Football Season Guide

Birmingham were fortunate not to go down last season after a poor campaign. The appointment of Lee Bowyer in March saved them. He instilled some fight and led them to some vital victories as they secured safety with two games to spare. Bowyer has made some shrewd off-season acquisitions. Playmaker Woods has plenty of Championship experience and was an ever-present during a season-long loan at Millwall last season, while Graham, Sanderson (on loan at Sunderland) and Sarkic (on loan at Shrewsbury) all impressed in League One. Bowyer has raided former club Charlton for striker Aneke who was in demand after his 15 goals last season. Young Manchester United winger Chong has yet to deliver on his talent but has undoubted potential. There have been no real significant departures with most players leaving either youngsters or players who rarely featured under Bowyer. Birmingham have a squad capable of competing in the top half of the table but they underperformed last season. Scoring goals was a problem during the last campaign, they finished the season as the joint second lowest scorers. Aneke gives them another dimension in attack, Scott Hogan and Lucas Jutkiewicz are proven strikers at this level but only scored seven and eight times respectively last season.