A look ahead to big events for Birmingham City
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00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and the Virtue Trophy final. Now, obviously, we've
00:06mentioned before, it's a final that Blues will want to be in now and probably never
00:11again in terms of the league position to be entering the league cup instead, the Carabao
00:17Cup as it is known now. In terms of that, the day out at Wembley, we mentioned how great
00:22it is for confidence, how great it is for this new sort of era at Birmingham City as
00:26well. If they can go and win a bit of silverware there and brag that, that's fantastic for
00:31these owners and the new project and it could help attract players in as well. In terms
00:37of the final, 43,000 tickets sold just for Birmingham City fans. This shows how big they
00:43are and we discussed when they went first down to the Championship how big of a club
00:47that they are to fall. If you look at the table, there are so many in there that used
00:52to be in the Premier League not so long ago as well. So, they've done such a great job
00:56this season and this could be a bit of an icing on the cake job if they are to go to
01:01Wembley. What do you feel ahead of the Wembley trip? It's going to be a great day out for
01:05Blues fans.
01:06It absolutely is. It's just such a big boost for morale, isn't it? I know that they're
01:11obviously dominating League One, expected to win that title, but to win two pieces of
01:14silverware in the same season after so many years of struggles and pain under the old
01:19ownership, to have the new ownership coming in, not quite going to plan with the choices
01:23appoint Wayne Rooney, getting relegated later in that season, but then to have the boost
01:28again of winning matches, to go up, to get another trophy as I mentioned, and the trip
01:32to Wembley, that can make such a difference for supporters that just having that day out,
01:37getting away from, I mean, St Andrews is great to go to, but having something a bit different,
01:41having that day out at Wembley is so, so important. I mean, when your own club gets there, it's
01:46such a great thrill, isn't it, to be in and amongst the support. Birmingham City, 43,000
01:51tickets, as you mentioned, selling out their entire allocation, fighting to try and get
01:55more and more. Unfortunately, that is it now, it has been capped at 43,000. Peterborough
02:00for comparison is around 20, 21, 22, and then they've not sold out their allocation just
02:05yet. And for comparison as well, last season's Virtue Trophy final, or Papa John's as it
02:11was known back then, 42,500 tickets sold overall. Birmingham sell 43,000. It's going to be an
02:18incredible day, an incredible atmosphere, and Chris Davies determined to get that trophy
02:22over the line.
02:23Yeah, and just looking at their home form, they're unbeaten at home this season, 17 wins,
02:28three draws, zero losses. How important has that been in terms of their chase? Obviously,
02:34you want to make your home ground a fortress, but you may accept the odd loss there, but
02:39they've taken nothing there. Obviously, the FA Cup lost to Newcastle, but outside of that,
02:46in terms of the league, it's been absolutely flawless at home this season, and hopefully
02:50they can carry that into the championship.
02:52Yeah, absolutely. They need to make it a fortress, and you'd expect them to do that with the
02:58amount of signings they made in the summer, the amount of money that was spent, but to
03:01actually go and do it is a different thing entirely. Having the club and the team gelling
03:06so many new players is important. A new manager, you've got to remember that Chris Davies had
03:10never been a proper manager before this. He'd only been an assistant coach. Some top clubs,
03:16but he would only be an assistant. Now, stepping into his first role, I think he's proven he
03:20was ready for that, and just the leadership, the morale, the togetherness at the football
03:24club is so important to have that, and to go unbeaten at home, that would be an incredible
03:28achievement. Still a few matches to go, admittedly. They could still lose one, especially when
03:32the league is probably wrapped up before the end of the campaign, but it would be great
03:36for them to wrap that up. It'd be a great statistic and one that they can bring in with
03:39great confidence going up to the championship.
03:43Just in terms of the summer window, obviously we've mentioned a lot of players have dropped
03:48down to Blues' level to join them, to invest in this project and get them back up. How
03:54do you see them spending in the summer? They've been very ambitious so far. The championship
03:58is a bit of a different kettle of fish, though, in terms of the financial restrictions you
04:04can face. What do you think they're going to be prioritising in terms of the summer
04:10window, in terms of investment into new players?
04:14I think we'll see some investment, but just not as much as last year. Last year was an
04:17incredible rebuild and one we won't ever see again, probably at League One level. Yes,
04:22in a championship it brings more money, they'll have more revenue, the prospect of potentially
04:26going to the Premier League. Could they take a gamble, spend a lot more money and then
04:30go up and rebuild that revenue out of that? Potentially. It could surprise us all and
04:34go and spend even more tens of millions on players. I don't think it'd be that much.
04:38Getting someone in like Phil Newman on a free transfer, a fantastic centre-half wanted
04:43by Bundesliga clubs, is a great step in the right direction. Making sure that Taylor Garden
04:47Hickman joins permanently from Bristol City for less than a million pounds, great business.
04:52Alphonse Samstedt coming in for the Icelandic international, a similar fee after his loan
04:57spell. Some great business done so far. I think more shrewd additions like that, free
05:02transfers, potentially loans in from the Premier League could be done. And then maybe, as I
05:07say, they could invest a little bit more into those maybe attacking positions. We've
05:11got Jay Stansfield there already at Birmingham, but Alfie May, he's done well at times. He
05:16had a big gold drought. Could they maybe try and sign another striker to support Jay Stansfield
05:20at that level? Potentially. But I suppose it's just a wait and see job. Probably not
05:24as much money spent, but still investment nonetheless.