Lee has to find a way to heave Blues off the FLAW
BIRMINGHAM City’s current ownership situation is ‘flawed’, according to former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan.
He says Blues have been suffering ‘disruption’ ever since Carson Yeung took over in 2009 – but maintains the team should have done better under Lee Bowyer last season.
In a recent interview the head coach insisted the club will have to once again cut costs because of the restraints of Financial Fair Play.
Bowyer also admitted to hearing of takeover talks ‘behind the scenes’ but vowed to continue doing his job preparing for next season.
While Jordan concedes the Blues role is a difficult one, he pointed to the fact they benefitted from points deductions applied to their Championship rivals.
“He has got to have the tools, absolutely he has got to have the tools,” he said.
“But by the same token, his choice to leave Charlton and to go to Birmingham, I felt was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
“It’s not an agenda against Birmingham City because once I had an issue with them a long, long time ago. It’s because I looked at the dynamics of their ownership model and it’s been a flawed position for some time.
“This simmering, underlying resentment towards the ownership isn’t something that’s new.
“The disruption in that football club isn’t something that hasn’t been going on for some time, from Carson Yeung to where they are now. You have got a problem.
“You can’t say - and I like Lee, I think he is very forthright, he is to the point, I don’t know enough about his teams in terms of how they play to make a critical observation of how tactically adroit he is – but he went into Birmingham and last year, when he first joined, Birmingham were in a bit of trouble.
“And then he got some wins and everybody went ‘See Jordan, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“This season he has gone back, they have gone back, they have finished lower in the league than when he came halfway through a season.
“So he is not on a trajectory that is based upon success. He will point to lots of reasons behind that.
“He has to do his job better, I think, than he is currently doing it.
“His job is to develop players, work with what he has got and if finishing fifth or sixth from bottom in the league is the answer with the group of players he has got, I think he has to be a bit more honest than that, I think they should have done more.
“I know they have got problems, I know they have got challenges, but so have a lot of football clubs in the Championship.
“With due respect, Derby would have got as many points as Birmingham without a 21-point sanction and Derby don’t have virtually any players of any real note besides older, more expe$rienced players.
“Developing young players, when (Iain) Dowie came into Palace when I brought him in in 2003, we had five 17-year-olds in the first team and we got promoted that season.
“Don’t tell me about young players being a problem for you because you can develop teams and, as long as you have got the right management and leadership credentials and a few players in there to be able to counterbalance the inexperience of young players, young players is not an excuse for not building a side.’’
n Meanwhile, Real Valladolid are ‘working on’ a permanent deal for Ivan Sanchez.
Sources in Spain claim the newlypromoted La Liga outfit intend to take the Blues winger on a full-time basis. Sanchez is one of two transfers the Segunda Division runners-up are hoping to complete, with compatriot goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo the other.
That comes after the 29-year-old
helped Valladolid claim promotion at the first time of asking following his January loan move.
Having struggled for fitness in the first half of the season Sanchez returned to his homeland on a deal which gave Real the option rather than the obligation to buy.
After playing just two Championship matches at the start of the campaign the talented Spaniard recovered to play in the last 11 games as Valladolid took advantage of Eibar’s final-day slip to nip in and finish second behind Almeria.
He also scored twice in the run-in and his days at Blues now seem numbered with the club looking to cut their wage bill and Sanchez seemingly willing to leave on a permanent basis.