A New Landscape
New owners. Fresh players. Improvements galore underway at St. Andrew’s. And, at last, an eagerly awaited new 2023/24 Championship campaign. How many times in recent years have we loyal Blues followers been able to spurt out words like those only days before the first game of the season?
Swansea City beckons on Saturday and the important stuff gets motoring. This summer has been glorious in terms of wishes come true, as Tom Wagner & co kept their promises and delivered. Better still, and in short order, they have given we the fans our beloved football club back.
Their stated vision is 100% success for Blues, starting sensibly under EFL restrictions and thereafter stepping on the gas New York style. My opinion obviously.
There has been so much to absorb since the arrival of our new guardians, that it is the battered and weary supporters who now need the mindset refresh. It may take a little time of course, and there will no doubt be bumps in the road along the way, but getting used to significantly challenging for a playoff spot in the Championship and aligning with Tom Wagner’s aspirations will be so different to that of the past.
We had become immune to the constant gloom surrounding our club. Almost resigned to it. But no more. Swansea and beyond begins, for me, a new landscape with much to look forward to.
As one Bluenose said to me in Kidderminster market recently “everything appears to be moving very fast at the moment, what with new players on long term contracts and new ground talks”. He was right. We are moving fast, just as Tom Wagner does things. It is now for us cheering lot to keep up! Happy days.
Mitchell Bray
By making comments:
- All we ask is that it relates to the Club that we all love. It can inform, question, challenge, criticise even….but it should not be written to threaten and/or cause personal offence.
- By making comments on the above article, you agree to Blues Trust retaining your email address should we need to make contact with you for admin purposes. Let us know at admin@bluestrust.org if you do not wish us to do this. We will not give out your email address to any 3rd party sources.
The Trust reserves the right to moderate any comments made (in consultation with the writer) or to deny publication if comments are considered to be inconsistent with the requirements identified above.
We’ve had to wait a long time for this kind of optimism and I just hope that if we don’t get off to a good start fans don’t turn on the players or staff. We have an almost complete new squad and it’s gonna take time to gel (hopefully not too long!) But we have to stick with them and give them 100% support. There’s still a month left of the transfer window and I believe we’re still trying to bring in a couple more players which will hopefully give us a squad to be proud of. Kro
Agree,people’s expectations are high but they are at every other Championships sides also and what’s more the expectations will be higher in the Boardroom too so the pressure will be more on Eustace than last season.We need a good start which will bring confidence to the players for one.The recruitment has been OK but l am disappointed we haven’t sorted out the Striker issue again although l suppose our hands are tied what with having Cosgrove,Juke and Hogan under contract for another season and on good money,Etheridge and Sunjic too so for those reasons alone a Top Ten finish and stability would be fine and the following season we will be able to see more.
I haven’t looked forward to a season so much for absolute donkeys years.
I don’t actually think we shall finish higher than mid table.
But that is not a concern because with the club being run properly off the field the on field success shall follow.
In time I believe we need to move from Stans to fulfil our simply massive potential.
However in my time supporting Blues suffering under Wheldon, Kumars and the last shower I am patient to watch us slowly grow.
So much positivity around the club. At last. It feels just wonderful.
Well said Lich Blues. You’re absolutely right. Patience is the key. For the first time in longer than I care to remember it feels like there is a plan in place and commitment from the top. You can’t ask for more than that.
Results on the pitch can be determined by an unfortunate bounce of the ball or a poor decision by the match officials. But, over time, success will come if the club is properly run.
I’m very excited for the new season too…..even though my season ticket still hasn’t arrived yet!! Oh well…🤞🤞
Quite agree the main thing is that the club has a future now with prospects of Blues being able to challenge for a place in the Premiership. To ask for this to happen immediately is stretching things a bit though. A sound season with some entertaining football should be achievable though.
KRO
New pitch, dugout, lights, tannoy system, advertising boards, Kop reception and corporate area all refurbished. New astro turf around the pitch and a new digital display screen going on top of the Kop all seats in the main stand replaced.Booom.
Wow has all this happened? That’s amazing. So excited for this season and our future
Almost getting the bug that is rapidly shaking off the past headaches. What pleases me is the thought that should things not go quite to plan then we have the management to address it.
It’s important that we don’t get carried away with thoughts of challenging for a play off spot. While Blues are working under EFL FFP restrictions a play off spot isn’t going to happen. I would be more than happy with a top 10 finish. It’s going to be tough for JE. He will come under even closer scrutiny this season. He did OK in very difficult circumstances last season but if we get dragged into another relegation fight I think a change will be inevitable
Tony is spot on with his last sentence. Tom Wagner will demand improvement but with fair understanding. Floundering and treading water is not on the cards. Man City built up season on season with quality in all areas. Whether we have enough of that now is hard to tell. We hope JE can rise to the task. Ten games in will give us a clue.
I totally concur with the ‘cautious optimism’ declared in many of the comments above.
I know it was only a pre-season ‘tune-up’ game, but I saw Peterborough blow us away with 3 goals in the first 13 minutes on Saturday, all of which could have been defended much better, to say the least.
I’m wondering if JE goes back to a back 3 or sticks with a back 4, but either way the new additions and on-pitch partnerships will need time to gel- that’s obvious for all to see.
We have a tough start away at Swansea, so I’m just hoping whichever side JE picks, they give a good account of themselves.
As Tony mentions above, our new owners probably won’t hang around too long if we start badly.
I hope JE and the lads are given sufficient time to get things right though, as looking at the squad already assembled, I see no reason why they can’t succeed in this league.
Our job is to back them to the hilt, especially in our sparkling new St Andrews Stadium!
Come on you Blue Boys!!!
KRO
Today’s announcement regarding Tom Brady should be just reward to all B9 followers. We are awake again and no ceiling now. Let everyone know and don’t keep your feet on the ground. Our time from here on.