This week's edition of the Keep Right On Podcast wasn't as doom and gloom as recent episodes. A much needed victory for Birmingham City over Coventry prompted a much more positive conversation.
Alex Dicken (AD) and Brian Dick (BD) were joined by Ben Hawker from Blues Breakdown and Ryan Deeney to discuss the 3-0 win over Coventry, Ivan Sunjic's stellar showing in midfield, the relegation battle and the upcoming games against Rotherham and Huddersfield.
Blues take on Rotherham on Saturday before travelling to Huddersfield - who are one place and one point behind Blues in the Championship table - in the penultimate round of fixtures. Norwich City will visit St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on the final day of the season.
Sunjic, Krystian Bielik and Alex Pritchard were among the topics covered in the Q&A section of the podcast. You can check out the full transcript below...
READ: Notebook - Bielik to Birmingham City rescue, Anderson's warning and James blow
READ: Ivan Sunjic opens up on 'very tough season' and his own Birmingham City blueprint
If Sunjic was willing to take a pay cut, would you give him a new deal?
BD: “As thrilled as I was with his performance, if Blues are going to move forward then no is the answer. Not for me. It’s time to get midfielders in like Paik who have ability on the ball. We need more complete central midfielders. I’m grateful but I can’t be doing a 180 after one performance.”
AD: “I can imagine by now that the eight senior players who are out of contract have a very good idea as to whether they are going to be offered contracts. We are three games out, a month out from when it’s going to be released. The ones I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks - John Ruddy and Keshi Anderson - haven’t really given any indication that talks have taken place over a new contract.”
Was that the best performance you’ve seen of a Blues team under that pressure?
BD: “I don’t know if it was the best but I can’t recall a time where there was more surprise about the tone of a performance. We really had written them off as a busted flush after the Cardiff game. I just didn’t think they would be able to take control of their own destiny again. It’s the one that surprised me most but not the best, you’ve got to go some to beat Garry Monk’s Blues dismantling a Fulham side that hadn’t lost in half a season on the final day. Not necessarily the best but definitely the most surprising.”
Was the decision to play Bielik at centre half a Mowbray recommendation? How much talk is going on between the two managers?
AD: “I’m aware that they are talking to each other. Rowett suggested they have been having conversations at a recent press conference but I don’t think the decision to play Bielik would have had anything to do with Tony Mowbray. Rowett wants something completely different from his centre-backs to what Mowbray wanted. When Mowbray moved Bielik earlier in the season he said Bielik could become a midfielder-defender hybrid and play a John Stones type role. Rowett doesn’t necessarily want Bielik to be doing that kind of thing, he wants his centre-backs to be centre-backs and stay in their positions. Bielik was the best option and Rowett made it clear from the outset that Mowbray has given him his blessing to do the job his way and I’m pretty certain Mowbray wouldn’t have had any influence on that decision.”
Was there an issue with Pritchard and the staff on Wednesday that led to him being dropped from the squad?
BD: “When he came on (against Cardiff) he was playing in that number 10 role, then when the next change was made with Gary Gardner coming on, I think Rowett wanted to get Gardner slightly further forward and that shunted Pritchard out to the left. By that stage Keshi Anderson did seem to be playing everywhere or nowhere. I don’t know how I would describe it but I think Pritchard asked for clarity from the bench. Maybe that’s a generous description of what went on. There was an exchange with the bench but I obviously have no idea what the contents of that exchange were.”
