Blues take their new signing total to nine today having signed Matt Green on a free transfer and Dan Burn on loan. Green, who has signed a two-year deal played for Mansfield Town last year and scored 27 league goals as they were promoted to the Football League. Burn signs on a season long loan from Fulham and will be vying with fellow loanee Kyle Bartley along with Paul Robinson for a starting spot at centre back.
The signing of Green is an interesting one. At 26 he’s at a stage in his career where he should be coming to his peak and whilst he has spent most of his playing time bouncing around the lower levels there is no denying his goalscoring record at Mansfield. Blues aren’t in the market for top flight strikers at the moment and for me the signing of Green is a low-risk gamble that could easily play dividends.
From what little I’ve seen of him, he reminds me of Wes Thomas – and no, that is no insult to either player. Videos I’ve seen of his goals for the Stags show a pacy, direct player who likes to run at defenders – something Blues just don’t have in their senior strikers – and a striker who is willing to shoot with either foot. Blues struggled at times last season to fashion chances against teams with a strong backline with a good offside trap and I would think Green would offer Clark the option of playing a strikeforce that is going to be able to get in behind defenders. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Clark has signed a player like Thomas as I think he would have taken the Bournemouth man on if he had the money available to.
With Green on board it means Clark will have as many as seven strikers available – King, Zigic, Novak, Lovenkrands, Asante and Hales will also be in the reckoning – and thus I suspect it will maybe point more to possibly King and hopefully Lovenkrands being moved on prior to the start of the season. It also means that Asante and Hales will be given chance to grow into first team roles rather than being thrust into the spotlight from the off (or the bench at least).
The Birmingham Mail have reported that left midfielder/left back Liam Davis, 26, formerly of Oxford United is on trial with the club whilst Mark Little and Julian Gray are both at Wast Hills being allowed to use the facilities as a favour to keep their fitness up. One player who won’t be coming to Blues is centre back Jean-Yves Mvoto who agreed a deal in priniciple last night with Doncaster Rovers.
Tags: Dan Burn, Jean-Yves Mvoto, Julian Gray, Kyle Bartley, Mark Little, Matt Green
Other than a specialist left-sided midfielder (plus any other he deems necessary,) Lee Clark has more or less wrapped up his squad before the first pre-season game. Very impressive. The backroom team deserve a huge pat on the back.
this may be court if he’s interested in joining…………
Dan – imo its all about healthy competition hopefully he comes off. from the footage i seen of him i personally think he better than wes, and that is in no way been disrespectful to wes.
if blues can give him the service he will nail the goals imo. i LOVE his show vote for taking penalty, i hate watching penalty been taken at the best of time……but this guy full confident in taking them……………this team should inspire the fans………….Saturday for me will see if many will travel, and be in good voice……….
What I do like about Green, from what I saw in the video, was that he doesn’t have to be facing the goal to score. He has all kinds of flicks and tricks. I think I saw at least 2 goals scored with back-heelers. He’s good in the air too, which we haven’t had for a while.
Now that LC has his team we will see just how good he really is. This season will be very important for LC, succeed and he should have the job for a long time, even if we do get taken over. Fail and he will be looking for another job, and I am sure he would find it very difficult.
For me that means getting this team to finish in the top half of the league, I think he will do that with ease, lets face it he has to.
Are you serious?, if LC fails this season it won’t be his fault , he’s got 9 players in so far without spending a penny, I think LC deserves a huge pat on the back for just achieving that. Most managers can’t get 9 players in without spending 20 million plus.
completely agree with chrisg too many people are ready to judge clarke on this season and saying he has his team now do you honestly think he would have signed the same players with a decent transfer budget ? personally i have a good feeling about the season ahead and as long as we avoid the trap door and give it a go then im happy enough given the perilous state were in
kro
If he keeps us up this season I think LC will have proved me (and others) wrong
It is a good balanced squad with youth and pace. I think we will surprise a few people this coming season. Expect us to finish in the top 6. You might say that is a bit optimistic but I don’t think we need fear anything. Let’s face it youth has little fear and with just the right balance of experienced players in the squad I can see 2013-14 being a cracker. You wouldn’t have heard me saying that last season. Let us just hope that LC has improved his tactical knowledge as this was something that let him down on more than one occasion last season.
GBS
Congratulations to Lee Clark for his transfer dealings this summer. We have seen some young exciting players arrive who are hungry and eager to kick-start their careers. It is in stark contrast to last year when players were recruited who were approaching the end of their careers and had little motivation other than to pick up a pay packet.
Lee Clark said he learned more about football management last season than all his previous seasons put together. Having no money to spend now will stand him in good stead as a manager in the future and imo we are fortunate to have his services.
Lets not get carried away with the we all luv Lee Clark thing. The proof will be in what his team can do. Last season we all thought we had a squad that was going to wipe the earth and we know how that story went.
Me personally I think Lee Clark will excel with the young talent he has assembled (No ego’s getting in the way), how that stands against the rest of the league only time will tell.
I live in hope as I have done for most of my 57 years.
Beat you by 2 years StevieW @ 59 KRO
Beat you both @ 60
Beat all 3, of you at 70, plus, Minus my first 15 yrs, as a non Bluenose, — Chuckle, !!.
I was going to say I beat the lot of you, but I have been Out-Aged..
C’mon chas… you’re not going to hide your age like an old woman are you? Age rank and number please lol
top so far 75 and still a blue nose still the best blues team was in the 1950s
77 in January 2014!
And still have a season ticket and travel from South London for every home game!
Sorry Staffs , I wasn’t being timid, I will be 69 at the end of this month. But a young 69, that is.
chas….. all Bluenoses are young at heart mate! ;-)
Me Same as StevieW !
Where in South London are you Roy?
Sutton
Nice part of the world. I was just down the road in sunny Mitcham.
Funny- I logged on to a dating website- swear this was a blues blog lol
What are you doing on hyere vthen… haven’t you noticed, we’re all men (except Tracy) lol
Sorry for typos, watching tv at the same time.
Really positive that LC has managed to build a side in true Blue Peter fashion despite having no money and no leadership from the boardroom. We all should be backing his judgement taking these factors into account. If he fails then it would be very harsh to give him severe stick. I can think of tens of other managers who would have simply upped and left at the end of last season.
KRO
Yes most managers would have at least been throwing their toys out of the pram but Lee Clark has gone about his job superbly and what must be remembered is that a team needs to gel and it does not happen overnight, but what we will get are players that will reflect the manager and that is giving 100% total commitment to Birmingham City.
I agree with you entirely Andy. I am still undecided about Lee, but one thing that cannot be argued is that he has got on with his job without a single complaint as far as I am aware, in circumstances which many of our previous managers would have walked from. He will ultimately be measured on his results, but no-one can question that he has shown a great desire to succeed, and that he is prepared to commit to Birmingham City. That kind of attitude will be passed down to his players, and we may see a different kind of performance this season because of it. Frankly, I have grown tired of watching players content to just pick up the pay cheque, and I believe that those that have re-signed are players who are also committed to the club, Robinson and Elliot in particular. I am not sure how much we can realistically achieve this year as there will be yet another ‘bedding in’ process which may prove difficult with a lot of strong teams in the division and a lot of new players, but I don’t think we will be able to question the desire?
Fast and strong on the ball. I like the look of Green. Could he be our Jordan Rhodes? I wish we’d signed him on a longer contract as his value will rocket if he does well and the most we’ll get is £2m if hes only got a year left on his contract.
I’m not sure how LC will juggle the team to accommodate Bartley, Burns and Robbo or all the strikers at his disposal but very impressed with his squad assembly considering all the restrictions.
Robbo likely to start at Left Back i’d have thought, since Murphy isn’t going to be fit until Sept/Oct..
If I may be allowed to attend confession as well, ?.
I was amongst those who were slightlly — Anti Clark, Most of last season, but I am impressed by the speed and promise of the newcomers he has amassed so far, !!.
Finally having gotten Bartley and Burn, on board, With Robinson and a couple of youngsters, He has solved the c/back situation.
As I remarked yesterday, Green reminds me of Kevin Philips, in as much as his positioning around the box, allied to his speed, — We cannot expect him to score every other game as he did for mansfield, It is too big a jump, but with good health and luck, He could be a 10, to 15 goal man, !!.
10 -15 goals this season, for god sakes, he’s never played in the Championship, the lad has been playing non league football for the last few seasons, it’s a massive step up, he’s record in non league football is impressive, but i doubt he’ll be a regular starter this season. If he can get 4-5 goals it’ll be a decent return.
Wolves got Keighly (sp) from Non league and he hit it off straight away..Going further back, tho he was younger, Peter Osgood signed for Chelsea at 21 and was a brilliant success.
There aren’t as many non-leaqguers make the step up as there used to be… but there are still some gems to be picked up if your scouts do their jobs properly. Lee Clark has obviously been doing his “due dilligence” (hate that phrase) for many months, at least the back end of last season. That’s how to do it Mr Mcleish!
Remember Gary Birtles at Forest? Am pretty sure Cloughy signed him from non-league. Didn’t also Stuart Pearce get signed from non-league?
Horsfield didn’t do too badly when he worked his way up the leagues. I’d love it if we could sign a young Horsfield!
From Coventry City, but they bought him from Wealdstone.
I’m kind of on the fence with Lee Clarke, he undoubtedly improved toward the second half of last season but I still think he underachieved on a whole with the squad we had available, with regards to assembling a new squad, fair play on getting it done so quickly, time will tell how competitive we can be with this newly assembled squad but I personally think we will be inconsistent and flatter to deceive, fingers crossed the home results improve so the kids get cut some slack. I still think we will struggle to score the amount of goals required to be anywhere near the top six, but maybe it’s unrealistic to expect anything other than survival.
On a personal note I was gutted last season when Jordan Mutch was sold, hate to see talented players leave the club especially if they have come through the academy but I’ve since accepted that players will come and go and so will managers, but we will always have BCFC (I hope) none of the signings have excited me but lets hope they prove me wrong!
dave mann@ 50 just a young wipper snapper compared to some of you old buggers,KRO.
looking some of the ages of the posters on her have I come to Often Partisan or Mature TImes lmao.
Jokes aside I am intrigued at how this season will pan out, Regarding Green I think a 1 year contract with a years option would have been better, Green is a bit of a risk as he seems to have failed at each attempt in the football league, however he does take he goals really well so hoping he can find his feet by having a run in the side. Good Luck to him and Clarky on this one !!
For me, no matter what league you’re in, position and first touch is everything, you can’t teach that… ask Kevin Phillips. I like Green’s style. I think he’ll do well, especially with the midfield we’ll have this season and the attacking full backs. I hope hye fills his boots.
Signed… Methuselah :p
Lee Clark to Matt Green: “I said to him the goal is the same size, the ball is the same size and the pitches are the same size whatever level you’re playing at and you’ve got that natural instinct, so go and continue it..” Absolutely!
I am delighted with LC’s exploits and am really peeved that I fly off on Hols Friday and miss Alfreton and the trip to Dublin. I cant help though wandering about the Zigic situation which will be all the more crazy this season. Imaginer Zigic’s £75k a week would pay the rest of the squad!!
Nathan’s transfer seems to be dragging on a bit. Could it be he is having second thoughts? Both Norwich and Swansea are a long way from Brum and his mother!
Now we have tied up the transfers of Bartley, Green and Burn, Nathan can change his mind and sign a new 4 year contract at Blues.
He is at Carrow Road having a medical!
He was reported to be having a medical on Monday. The doctor must be being paid by the hour.
I think you’re going to be very disappointed…
Here’s a prediction: Norwich go down and we go up. Who’s gonna have the last laugh then?
One huge thing is to Lee’s advantage: many more of the players are now HIS players and for managers with limited experience, that has to be a big plus. I’m not comparing him in the slightest to Andre Villas Boas, but just remember how he struggled with the stars at Chelsea.
Do we still think Terry Mac and Derek F are up to the job though? There was a lot of criticism of them last year.
If you look at the squad on Wikipedia it’s pleasing to see so many English flags. Please don’t anybody start Being ridiculous and shouting xenophobia. I’m just old school and it’s pleasing to see English lads playing for an English club (especially so many local lads now too)
Xenophobe!!!……no,i’m in total agreement with you. Nice to see the English lads getting a game and the local boys can only add to the passion they will bring to the side!!.Looking forward to seeing the new unit and how it fairs.
I’m 36 by the way, a mere baby.
Sorry to mention the enemy… but the last really good Villa side was under John Gregory, when practically the whole squad was British. Xenophobia has bugger all to do with wanting to see English/British players playing for our teams. You wouldn’t hear Spanish or German or Italian fans called Xenophobic for wanting to see mainly Italian players playing for their teams.
That’s why I have no interest in watching European football. Once upon a time, it was exciting playing foreign opposition… to see how Britiish players and British tactics fared against European players and tactics. Now, with all the foreign players in our game, it’s just watching one team of foreign players against another team of foreign players… playing european style football. Where’s the fun in that. We already have that… it’s called the English Premier League.
This is a wonderful comment! I agree with all of it.
I’d rather see Blues play Bradford than Barcelona any day, especially as to reach “that” level we’d have to sign a team of over paid predominantly overseas under motivated “stars”.
Three cheers for British footballers playing British football for British teams!!!
Europe can take a jump!
Xenophobia is the new patriotism. Everything has to have a label these days.
Just watched the “montage”of goals on you tube. Looks a bit like Clinton Morrison in style(!). Lots of success stories of non-league stepping up and succeeding, but one or two who didn’t make it for Blues such as Howard Forinton (Trev signing), Miguel De-Souza (Barry Fry signing) Gary (?) Shroot to name a few. None the less he looks like he has a great attitude which will make him popular down at Stans. Good luck to him if he scores one he will go on to get more. A good start for him is important.
I have re-newed my season ticket for the 20th year! How come I only get a 5 year loyalty discount?
KRO and SOTV
Robin Shroot DP. DeSouza was a strange one. He had the potential to be a good player. Was it Wycombe we bought him from? He did pretty good there.
Some memories,if your old enough.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bygone-blues-vintage-birmingham-city-4863897?
Lets hope the squad shows as much fight as these players did for the BLUES.
Some great photos and great memories. The fifties pics were a bit before my time, I was a little ‘un.
Late 70’s for me,didn’t know Henry Cooper fought at St`Andrews.
So did Bertie Auld apparently.. only he wasn’t supposed to. lol
HaHaaaaa !!
The team with Harford,Gayle,Hopkins took no prisoners.
I noticed brady has put some timber on.
comment edited
I may be in the (very small) minority… but I still think she’s gorgeous. I’d have her back at StAns any day.
I was there that night as well;-)… Stafs, brilliant comment there re Bertie…My all time favourite player.I saw his fight v Haynes and Cook , and I saw him try to climb Yeats to give him a kiss..
Pity Zigic wasn’t playing then… he could have lifted Bertie up to get a better connection lol
Bloody hell. Has Ron Saunders got a license for the length of those shorts!
Just watched the video myself & if he can make the step up to the championship LC could have got the find of the century!!!, scores with left foot, right foot, headers & penalties & certainly knows where the goal is.
Delivered the milk to St Andrews,the outstanding bill increased every month,then the brady gang turned up,trying to get the money (blood from a stone) she asked for the record/receipts,still remember her face when I explained “we don’t give receipts for every delivery DARLING”
Then she brought out a travel away card,photo needed,bit of violence when BLUES played away at the time,after Blackpool we travelled to W.H.U in a littlewoods cup game on a Tuesday / Wednesday night,brady told us we had to buy a coach ticket as`well as a ticket for the away game,only 3 coaches went,the coaches dropped us off past the ground next to the park,we had to walk past them dodgy flats,the coaches would pick us up there after the game (nightmare)
W.H.U away end in them days was opposite where you sit now,standing then,remember when Julian Dicks came up to the about 150 BLUES fans warming up before the game,BLUES sang his name,W.H.U weren’t to happy,offering us out for a 1 on 1.
Enjoyed the London trips,field name on here was the train to get,got you into the smoke for opening time in them days,last train home was 11.55 (top drinking session) “Soho “O`Bar” & flying Scotsman pub” but ended up been brought forward to 11.00~11.30.Plenty of BLUES fans sleeping on the benches the back of Euston after missing the last train home after the change,the excuses for the wives / girlfriends on the train Sunday morning was classic.
I remember the Away Travel club. Twenty quid for the p,erasure of being able to buy away tickets. One of Kazza’s few ideas that did fall flat on its face. She thought we’d take the division by storm and there away ticket uptake would out see demand outweigh supply. Sadly Barry’s boys couldn’t fill their end of the bargain and practically all away games ended up pay on the day anyway.
I do remember several hundred roll up to Charlton without tickets on a very hot August day in 1995. Looked like it would kick off until they finally let the ticketless fans pay cash.
London always are definitely my favourites. Have had some crackers at WHU and Spuds.
Team for next season 4-2-3-1
Randolph
Eardly Bartley Robinson Hancox
Adyemi Reilly
Burke Shinnie Elliot
Zigic
Is there something that can be done to sweeten the deal to get rid of King? Some electronic device to stop him going offside perhaps.
Is there something that can be done to sweeten the deal to get rid of King? Some electronic device to stop him going offside perhaps..
http://www.whufc.com/articles/20130704/morrison-keen-to-build-on-good-year_2236884_3227620? we may struggle to get Morrison back unless Sam turn his nose up at the player, and it would be a bloody great loan signing if we get him back by Clark.maybe wishful thinking now………….
i would still like to see ferg’s back if possible…………..
Re: Ferguson and Morrison: If I had to choose one or the other to come back… I’d choose Ferguson. We need a natural left-footer to balance the team. Look at the difference when we stopped using right-footers last season and brought Ferguson in. I think we’re well-covered in the middle of the park now.
Come on you thousands of bluenoses this your time, it our time, your club needs your support, this a new season, a new team, exciting and vibrant team with height, strength, power, pacey players who have desire, commitment, they also have the hunger to do well…………………………SUPPORT YOUR TEAM…… show these players we are massive club, and we are passionate fans…. get ready to sing your hearts out for the lads…….. lets rock the championship with our ………..kro
Think the lad Green will score goals in this division. You can’t take that instinct away. He also has a point to prove and it is golden opportunity to make the big time at his age.
He could be a premier league player next year even. Lol
It’s a no brainier really. Goal scorers cost the earth and we picked him up on a free at a good age for strikers. You must also remember he will have far better coaching facilities and coaching at this level so you would think he will only get better
That’s Kings replacement sorted then but will King be offloaded? Surely LC must be confident? 7 strikers is way too many to keep paying
I agree. He’s a free transfer and will be on what… £5k pw? That’s not much of a risk is it? If it doesn’t work out and we sell him on, whatever we make will be profit.
DJ Campbell has signed for Blackburn on a Free..