Football Season Guide

Chris Davies has huge expectations to manage in his first senior management role at St Andrews. Some of the Bluenose fans are already predicting winning the League One title with more than 100 points after splashing out the cash this summer but as other big clubs have discovered, their name carries no more weight than their less illustrious opponents in this division. Birmingham City really shouldn’t be playing in the third tier of English football but Chairman Tom Wagner and his board were made to pay for some dreadful decisions last season. The worst of those was opting to replace John Eustace with Wayne Rooney in October, which predictably ended in failure. Tony Mowbray then fell ill shortly after being given the task of cleaning up the mess. There still appears to be some faith in the ownership despite relegation, and the appointment of Davies, previously coaching at Tottenham Hotspur, has largely been seen as a step in the right direction after last season’s debacle. Davies has had to rebuild the squad with several of last season’s mainstays having left the club in goalkeeper John Ruddy, midfielder Ivan Sunjic and striker Jay Stansfield. The likes of centre-back Dion Sanderson and midfielders Jordan James and Juninho Bacuna are also linked with moves away. Birmingham City are rumoured to have a £20m transfer kitty and anything close to that figure completely blows their rivals out of the water. Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Ryan Allsop have already arrived and will fight it for the number one jersey. There is plenty of excitement over the signing of Christoph Klarer, Emil Hansson and Willum Thor Willumsson, whilst Marc Leonard and Alfie May stood out whilst playing for Northampton Town and Charlton Athletic respectively in League One last season. With further arrivals and departures likely before the end of August, there is going to be plenty of excitement around St Andrews.