PUT THE WORK IN OR GET OUT
New boss Bowyer spells it out to Blues players
Championship: 3pm
BY JAMES NURSEY
NEW Birmingham boss Lee Bowyer has fired a warning shot that slackers will not be tolerated.
Former Blues midfielder Bowyer quit League One Charlton this week to return to St Andrew’s, and was in the dugout for his first game in charge – Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Reading.
It has given Birmingham’s survival bid a major shot in the arm after they won just twice in 12 games under Aitor Karanka.
And Bowyer has told his new squad everybody has to pull their weight to get them out of trouble, ahead of today’s tough trip to in-form Watford.
He said: “If the players here do the right thing, then I’m sure we will be fine. I know what I want to do will work.
“I was clear everyone has to work hard and play a part. I just simplify it. I want this from you and, if you can’t give me that, it is not really going to work out. So, give me that, and then you have a chance of playing.
“We can’t carry anyone. If you have one who doesn’t really want to run around, then someone else will think, ‘He isn’t running around’. If you have three-four like that, you are going to lose every week.
“The win on Wednesday wasn’t a fluke, it was hard work. The widemen worked hard, the frontmen worked hard, the midfield worked hard, and it made the defenders’ job a lot easier.
“If you ask someone or tell someone to work hard, then they do it. If you just let them walk around and do what they want out of possession, then they are going to do that. “My job is to come here and try and keep Birmingham in the Championship and, if I do that, I will earn a hell of a lot of trust from a lot of people very quickly.”
Bowyer played for the Blues between January 2009 to June 2011, and even lifted the Carling Cup with the club a decade ago.
He said: “If I thought we couldn’t stay up, I wouldn’t be sitting here, I promise. I want to stay in the division and then I want to build..”
Bowyer has promoted former Blues team-mate Craig Gardner (above) from within the club’s coaching staff to be his assistant.
He added: “Craig knows the players inside out. I am picking his brains constantly. He has been important since I arrived.”