Bananas

Blues need to bring more players into the squad.  Anyone saying otherwise is wrong.  The fact that McLeish is continuing to try and sign players (“try” being the operative word) and is still being quoted as saying we need more shows that.  We need more bodies.  I was saying at the end of last season that we needed 6 or 7.  We’re still well short of that.

In the past twelve months the likes of Carsley, Johnson, Queudrue, Martin Taylor, Vignal and McSheffrey have all left the club.  None of them were huge assets first-team wise any more, but they had plenty of experience amongst them and were at least bodies who could make up the numbers on the bench or even if you had an injury crisis.  Benitez and Hart have also left the club, from the first team (to be replaced by Zigic and Foster), and so the only ‘squad’ players that Blues have really brought in to replace those I listed above are Michel, Gardner and Valles, the latter of whom has less top flight experience than Marcos Painter.

When you take all of that into account – and think what you like about the players I’ve listed – the squad isn’t particularly deep.  Marcus Bent, who appears to have been completely ostracised by McLeish (not going to China, not being involved in first team friendlies) should really be brought back into the fold now given that Phillips is injured and the only back-up for Jerome and Zigic is Garry O’Connor – arguably less of a talent than Bent.  Again, I know that people don’t like Bent, but there’s few other options.

It’s been said many a time, but Blues were extremely lucky with injuries and suspensions last season – not just by Blues’ standards, but by any team’s standards.  That Blues could break the Premier League record of twelve consecutive unchanged teams didn’t tell you that no other club has ever wanted to pick a consistent side – it tells you that they haven’t been able to.  That’s how lucky Blues were.  Throughout the course of any season you turn on Sky Sports News, see Georgie Thompson and once you’ve stopped staring and starting listening there’ll be references to how a certain team has seven or eight first-team players out or, on occasions, a graphic showing how Chelsea or Bolton or West Ham could name a starting eleven of injured players.  Blues really, really got lucky last season.

Consider, for a second, Blues’ back four if Roger Johnson, Scott Dann and Stephen Carr were all injured.  That is not unrealistic.  In fact, for the Sunderland game on Saturday Carr and Dann have been named as “doubts”.  At present, if you didn’t have those three available, I suspect that your back four for a Premier League game would be, from right to left, Gardner, Parnaby, Ridgewell and Murphy.  That scares me.  Plus it assumes Parnaby is fit, which is about as likely as McLeish signing someone on a whim.

The squad is weaker than last season.  I don’t care what people say about other teams and how they haven’t improved (which is a bit of a myth anyway as the likes of West Ham, Sunderland, Bolton, arguably Wigan and Newcastle all have) because in a sense it’s irrelevant.  Had Blues had a “usual” season last season when it comes to injuries and suspensions – and usual by any team’s standards – the squad would have been stretched.  At present it wouldn’t be able to cope.  I can only remember off the top of my head (and I may be wrong) one Blues player serving a suspension last season, and that was Barry Ferguson missing the 2-2 draw at Anfield.  There’ll be more this season.  Guaranteed.

So, we need players and McLeish and the board obviously acknowledge that.  Why aren’t any more coming in then?

Well, sometimes they just don’t fancy it – fair enough.  Moussa Dembele was an example of that today when he told Blues he preferred “other options”.  Those other options probably included being able to sit at home watching ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ in peace without some Scottish bloke phoning him every ten minutes saying, “Hi Moussa, me again!  I’ve had another think and I’ve changed my mind again… I was doing a wee bit of due diligence and I found a report on Google from when you were playing for Bruges Boys Under 7’s… it says that you missed a sitter from seven yards and I’ve already got a pacy black lad who can do that…” before calling back a little later saying, “Moussa, me again!  Still fancy the move?  Just saw your stats on Pro Evo and you’ve got 89 for accelaration – that’s 88 more than James McFadden!”

If a player doesn’t fancy it, fair enough.  Still, it seems that there’s more to it than that, so what else is holding it up?  It could be, as a few people have begun to speculate, that the money’s not there.  In fairness to McLeish though, when commenting on the collapse of the Dembele and Camoranesi deals, he emphasised that it wasn’t financial reasons.  Either we take him at his word on that (which we probably have to) or he’s being very diplomatic which, let’s face it, he’s very good at.

So, if it’s not financial, is the problem McLeish?  I’ve said many times in the past that this “due diligence” thing concerns me.  He even takes the piss out of himself in interviews now referring to it.  He seems to need to be 384% sure before he’ll sanction a deal.  He seems completely and utterly risk averse and will only sign a player if he’s monitored them for at least nine months and is completely certain about them.  Maybe he remembers Kemy Agustien…

Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s admirable in a sense, but I just don’t think it’s very practical for a Premier League manager – especially one who knows he needs bodies in his squad.  Take Camoranesi, for example.  Now, everyone knows who he is – I must have seen him play 30 odd times myself.  McLeish then decided to fly him over, had two days of talks with him, was impressed with him but had a wee rethink and the deal’s off?  What?  Seriously?  McLeish said it wasn’t a financial decision and so, if we accept that, it must be that McLeish didn’t fancy him.  After all that?  Really?

No one – not a manager, not a chairman, not a random Chinese bloke who’s somehow been appointed to the board of a Premier League football club, not a fan – expects EVERY SINGLE transfer dealing to be successful.  Sometimes they don’t come off – everyone knows, appreciates and accepts that.  Ask Sir Alex Ferguson – for every Rooney there’s a Kleberson, for every Ronaldo there’s a Poborsky and for every Schmeichel there’s a Taibi.  It happens.  It’s part of football.

If my mum sends me to the shops to buy five bananas (because we need five bananas) and gives me a budget of £1.80, it’s my job to do the best I can to get the best available bananas for that £1.80.  Of course I’ll have a look through the various bunches available to see what the best set of five bananas I can get for my £1.80 is.  I’ll be forced into a tough decision though – I need to get five.  I may have to get a bunch where three of them look superb, but the fourth is a little bruised and the fifth one is still quite green.  That’s the nature of buying bananas.  The first one that’s eaten may not quite be ripe yet and the last one may have gone a bit soft and bruised by the time it’s eaten, but the three in the middle are gems – top bananas.  I bought five, three were quality and the other two didn’t quite work out as hoped but hey, they still provided a little potassium.

Imagine though if I went home to my mum and said, “here’s two bananas and £1.10 change” – she’d be well pissed off.  We needed five bananas for a successful set of banoffee pies and I only bought two because I didn’t fancy any of the others.  What happens then?  The banoffee pies are shit.

Blues desperately need players and given that not a lot has happened since May, one or two risks might have to taken.  We may need to take a chance on a banana that’s not yet ripe or one that’s got a few bruises.

We’ve effectively had since January to plan for this season.  It was a very rare occasion when Blues actually knew what division they’d be in the following season very early on and so could have planned.  You’d have hoped that a few more viable targets may have been lined up or one or two people had been sounded out a little earlier.  I’ve said it above, but Foster’s replaced someone who played 36 league games last season and Zigic has replaced someone who played an awful lot of games last season.  They’re replacements, not additions.  The only addition is Valles who, despite a few nice pre-season touches, it less established in the Premier League (or any European top flight) than Joey Hutchison.  I say he’s an “addition”, but as an unproven wide left player he’s probably just replacing McSheffrey.  Who’s replaced Vignal?  Who’s replaced Carsley?  Who’s replaced Queudrue?

48 hours before the season starts we’re being knocked back by players or pulling out of deals and it’s giving us very little time to do much else.  We’re having to go back to the drawing board and you can’t help thinking that McLeish’s drawing board is beginning to get a little full of players he doesn’t quite fancy.

The transfer window annoys me in many ways, but the worst thing it does is make people say “there’s still two weeks to sign people – calm down!”  The season starts in about 36 hours.  If we lose at Sunderland we won’t be able to appeal to the Premier League saying, “woah, woah… hang on a second… we hadn’t signed all our players – can we have a replay??”  By the time the transfer window closes three Premier League games will have gone (three potentially winnable ones too).  That’s nine points.  That’s quite a lot.

Shall I tell you what’s annoying me the most though?  It’s how frustrated I’ve become by it.  That’s what annoys me the most.  I personally think it’s fairly natural in the circumstances, but it annoys me.  We should all be buzzing about the new season but a lot of negativity is setting in.

Blues had their best season in God only knows how long, got two big signings through the door early on in pre-season, aren’t being talked about by anyone as relegation contenders (except Blues fans themselves) and everything should be rosy, but it’s not.  I should be wetting my pants with excitement about Sunderland away on Saturday, but instead I’m thinking “we’ll get done 2-0, pick up some injuries and struggle all season”.  I don’t want to, but that’s what I’m thinking.

That, to me, is the worst thing about it.  How, after last season, are we in a position where we’ve allowed so much negativity to develop amongst the fans on the eve of the new season?  It’s a crying shame, and I’m not even sure who is to blame.  It’s probably a combination of everyone, but it’s such a disappointment that Blues looked set to kick on and now there’s suddenly this negativity developing.

The problem is, with the squad as it is, fans aren’t stupid.  People might suggest that they are, but they’re not.  We’ve seen this before.  Three injuries to key players early on and if the squad’s like it is now, Blues will be really and truly up against it.  Early on in the last two relegation seasons it’s been obvious what’s coming from a mile off – everyone’s known deep down.  It scares me a little that unless three or four decent signings come in (they don’t have to be world class, but have to be able to contribute), we could be looking at that again.  We shall see though – I genuinely hope I’m wrong.

Finally though, after all that, there’s this failure to get McLeish’s contract sorted.  I accept I’ve given him stick above and I have reservations in certain areas, but I think he’s doing a tremendous job for the club overall and the football he’s got the team playing genuinely is excellent.  Blues need to sort his contract out.  Despite his diplomacy (again), it’s obvious from the fact that it’s dragged on this long that there’s some issues there.  I appreciate that he’s tied down for another year anyway, but something needs to be sorted for the sake of all parties.

We shall have to see who else is brought in (and I remain convinced that at least a couple more players will sign – just depends who they are) and see where Blues are at when those players do come in.  We’ll also have to see where McLeish’s contract ends up at.  I genuinely hope that everything turns out for the best, and seriously hope that it will, but I make no apologies for raising some concerns now.

Happy new season.