Football Season Guide

Birmingham City’s ambition remains vast despite a season of consolidation on their return to the Championship. Chris Davies led the Blues to a record-breaking 111-point tally as they cruised to the League One title but the young head coach knew it would be a more-challenging campaign. They were incredibly difficult to beat at St Andrews but struggled on their travels, and that will be one of the first things he’ll look to remedy this time around. Whilst it might not have been quite so exciting, a 10th place finish clearly represents progress and should provide a basis of a concerted push for the play-offs. He still has the spine of the team that has performed so well under him, with only a couple of noteworthy departures this summer. The loss of winger Ibrahim Osman was expected, having returned from his loan from Brighton & Hove Albion. The departure of left-back Kai Wagner comes as a bit of a surprise, having fitted seamlessly into the side, but the offer of a move to Philadelphia Union was clearly too tempting to refuse. Aside from fixing the Blues away form, the priority is to add some more firepower and score more goals. It does raise questions over talismanic striker Jay Stansfield, who found goals hard to come by despite Davies remaining loyal to him for the entire campaign. Can he do it at this level? There are hopes striker August Priske, signed in January, will come good having had a taste of the Championship. Nonetheless, they have still gone out and added Luis Vazquez to the attack. The Argentine signs from Anderlecht, having had a spell on loan at Getafe, and at 25, this is his chance to shine. Otherwise it’ll be a similar team to last season, and Davies knows he might not get a third season if results start to falter. Owners Birmingham Sports Holdings appear to have learned from previous mistakes, not least the disastrous appointment of Wayne Rooney which ultimately led to their relegation from the Championship. Plans to build a 60,000 capacity stadium as part of a huge sports quarter development a stones throw away from St Andrews continue apace and it is designed to host a Premier League team.