Birmingham City players investing into future project

National World - LocalTV

A positive place to be at the moment as Blues aim high both on and off the pitch.

Transcript

00:00Charlie, let's look at Birmingham City and specifically Christophe Clara. Now, he's had

00:06a fantastic season by all counts. Obviously, joining under this new project, he's played

00:11so many games at such a nice age for his career to come to this club with a real nice project

00:18ahead. What have you taken from his season, his first go at it? It can really build well

00:25for the future and Blues fans love him as well.

00:29He's been absolutely superb. I think one of the players of the season in this Birmingham

00:33team. You look at Jay Stansfield for his £13 million-odd fee, you think, OK, he's going

00:38to be a star player. Don't be wrong, he's scored so many goals, had so many special

00:41moments, but from a defensive standpoint, Christophe Clara has been incredible for them.

00:46An absolute brick wall at the back, starting pretty much every game possible in all competitions

00:51this season, he's been that crucial. When Christian Bielik has been put on the bench,

00:56the captain, someone who we thought would be a player leading Birmingham for many years

01:00to come in the Championship, maybe up to the Premier League as well. When he's being benched

01:05by Clara, you can just see how good Clara is. When he came to Birmingham, he took a

01:09big step down. He had German top flight prospects and then he decided he wanted to join the

01:14project. I spoke to him away at Wrexham a couple of months ago after an incredible performance

01:20there and he said he's completely committed to it. He wants to carry on with Blues, he

01:25wants to get them to the Premier League. That's the kind of mentality you want from, one,

01:28a centre-back, but two, a leader. I could probably see him going on to become the captain

01:32at some point, he's been that important for them.

01:34Obviously, in football, we should never really assume, but let's assume Blues are going to

01:39be a Championship team next season. They need these quality signings throughout and players

01:45who've invested in the project as well, it's just as important as quality. In terms of

01:50them moving forward, Christophe Clara, who partners him at the back for Blues, their

01:55centre-back partnership is so important. Especially in the Championship, you need to make sure

02:00you are conceding minimal goals and then suddenly you can find yourself so high up the table

02:04if you really work on defensive solidity.

02:07It's all about having that core to the team, isn't it? Clara, of course, offers that. Ben

02:12Davies has been really good alongside him on loan from Rangers this season. They could

02:17potentially look to sign him permanently, but one player they've already snapped up

02:21is Phil Newman from Hanover in Bundesliga 2. I believe they're on track potentially

02:25for promotion to the Bundesliga, so another player making a step down to Birmingham for

02:30the sake of the project, but he's already agreed to join in the summer. He's not only

02:34tall, but he's also rapid as well. He's one of those players you're very sought after

02:39on FIFA, trying to get the quickest player, but tallest player possible. He can offer

02:42that for Blues in the defence alongside Christoph Klarer, another player who's played in Germany.

02:48Similar kind of style of football. They're pretty good at passing out from the back,

02:52dribbling out from the back, using their pace effectively. I think we can see that at Blues

02:56next season. Obviously, they've never played together. We don't know if they're actually

02:59going to form that partnership or not, but I think from what we've seen from clips of

03:03Newman in Germany, what we've seen so far from Klarer at Blues, I think it's a pretty

03:08promising partnership they could form next year.

03:11And finally, just on and off the pitch, I mean, it seems like a really positive situation

03:15at Birmingham City. You just touched on the sort of change since you started covering

03:20them yourself, obviously, and you know, all that managerial disarray and the relegation

03:25as well. How much has changed in just about 12 months or so?

03:29Just the complete outlook at the football club has changed. Tom Wagner coming in as

03:33the new chairman, of course, Tom Brady as well under his wing of the minority ownership,

03:38bringing so much hype around the club, publicity as well, positive publicity. The upgrade

03:43at St Andrews at Nighthead Park, the talks of a new stadium, all these things going on

03:46in the background really help the morale of the fans. We've seen so many sellouts this

03:51season, more in League One than we did in the Championship. The away games as well,

03:56cold Wednesday and Tuesday nights away from home, hours away in the winter. These fans

04:01are committed and they were anyway, but I think it really helps when you've got a solid

04:05ownership backing them. And of course, getting to Wembley as well for the Virtual Trophy

04:08final, what a day out that will be. And then promotion to the Championship would be good

04:13enough. Looks like they're on track for the title, another piece of silverware, and then

04:16they can really kick on and try and get to the Premier League, just as Tom Wagner and

04:20co are hoping to do.

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