Centre Circle Magazine - Issue 2, February 2016

February 2016

Pulis: Master of safety or holding Albion back?

Plus:

Blues for the play-offs?

Who is to blame for the mess at Villa?

Birth, Bliss, Bury and B... Supporters Coventry: Joe Cole and Deadline Day Recruitment troubles at Molineux?

editor’s notes Welcome to another issue of Centre Circle Magazine.

Website: www.centrecirclemagazine.co.uk

We’re overjoyed with the reaction we received to issue 1. It has been viewed more than 22,000 times across more than 25 different countries.

So well done to everyone involved.

We’d also like to welcome a new writer to our ranks, with Heidi Turner joining to give us her views on the goings-on at The Hawthorns. We’re sure she’s going to be great addition to an already passionate and talanted bunch of writers!

Contributors: Anthony Williams James Harding Bradley Jolly Stuart Court Sam Gayton Richard Kendrick Rob Jones Heidi Turner Taran Dhamrait

Our new website will also be launching very soon, so keep your eye on our social media feeds for that. We hope that you’ll now find it easier to find out about us and see all our issues in one place. As always, please feel free to get in touch with your feedback.

Photographs: All photos have been provided by the Press Association and have been reproduced under licence.

For more information, please visit www.paimages.co.uk

On the pitch, these past 2 months have contained very few highlights. Villa look all but down, there is a simmering unhappines with Pulis at West Brom, Saturday aside, and Walsall and Coventry have hit bad patches, while Wolves look to be drifting through the season.

Design: This magazine has been designed

by MG Design in Birmingham. For more information, please visit the back page to see their details.

Blues may still be promoted through the playoffs, so there could still be a small ray of light.

In any case, we’re here to bring you information and opinion on the topics that fans across the West Midlands are talking about.

We’ll see you next in our season review issue, out in May. Turn to page 22 for more details about that.

Enjoy the read!

Craig Suffolk, Editor - Centre Circle Magazine

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contents

aston villa pages 4-5

West Brom Pages 16-17

birmingham city pages 6-8

wolves pages 18-19

coventry pages 9-12

Top tweets page 20

walsall pages 13-15

fan Interview page 21

next issue Page 22

Pages 2 & 3

Aston Villa Who is to blame for the mess at Villa?

By Anthony Williams Something isn’t right at Villa just now, that’s obvious to everyone, even our gleeful rivals.

Since Martin O’Neill’s eve-of-season walkout in 2010 managers and players have come and gone aplenty. But one man has been consistent in his overseeing of our gradual decline.

Randy Lerner.

When putting the club up for sale in May 2014, he hinted at regrets over not appointing “specialist people to take the club forward”.

18 months after that interview, he has solved the problem by… not appointing specialist people.

The original charge sheet read like this: Tom Fox, a former marketing man at Arsenal who has been brought in as CEO to run the club

on a day-to-day basis, Paddy Reilly, a former Prozone analyst at the club, brought in as part of a supposed ‘transfer committee’, and Hendrik Almstadt, who I’m sure must do something but I don’t know if anybody knows exactly what. Things changed again when Lerner approached Steve Hollis to replace him as chairman, while Sir Mervyn King has also joined the board. It’s too early to judge the performances of the last 2 but these names certainly don’t constitute the influx of football knowledge and experience that was required.

There’s some argument as to how much of a role the first 3 played in our summer transfer activity and whether Tim Sherwood was completely on board. That all seemed academic after Sherwood was sacked, but recruitment, or rather a lack of it, came back onto the radar in January with the failure to back Remi

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blessed with sight otherwise. If there really is a review taking place by the new board to work out what has gone so badly wrong this season, the recruitment teams should shoulder a hefty portion of the blame.

It’s not just the first team that’s been mismanaged either, as promising young talent like Marc Albrighton, Daniel Johnson and Jordan Graham have been let go for pitifully low fees. I don’t believe for a second that those 3 players, as an example, would be doing any worse were they in the first team now at the expense of the expensive imports who’ve failed to adapt to the league. Ultimately though, our recruitment problems are a symptom of the club’s problems, not the root cause.

Tom Fox and Paddy Reilly either side of Remi Garde

Garde. I believe that the work Remi did at Lyon is proof that there is a decent-to-good footballing brain up there somewhere. We will only see the best of him by backing him in the transfer market and allowing him to build his own team. Every manager, no matter how good or bad, needs to put his own stamp in his squad eventually. It’s been hinted that Garde was originally promised money for the January window. If that’s true, what followed was a damning summation of the top brass’ attitude.

There now seems to be significant evidence that the recruitment strategy as a whole was misguided. Overhauls can work, but generally not when the spine of a team has been lost and is then replaced by a group of players which included just 2 with previous experience in the league. Was this lack of experience just an issue of cost? Or did the recruitment team genuinely believe that these players would be the best fit for the club?

Their abject performances tell any Villa fan

I believe that the direction that a football club, or any other type of business or organisation, takes comes from the owner. If the owner cannot be present for whatever reason, and there are some mitigating circumstances for Lerner in this regard, you end up with something that drifts aimlessly, just trying to survive.

This is exactly what’s been happening at Villa for 5 years now, and unfortunately, the ownership of the club is getting what it deserves.

It’s just a shame that the fans and the reputation of the club have to suffer as well.

To think that it all started so brightly, with investment, European football and cup finals.

It remains to be seen whether relegation, and surely a forced drop in valuation, will make the club easier to sell, if it comes to that. At the very least, I hope it might be able to attract a more present owner who takes a more active part in the decision-making. A little bit of direction might be all it needs to take away the sense of misery and hopelessness hanging around Villa Park at the moment. Have some faith, owners are temporary, and the club will outlast them all!

Pages 4 & 5

Birmingham City Hope over expectancy: the play-off push

“I’ve always been impressed by Rowett’s distinct ability to breed confidence into fans and players alike”

By James Harding

compared to previous seasons.

With 16 games and 48 points left to play for, the number of fans who’d have settled for a mid-table finish come May has drastically dwindled, with play-off optimism very much in the air at the current time of writing.

January itself went by in a bit of a blur, the noise had scarcely settled down from New Year’s Eve before Demarai Gray was being unveiled 40 miles east at the King Power – a move that could potentially see him become a Premier League champion in his first half-season playing in the top flight?! At the other end of proceedings, we strengthened the squad with the addition of Will Buckley, James Vaughan and Ryan Shotton on loan, with Diego Fabbrini returning on a permanent deal after far too much chatter regarding Middlesbrough and their infinite list of transfer targets . All in all it wasn’t a bad

On the back of a largely inconsistent December we seem to have regained a foot-hold on our form, with the home defeat against fellow play-off contenders Sheffield Wednesday a couple of weeks back considered more of a blip in the system rather than a season defining result – although admittedly Wednesday look very much the genuine play-off article

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month activity-wise - an increased level of competition for places coupled with some expenditure at last, whilst to my eyes there’s no Premier League cast offs or mercenaries clogging up the squad (à la QPR of last season) - instead we’ve (by ‘we’ I mean Rowett & his staff of course, my coaching credibility doesn’t stretch too far, if anywhere past the starting grid) unearthed diamonds in the likes of Jacques Maghoma and Maikel Kieftenbeld, with both proving their worth to the side since August.

So here we stand, fast-approaching March and the business end of the season with what I see as very much a strong yet unfashionable Championship squad – and as Rowett keeps harping back to in every pre and post-match interview, we’re still in the mix. Is even he surprised? Perhaps, although if that’s the case he does a good job of keeping it well hidden. I’ve always been impressed by Rowett’s distinct ability to breed confidence into fans and players alike through the way in which he communicates his thoughts and ideas for the future, whilst he could almost be forgiven for letting the vast amount of praise go to his

head a little – so far however, not a jot.

In my last piece for Centre Circle I touched upon the need for realism when it comes to following the blues, and in some ways it’s something that goes for football in general if there’s one guarantee it’s that nothing at all is particularly long-term (yes, there are some anomalies), what we don’t do enough is enjoy what’s happening in the here and now. What I’m trying to get at (in a roundabout way) is that I feel the play-offs aren’t the be all and end all for us as a club this season. To make them would be an unbelievable achievement of course, especially after several pundits tipped us to struggle this season, however there’s still plenty to be hopeful and grateful for in the present – we’re the best away side in the league; we’ve got an Italian playmaker wearing the number 7 on his back; we’ve seen glimpses of what the future might hold through the cameos of Viv-Solomon and Charlee Adams…and we’re not bottom of the league and the current laughing stock of English football.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Pages 6 & 7

Birmingham City Lack of goals = Goodbye play-offs?

Like thousands of other Birmingham City fans, Clive Jacobs roared The Blues on in the last ten minutes at The New York Stadium.

City were being held by hosts Rotherham, who had been reduced to 10 men.

As much as the creative Will Buckley, Jacques Maghoma, Jon Toral and later Diego Fabbrini and Viv Solomon-Otabor probed, they were unable to break Neil Warnock’s side down.

Rotherham had a second man dismissed but the game ended 0-0. It was Birmingham’s second consecutive goalless draw on their travels.

And this is their problem. Gary Rowett’s side have only netted 31 league goals this season.

That’s the fewest in the top nine sides in the Sky Bet Championship.

While the likes of Burnley, Hull and Sheffield Wednesday are scoring for fun, Birmingham aren’t sharp enough up top.

Clayton Donaldson is City’s joint top goalscorers this season - with just a meagre seven goals.

good January and brought in some new additions, which was nice.

“But you can’t play Fabbrini and Toral in the same side and those two are probably are best players. They should be creating as well as scoring and, as yet, Fabbrini has done neither but it is early days.

“James Vaughan is yet to score. When Donaldson was injured, it was really worrying because you couldn’t see who was going to score our goals.

“I think Paul Robinson, a defender, has scored more times than some of our creative players and that says it all.”

Like in the first-half of the campaign, Birmingham’s form has been inconsistent. It has been two steps forward, one step backwards.

Wins against sides around us like Derby and Cardiff have aided our promotion charge but disappointing results, like the draw at lowly Rotherham, have stunted progress.

Blues have 14 games to change things. They have 14 games to start firing. Its 14 games that will be the difference between playoff joy and more mid-table mediocrity come May.

Birmingham would be leading the playoff scrap in late January. An excellent run of five league games unbeaten had seen Rowett’s boys thump promotion rivals Derby and Ipswich 3-0.

But then managerless Bristol City stumped The Blues at Ashton Gate in a drab 0-0 affair.

Supporters are concerned.

Dad-of-three Mr Jacobs, 53, said: “We had a

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Paul Robinson, reliable goalscorer?

By Bradley Jolly

Coventry City Joe Cole hitting his stride is big for City

By Stuart Court Four months into the Joe Cole Experience at Coventry, his form is coming to the fore and the timing couldn’t be any better for City’s promotion push.

In mid-October, Coventry struck the most surprising deal in recent club history when they signed former England, Liverpool, West Ham and Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole on a short term loan.

Cole had been off everyone’s radar for a few years as his career had stagnated at Liverpool and a move to Aston Villa had never got going at a club with mounting problems.

In the fallout of the deal it became clear that

it was Cole who asked for the move to join in the ‘fun’ at Coventry and try and enjoy his football again. It was a line trotted out on any given opportunity from Cole. His first start came at Rochdale in October- a far cry from England World Cup appearances. His first home start came two weeks later and he marked it with an exquisite 25 yard free-kick.

The buzz which lapped around the ground as he stepped up was palpable and like nothing I’d felt at the ground for quite a while around such a monotonous part of a usual City game.

He delivered, curling it in with aplomb.

Despite that, Cole was struggling it appeared.

Fitness was not there after so long in the Premier League wilderness, but that was to be expected. Tony Mowbray put him on an

Pages 8 & 9

Coventry City individual training regime to regather that sharpness which, once there would see Cole likely on a different level to his team mates and opposition.

As the Christmas period passed the team by as form stagnated and dramatically dropped for all in Sky Blue. His fitness was showing glimpses of being there for the ‘run in’.

Last time out at the Ricoh it shone through. A masterclass from the former £20m man was at the core of a Sky Blue romp v Bury lead to a 6-0 win.

It got tongues wagging and excitement from earlier in the season had returned to a certain extent around the performance from Cole.

Whilst his mind seemed to be ahead of his

body in October/November, the full package was showing signs of being there now.

If City are to go up this year - that must continue. With the youth in the side likely to hit dips in form are expected. But with Adam Armstrong, James Maddison, Jacob Murphy all likely to produce a moment of magic even when struggling, Cole’s form and class will enable those three in particular to shine.

How the coaches and Cole deal with his 34 year old body with some weeks having 3 games in will help tell the story of the rest of Coventry’s season, but recent evidence suggests the deal to keep Cole until season’s end could be looked back as a key one when May rolls around.

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Pages 12 & 13

Deadline Day, drama & dosh

By Sam Gayton Even when you see a punch coming, it still hurts.

the move. Firstly, why was such a highly rated player who had been courted by some of the heavyweights of the Premier League going to lowly, relegation-threatened Norwich?

The embers of Deadline Day were flickering gently in the dark of the evening. Transfer news was slowly filtering through, but excitement was at a minimum.

Secondly, how could our home-grown boy, a player on whom many had hung their hopes, just up and leave in the middle of our most successful season in years?

For Coventry City, it had been a quiet day as well. A couple of loans were expected, and not a lot else. In the early evening, the club media team posted a picture of the first signing of the day: a Chinese takeaway. It set the tone for the night. Or so we thought.

And thirdly, perhaps most importantly, why had he gone for such a (reportedly) low figure?

In the last hour of the window, very unwelcome news was filtering through. James Maddison, our prodigiously gifted academy product who has made just 25 appearances for the club since breaking through to the first team, had been sold to Norwich City, but would return on loan for the rest of the season. After surviving nearly an entire window of speculation surrounding supposed bids from Liverpool, Manchester City, and Tottenham, we had been downed in the last round, seconds before the bell.

Disbelief and anger were the prevailing emotions among the fans over certain aspects of Will Coventry be visiting here next season?

The first two are fairly easy to answer. In the first instance, Maddison will play a lot more for Norwich than he ever would for Liverpool.

As a career move, it’s a smart one. Like Callum Wilson, another exceptionally talented academy-graduate whom we sold to Bournemouth two years ago, Maddison has moved to a club that will hopefully play him regularly and not leave him festering on the bench.

The second aspect should require no explanation, but one was given. Maddison is accountable to no-one in his career, and in an industry such as football where the window for earning is so short players will and should want to further their career as quickly as possible. Be that as it may, manager Tony Mowbray assured everyone in his press conference that Maddison never asked to leave – the offer came in and the decision was agreed with all parties without the 19 year-old trying to force through a move.

When we come to the third point however, the reasoning becomes a little harder to fathom. Maddison was sold for an undisclosed amount, with reports ranging from £2 million to £3.5 million for an initial fee. It is widely accepted we will receive add-ons dependent on Maddison’s future progress.

Pages 10 & 11

Coventry City The uninitiated may scoff that we Sky Blue fans are complaining about what looks like quite an impressive fee for a 19 year-old who hasn’t played 30 games yet, but his sale is frustrating for the fact that it represents what we have long had to deal with under the current owners: outrageous short-termism.

– and believe us when we say it should be a lot – he will always be fondly remembered

by Coventry fans. He is a smart and humble young man, and during his brief time with the first team he has provided some wonderful memories that many of us will cherish for a long time.

We were never naïve enough to believe that Maddison would spend his whole career at the Ricoh given his obvious potential, but we at least thought we’d get more from him than we have done. By selling so early, the owners (try as they might to claim they had no hand in this) have prioritised an instant cash injection over building a team capable of promotion. In fact, selling Maddison in January rather than waiting until the summer when his value would have at least doubled isn’t just short-termist – it’s downright negligent.

It is a shame that his departure will be remembered for the wrong reasons – the punch that we saw coming, yet it hurt all the same.

No matter what Maddison goes on to achieve

“Selling Maddison in January rather than the summer when his value would have at least doubled isn’t just short-termist - it’s downright negligent”

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Walsall Birth, bliss and Bury away

By Richard Kendrick I have begun to realise that I often associate emotions in life not with serious events, but through football. It’s the way that I cope with things, the way I deal with feelings when I don’t usually feel comfortable expressing them. Some people would probably view this as extremely trivial, seeming to place football above important issues in life, but I’m sure that true football fans would understand.

Away from football, in this last week I’ve experienced more nervousness and joy combined than I’ve ever experienced before. The birth of my first child has seen to that, making my usual football analogies seem as trivial as any non-football fan would undoubtedly have believed they were anyway. But, staying true

to form, while I was dealing with these emotions using my usual footballing parallels, it led me to think about which games were the ones that would have best described the feelings of helplessness and happiness that I’d felt this week.

The most nervous game I’ve experienced was May 4th 1995, the last game of our season strangely being played on a Thursday night, two days before everyone else’s (for reasons that escape me). We faced a trip to Bury, who were fighting for prime position in the play-offs, whilst we were aiming for automatic promotion. Bury had an excellent home record and had only let in 12 goals at Gigg Lane all season. We knew that we simply had to stop them scoring, as conceding a goal would almost certainly have resulted in a

Pages 12 & 13

Walsall defeat. Cue the most nerve-wracking game I can remember, 90 minutes of attrition, drama and praying the ball not to go in the net. That night was a real backs-to-the-wall display, the team defending like Spartans, with a goalkeeper named Jimmy Walker coming of age and adding an early chapter into his personal volume of Walsall legend. This was certainly an evening that left me hanging onto any last shred of nerves I had left.

The biggest thrill from a game is an easy one for any Walsall supporter of my age. Although there have been many small battles won that have given me great pleasure, this accolade can only belong to one game; May 27th 2001, the Division Two play-off final at the Millennium Stadium. The game will live eternally in the annals of Walsall FC history and supporters hardly need me to recount the story here; those emotions at the final whistle and for days afterwards were as good as it gets for any football fan.

So why do we get so high and so low about this game we love and is it trivial to do so?

Honestly, I don’t think it’s trivial at all. Our emotions with regards to football mirror life, permitting us to feel those fleeting moments of delight and despair in a safe context, giving us shared feelings and experiences with others that we are able to speak about for

years to come.

Of course, there have also been highs and lows in the season so far; we have already had our fair share of ecstasy and agony, with both showing no sign of abating. Recent home games have ended in conceding heartbreaking, late goals and very little elation has been felt lately, particularly at home. Maybe new personal events have allowed me to feel calmer about this season as it unfolds in front of us, yet the feeling of a last minute winner for the opposition still feels as sharp now as it did before.

However, whilst most supporters are understandably jittery at this time, I’m strangely looking forward to the remaining games, along with the torment and thrill that these will potentially bring, for it is these days that we ultimately live for. It would be great if by the end of this season, we had faced both these sensations once again in a successful climax.

So, beautiful daughter, this one’s for you. The person who, in one week of being in our lives, has left me feeling more helpless than watching a 0-0 draw on the terraces at Bury and given me more unbridled joy than any win in a play-off final ever could bring.

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Strong bonds driving the Saddlers forward The 2015/16 season may well be shaping up as a campaign to remember for Walsall on the pitch, but away from the hallowed turf, there is plenty more for Saddlers fans to smile about. Rob Jones gives three reasons why bridges between the club and its Banks’s faithful are as strong as ever:

1.

Stars of the small screen Walsall Football Club and extensive media coverage hardly go hand-in-hand, but the videos on the club’s YouTube channel more than make up for that. From exclusive interviews on Saddlers TV to players dishing the dirt on which of their colleagues is the biggest moaner, the worst dressed, the vainest, and so on, fans certainly know more about the class of 2016 than they will have done squads from years gone by. Not that we’re surprised, but Andy Taylor wears some dodgy clobber and Milan Lalkovic is as much of a pest to his team mates in the dressing room as he is to your unsuspecting League One right back.

2.

The Tile Choice Home form might be patchy to say the least, but the Tile Choice is where it’s at. Lunchtime game on the big screen, decent beer, and a guaranteed chat with a current or former player all before kick-off. It might not be a jam-packed Kop, but the lads and lasses mak-

ing some noise right at the back of the upper tier have definitely lifted the atmosphere this season. And if that wasn’t enough, chips are BACK!

3. #IBelieve OK, admittedly everything smells of roses when you’re challenging near the top of the league, but the club have delivered once again with another solid season ticket campaign. Despite very marginal increases, prices are reasonable for League One and dare I say it, exceptional for Championship football. There’s plenty of reason for fans to put their money where their mouths are, unless of course they’re lucky enough to be under 18 and eligible for 23 matches without paying a penny. Credit where credit’s due, in an era where fans around the country are protesting over ticket prices, there’ll be nothing of the sort outside the Banks’s.

If this season ends the way we all want it to, Chambers, Sawyers, Bradshaw & co will go down in folklore as legends of their time and deservedly so. But let’s give a well-deserved pat on the back to the likes of Stefan Gamble, Dan Mole, and Dale Moon; all of whom have brought the fans as close to the players and staff as they’ve been for years. Long may that continue.

Pages 14 & 15

West Brom We know what we are, we’re not what we were

“Regularly having less than 30% possession and no shots on target is unacceptable”

By Heidi Turner It must seem bizarre to outsiders that the speculation of Tony Pulis leaving his position at West Bromwich Albion in the summer has been largely welcomed by Albion supporters. In Pulis’ 13 months in charge, Albion survived one relegation battle, comfortably in the end, and for the most part of this season, have staved off another. A solid, structured defence enabled the club to grind results and not even a long term injury to first choice goalkeeper Ben Foster could not prevent the Albion from accumulating 17 league clean sheets over the last calendar year. It has been predictably Tony Pulis.

However, predictability has also been one of Pulis’ biggest downfalls, never more so evident than in recent months. You don’t need the television pundits and their fancy touch-

screen pads to predict how the Baggies will set out each game. The four defenders - three of whom are usually centre halves by trade - are there to defend and nothing else. The midfield is to prioritise containing the opposition, leaving the strikers isolated. It is little surprise that Albion have found goals hard to come by this season. The players look restricted and it is often uncomfortable viewing.

Although Pulis’ appointment divided supporters, there was general acceptance that his approach would get Albion results. However there was also a fear that the Baggies would become everything they had so long despised about Stoke City: physical, dour, a ‘hoof-ball’ team. The fear is fast becoming reality. Pulis has long been considered the Anti-Christ to the perceived ‘Albion way’. Older supporters cast their minds back to the days of Cunningham and Regis, when Albion played with flair

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and excitement. For younger fans it was the days of Tony Mowbray and Roberto Di Matteo’s free-scoring Albion. A stark contrast to the current style.

The argument in favour of Pulis has always been that he gets results. This was the case last season, as Albion put a run of results together, including a thrashing of the newly crowned champions. It was not always completely defensive either. But what happens when those results stop coming? Playing defensively at Goodison Park, for example, against a strong attacking Everton team was justifiable to an extent. At home to bottom club Aston Villa, and relegation threatened Swansea, however, it was unacceptable. In the FA Cup against an average Championship side with a place in the Quarter Final at stake, it was unforgivable.

This is not a personal attack on Pulis. His methods have been successful throughout his career, and to completely blame him for Albion’s dismal season would overlook the fact that the current squad needs altering. It is an ageing squad, lacking real pace, and as good as the likes of Jonny Evans and Darren Fletcher are, there are too many players that are not good enough at this level. The Chairman is another factor. Famously prudent, Jeremy Peace has not exactly given him an array of funds to spend. The decision to keep Berahino undoubtedly caused frustration for the Head Coach, who would have preferred the large transfer fee to develop his squad.

With the increasing animosity, added to the frustrations of Pulis himself, it is impossible to see him at the club beyond the end of the season. In an ideal world, as the summer break begins, Pulis will leave Albion as a top flight club - his own record of having never been relegated intact - and the Baggies will be much richer as a result of the astronomical funds Premier League clubs will receive. With the ship steadied it should prove the perfect time to appoint someone to take the club on a level. And to give back to fans the performances that they long to see.

Happier times?

It is worth noting that with 12 games remaining Albion find themselves with 32 points - the same total Mowbray’s Albion were relegated with. Whilst it is ridiculous to compare the squads then and now given the vast difference in quality, it does highlight that the approach has been effective, however infuriating. Regardless, the dour style needs to change. The dismal display at Reading darkened any light that the promise of a cup run offered. The dated tactics and the constantly pathetic possession statistics are only alienating supporters. Read what you like into the

importance of statistics but regularly having less than 30% possession and no shots on target is unacceptable.

Pages 16 & 17

Wolves Is something wrong with recruitment at Molineux?

By Taran Dhamrait

Tommy Rowe at left wing.

Although Kenny Jackett says he has the full say on what players come into the club we don’t know for sure if that’s true. Nathan Byrne played a crucial part in Swindon’s League 1 promotion push last season as they were defeated in the play-off final. At the start of this season he scored 3 goals in 5 appearances, although his 3 goals came in a hat-trick. Yet Byrne has only 5 starts for Wolves and six for Swindon. It seems like Byrne isn’t even wanted

by Jackett, who goes on repeatedly to say we don’t have a big transfer budget, well why have you gone and spent £1 million on a bench warmer? Jackett also says any players that come in are to improve the team, Kenny obviously feels that Nathan isn’t an improvement on what we already have. It gets silly when Byrne can’t get into an injury-ridden team with

The same thing can be said for Jed Wallace.

Brought in by Jackett who said ‘’He is a young player with a very bright future who has played a lot of football for a 21-year-old and is now ready to make the step up to the Championship.’’ So what happens? 6 months later he is shipped out to Millwall to get first team football. There seems to be a lack of communication between Kevin Thelwell, the director of football, and Kenny Jackett. I think a big problem with our recruitment team is the fact we lost Stuart Webber, our chief scout. Webber carried a huge pedigree with him from being director of recruitment at Liverpool yet the club seemed ok with him leaving to become Director of football at Huddersfield; a team that beat us 1-0 recently with a team that included six new signings all made once Stuart

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tween Thelwell, Marshall & Jackett as we are seeing players signed only to then not be played. Wolves have been desperate for players in a number of positions this season, none of them filled. A left back, and a Sako replacement which we found in Jordan Graham who is now injured for up to 12 months. Perhaps Kenny should have started Graham in August and we could be in a better position now. An Afobe replacement was signed, Joe Mason, who came in to play the number 10 role, but a goalscoring striker wasn’t signed. A centre half was needed, but instead the club sold our only experienced defender and then realised they had made a mistake and signed Mike Williamson, which surely admits to everyone that the club got a recruitment decision wrong, yet again. Unfortunately as most fans seem to realise, this club needs a whole rethink and reshuffle, however changes are unlikely to happen until a new owner is found.

Jed Wallace

Nathan Byrne

Webber was in charge. Not that they cost a lot, Huddersfield have a much smaller budget then we do yet are able to pull off astute signings such as Jed Steer, Jamie Paterson and Karim Matmour who looked a lot better than what we currently have. Stuart moved as the position on offer at Huddersfield was a promotion to his current position here at Wolves.

In my view Kevin Thelwell should have been sacked last summer and Webber promoted to Director Of Football yet it didn’t happen. Webber was replaced by John Marshall and looking at the signings made this season, most of them don’t look the best. These include Sheyi Ojo, Adam Le Fondre & Conor Coady. Webber has been credited with the signings of Raheem Sterling & Suso and signed Benik Afobe, Nouha Dicko, Kortney Hause & Kevin McDonald amongst others for Wolves who have shown to have the ability to play in our first 11 and potential to surpass Wolves’ mid-table level.

There is a clear lack of communication be-

Pages 18 & 19

TWEETS Craig Barrow @beakervill

How’s about a large banner TOM FOX OFF YOUR NOT WELCOME #avfc Aff Wallace @affwallace

@JackGrealish1 @CallumRobbo37 lets rip up the championship next year lads. And have a bit of fun. #avfc Dan Fereday @danfereday

All this talk of protests at next home game. How about be a loyal supporter and stand there and cheer the boys on win or Lose. #AVFC

Peter Sturgess @sturgess411 #saddlers. Rico Henry’s mysterious ankle injury. Hmmmm, may have a sterling/ berahino affair going on down at the bescot.#WFC Daniel Webb @daniiboii19 We have to beat burton next week otherwise were not finishing top 2 @VitalWalsall #saddlers #walsallfc Little Old Walsall @Littleoldwfc 1800 #walsallfc fans should get Burton rocking on Saturday @burtonfc We are coming for 3 points! @ LalkovicMilan15 @RomaineSawyers

Olly Howarth @BCFC_Olly_KRO 5 clean sheets in our last 6 games, looking very solid at the back #bcfc Sam Crisp @SamCrisp15 Was good to be back at Blues. Can’t wait till I get a bit of money behind me and can go a bit more often. #BCFC Luke Skywalker @Lukedfrt Important 3 points tonight.. still within touching distance of the play offs #BCFC #KRO

Sad Berahino @SadoBerahino Skipper has a point, you know. There is always the danger of parody accounts too and nobody wants that. #wba ;) karl @smiffywba1978 I just hope we will play well on satday in front of the sky cameras #wba Adam Bridge @abridge75 Interesting listening to @ sportbbcwm phone in. #wba face similar dilemma to #whufc last season.

You can change manager but need to invest.

Terry O’Brien @terry_obrien86 The #SkyBlues v @ftfc game is now MASSIVE! This promotion race is hotting up. #League1.

Mark Egan @CovFan We have to win our next 8 games to have any chance of automatic promotion.

Very unlikely. #skyblues #pusb Neil Jones @neilj951 The title charge is still on folks. Burton will crumble sure of it. Looked shakey and under pressure tonight #skyblues #Believe

Craig James @wolves85 Ok regarding the “not turning up till after kick off” whose for, whose against?

Cry Wolf @CryWolfWWFC If people are to protest they have to commit to it.

They can’t say ‘how about it?’ then come matchday go ‘well I couldn’t be bothered’ Tod @toddo08 Any confidence #wwfc have a plan b if KJ left/sacked....fucking zero imo,no plan for Sako,Afobe,Dicko replacements either,nice one Thelwell

Legal notice: All opinions in this magazine reflect the views of those contributing and not necessarily the ownership and/or editorial team

Centre Circle Magazine

fan Interview: Rob Jones (Birmingham City) Hello. What is your name and who do you support?

My name is Rob Jones and I support Birmingham City.

Have you got a season ticket and if you have, how long have you had it?

No, not this season.

What is your first memory of supporting your team?

My first memory relates to the first ever strip I was given. It was an away strip, red with navy blue stripes along the bottom with Triton Showers across the front. I loved it and I think it was around the time we had Barry Fry as manager and had a few trips to Wembley!

What was the first game you ever attended?

Birmingham City v Port Vale, 1997/1998. It finished 1-1 with Peter Ndlovu missing a very late penalty to win it, typical Blues! I can recall sitting in the Tilton Road stand to this very day!

How do you see this season going?

It’s been a success so far and it has certainly followed on well from a very good second half to last season. We are slowly seeing some investment in the team so hopefully things are on the up after a tedious few years at St.Andrews!

What do you think of your key players and manager?

I will start at the top with the management; can’t be faulted in any way at all! All former Birmingham City players with a desire to succeed and move the club forward. Will be interesting to see how long they stay around for with the performances the team are putting in.

I think Rowett in particular is sensible enough to see that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and will hopefully stick with Blues for another 2-3 seasons at least!

The playing personnel are all doing just as well. Considering a number of the players were all purchased under the same regime it is amazing how much difference a change in manager can make.

If you could make one change at your club, what would it be?

Apart from the well documented ownership issues, I would love to bring back one of the one pre-match rituals which always stood out for me as a youngster. The days of the players running out to, Tamperer – Chimney On Her, are no longer with us and it is one thing I really miss today at St.Andrews. Hopefully the club will see this and re-new the music license to play it once again!

Finally, where will you finish this season?

I would love to say we are going to finish in the Play-Off’s but I think it is just one step too far for us this season so I am going to say a heart-breaking 7th.

Pages 20 & 21

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released 20th May 2016