Birmingham City endured a strange season which started off with the incredibly experienced Harry Redknapp in charge. A couple of managers later, Garry Monk is now the man in the dugout.
The future of Blues is starting to look a little brighter under Monk as he has a 45% win-rate since taking over the club in March. Monk, who is Birmingham’s fifth permanent manager in 15 months, helped the club to steer clear of relegation as they finished in 19th spot in the Championship.
The fans will be hoping that Monk will be given cash to spend in the summer to make Birmingham a force to be reckoned with again.
Next Season’s Target
Initially, Birmingham’s target has to be maintaining their Championship status as they have been fighting for relegation for the past two seasons.
But if they start the 2018/19 season brightly, then they can start looking up rather than down, with Monk’s stats at the club being pretty encouraging. Realistically, finishing between the 10th and the 16th spot is an achievable target, and it would also be a vast improvement over the 2017/18 campaign.
Best Sell
Birmingham have quite a lot of deadwood that they need to offload this summer to make room for new signings. And one player with whom they should definitely look to part ways is Nicolai Brock-Madsen, who spent the second half of the last season on loan at Polish side Cracovia.
Cracovia have shown interest in keeping the striker at the club for the upcoming season and Birmingham should definitely push to make that move happen.
Best Buy
One of Birmingham’s biggest problems last season was their lack of goals, with Sam Gallagher being their top scorer in the Championship with just 6 strikes. However, the striker was on loan from Southampton and has already returned to the Premier League club.
With a small budget to work with, looking at League One strikers may be the best option for Monk. Charlie Wyke from Bradford would be an excellent buy, following the 25-year-old’s excellent 2017/18 campaign where he scored 16 goals and set up nine more in 40 appearances in all competitions.
Predicted Finish
Finishing in the 15th spot in the Championship would be an excellent achievement for Birmingham, and it seems within reach with Monk at the helm. But Blues need to bring in a few fresh faces in the summer to make that happen.
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