Dean has good feeling about future at Blues
HARLEE Dean says he saw signs of change in Birmingham City’s first team while he was recuperating from an injury that cost him the first two months of the season.
Now that he’s recovered from that calf problem and is actually playing, the 31-year-old insists he feels it too.
Dean has played the last two matches, both wins, both clean sheets, and has made an unfussy return to a side that is building momentum and climbing up the Championship table.
The central defender has now made 186 appearances since his 2017 transfer from Brentford – during which time he has worked under seven head coaches, with John Eustace being the latest.
In what is his first management job at second-tier level, Eustace has worked on building a siege mentality – and Dean is hopeful, contrary to preseason predictions, the team might be set for something other than a relegation struggle.
“I think you can see it’s starting to turn,” he told the Birmingham Post.
“I could see it, I have been where you have been for the last two to three months and you have seen the performances, seen the results, seen what everybody is saying about the place.
“I know you have been here and seen training and stuff, you have got people driving standards, you have got the manager with an actual structure and style of play and, again, driving standards.
“It makes everything so much easier when you have actually got direction – and the lads in there have got direction, alongside a lot of ability from a lot of the young lads and a lot of experience from a lot of the older lads.
“It’s a good recipe and hopefully it does turn this season.
“You never go too early but if we continue how we are and continue to improve – I do think so, yeah. For me, it’s not been like this since Garry Monk and it’s very similar to that, if not better.
“Hopefully it can continue, grow and get better and better and better. With the young boys coming through we have got some excellent players in all positions. We have got a nice balance of experience as well. It’s just working at the minute.
“We haven’t really got to where the manager wants us to in terms of playing but you can see it’s growing.
“Being there and watching for the last two or three months, then being there on Saturday (against Bristol City) and actually playing in it, I felt it.
“It’s easy to sit there and watch it but being in that game how easy it was because everybody knew their roles and responsibilities.
“Then taking on board what everyone has been coached during the weeks and months beforehand was a pleasure. The standards have just got to keep rising and we take it one game at a time and see where we end up.”