A look ahead for Blues
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00:00Charlie, on to Birmingham City. Obviously, relegated now, a Ligue 1 club, a real slap
00:08in the face at times for them to realise that now, and their objectives have got to be promotion.
00:15The first time I've asked how they're going about that, obviously, new manager in. Surely,
00:20that's the set and stone objectives from these ambitious owners.
00:23Absolutely. Chris Davies looks like a very good manager. He's not been tested yet as
00:29a manager himself, but he's been the number two for some top clubs, including Liverpool
00:34and Celtic, Leicester City, more recently Tottenham Hotspur. So, he comes in with a
00:38lot of experience and tactical mouse that I think Birmingham will want to unlock. It's
00:43just whether that can work in such a physical, competitive division that is Ligue 1, we'll
00:47have to wait and see on that front. But they've got more funds than a lot of other clubs in
00:51the division to go and splash the fact that they've been able to make a few key sales
00:55over recent years and sell-on fees, etc. And of course, the new investment from Tom
00:59Wagner and Nighthead Company is going to help them to get that bounce back up to the championship.
01:05There's some audacious moves they're trying to make as well for players that are interested
01:09in championship clubs. They're trying to convince them whether they might make that drop down.
01:14Josh Windass is one of those we've been reporting about. West Bromwich Albion actually want
01:19to sign him. But Birmingham City are trying to challenge West Brom for Windass' signature.
01:24His contract's expiring at Sheffield Wednesday. So, there's no transfer fee involved, which
01:29means there might be a bit of a signing-on fee they could maybe offer him or some increased
01:33wages that might tempt him to drop below. But I think that's a testing thing. How many
01:38players can you really convince to drop down to Ligue 1? This isn't Wrexham where you've
01:42got Hollywood owners and you bring in all that publicity. And yeah, Tom Brady's kind
01:47of there with that aspect. He's not as involved as people thought. I think it's going to be
01:51an interesting window ahead. But they have got the money to spend. They are being ambitious,
01:56which is the main thing.
01:57Yeah, and how important is it that the Blues see this as a bit of a reset button to drop
02:01down and obviously hopefully come straight back up? But obviously, having the owners
02:06come in previously, now they're down together, they can see it as maybe a fresh start from
02:13next season.
02:14Well, it's a good opportunity to let players go that are on bigger contracts. We've seen
02:18that already, quite a few expiring, letting them get moving. Ivan Sundjic was a bit of
02:23a disappointing one because he was a record signing or at least up there with that £5
02:27or £6 million, I believe he cost a few years ago. Him going on a free, that's going to
02:31hurt. But these are the kind of sacrifices you have to make when you drop a division,
02:35when you want to have that fresh start. It was just so stale for so many years and they
02:39need to have that belief back. Winning some games, potentially going on to win the Ligue
02:431 title, will just give the fan base a boost and a belief that they can kick on in the
02:48Championship again. But obviously, a long way to go yet, we've not even started the
02:51season, we've hardly started the transfer window. So plenty more to unfold before we
02:55can make any predictions like that.