Often Partisan

Four weeks to go

It’s now just four weeks until the season starts, and despite some crazy off field problems the team is starting to take shape at St Andrews. Whilst Chris Hughton hasn’t yet sorted his backroom staff out fully, with the captures of Rooney and Caldwell there is a feeling that he’s getting down to business.

Just like his predecessor, Hughton has been making the right noises in press conferences, talking about the challenge of getting promoted back to the top flight and how he’s going to handle dealing with the off-field turmoil that the club has been enveloped in over the last fortnight. I think he’s shown a lot of media savvy because whilst it sounds like he’s saying the right things, he’s not actually said much at all. It’s a good thing; right now there is more to be achieved by the club playing it’s cards close to it’s chest.

There has been no real indication as to how Blues will set up game-wise, and I guess we won’t really see that for sure until next Saturday’s friendly against Cork City. For all our treble winning showpiece in China last year, I don’t think friendlies are about results; it’s about seeing where the squad is at and building on work that has been done on the training pitch. Thus I’m not overly concerned what the result is next week; what I am looking forward to seeing is the formation we play; the way we set up and how Hughton will look to get the best out of his squad.

One thing Hughton did say was that there was a clean slate; I took this to mean that he will judge every player purely on merit and any problems that might have occurred under the previous management will be pushed to one side. This could mean that players like Michel, who was frozen out and sent to Greece in the end could still have a role to play should he want; I think it also could mean that if a player decides that they’d rather stay now and fight rather than get a move to a Premier League club might have that option if it’s viable to Blues. Either way, with our squad still looking rather thin it’s a good move from the manager.

Things seem to have quietened down in China; at the time of writing I’ve not seen any new news regarding Carson Yeung and whilst there is lots of speculation on the messageboards and whatnot, it is that – purely speculation. It’s imperative now that the club itself doesn’t allow the furore surrounding Carson to affect it’s preparations; Blues need to sort out the backroom staff fully in the next week if they can, and continue to build on the squad to ensure we have the players for what is going to be a gruelling campaign.

I’m still fairly excited about the new season; I should be going to the Hereford friendly in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to see the new incarnation of Blues strut their stuff. It’s been a very strange summer, and for me at least, the sooner the real ball comes out, the better.

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8 Responses to “Four weeks to go”

  • Darkerthanblue says:

    It’s good to see I’m not the only bluenose that’s excited about the coming season! I don’t understand all the pessimism coming from some fans, after all we are Birmigham City and it seems we’re destined to struggle as a club. But isn’t that the fun bit. I didn’t choose to support the blues I was born into a family of noses and I wouldnt have it any other way! Who wants to watch your team winning everything, thays got to get tedious after a while! What the club, manager and team (whoever that may end up to be) need right now is us noses to get behind them all the way! So come on let’s hear you……… As you go through life, it’s a long long road. There’ll be joys and sorrows too………

  • Giblets says:

    Anyone had their season tickets yet ? Are they meant to be posted or collected from the ticket Office ?

  • Giblets says:

    Cheers !

  • bluenose padstow says:

    alex mcliesh was in padstow last week, probably at rick steins learning fishy tactics or perhaps
    he was after danny o’hagen the bodmin centre foreward

  • joe king says:

    Glad to see you are at the cutting edge of the news, lol even the Sunday Mercury are copying your articles and even quoting this site :) keep up the good work.

  • Midleton says:

    I think any supporter who is optimistic about the coming season is mad.Its no use just being stoical saying we are the Blues…Keep Right On etc etc.It is this attitude which has enabled various cowboys to come in and run the club over the years and now we have a board which is running out of what little money they had,we are heading for administration,the only players we can bring in are free transfers and there is a fire sale at St Andrews.We will never be a Champions League club(unless we have owners with countless millions to invest) but is it to much to ask for our club to be well run(example Wigan,example Stoke) and not a laughing stock which is sadly what we are.


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