! KRO
For me if a club has to keep selling off its young stars then the owners are not good enough .as you are selling off the clubs future prosperity , but the first team must always take priority as this is what brings most of the income in ….
Totally agree Dan, you have to lay strong foundations to build on, KRO
Looks like we’ve now got to the point where even the premiership champions can’t keep hold of their best players. Everyone (maybe except Man City) are selling clubs so lets just get used to it!
True Cookie but if you keep selling parts of that foundation we will have nothing to build on…KRO
Looks like another season of beg, steal and borrows.
Going to be hard to keep the fans interested with the soap saga going on at the club, good solid fans are having their patience stretched to the limit now.
People are only masking over the off field rubbish by talking nicely about ,building foundations, bringing through the youth, etc,etc.
Its been a long long road for sure.
I still think the right investment is £50 on Brum for promotion though , get it in there….. ..KRO
I reckon you`ll be about £50 poorer at the end of the season.