Birmingham City are in a challenging position in the Championship table at this moment in time.
Blues slipped to another damaging defeat on Tuesday night. A 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough at St Andrew’s, means they have now taken just one from five games.
That is a run that started when Tony Mowbray temporarily stepped back from his role as manager for medical reasons.
As a result, many connected with Birmingham City, including owner Tom Wagner, will no doubt want the 60-year-old back in charge as soon as possible.
However, the club have now been told that there is another for them to deal with, based on the players they have at their disposal.
Birmingham City get squad warning
Right now, there are a number of players on the books at St Andrew’s next season as things stand.
That may be due to either their contracts or loan spells with Blues expiring come the summer.
Now, Birmingham Mail journalist Alex Dicken believes that is a major problem for Birmingham City, in their battle to avoid relegation.
Speaking on the Keep Right On podcast about the starting stand-in boss Mark Venus named against Middlesbrough, the reporter said:
“It’s a problem for me. It’s a real problem. I’m not questioning the any of their professionalism because when we’re in a job we’ll do it to the best of our ability, until the day we’re not in that job.
“But, they’re not going to be affected in the grand scheme of things, many of these players won’t be in League One if Blues do end up there next season. I’m looking at the starting 11 last night: Ethan Laird, Lee Buchanan, Paik, Miyoshi, Pritchard and Jordan James are the only ones who are under contract for next season.
“So six of the 11 under contract for next season, and Jordan James potentially going to be moving on this summer as well. The bench as well, similar story. That’s a big concern for me, it’s a huge concern for me. If I could I’d pick a group of players who I know are going to be here next year.
“But Blues haven’t got the capacity for that, they haven’t got enough really where they can be like ‘we’re just going to play this 11 because all of these guys, if we do get relegated, it is going to directly impact them’.”
Next up for Birmingham City is a clash with managerless Watford at St Andrew’s on Saturday afternoon.
Players must keep focus
This assessment is something of a worrying one for those at St Andrew’s.
Within the first-team squad, there are eight players whose contracts with Birmingham City are set to expire at the end of this season.
Beyond that, there are a further five individuals who are only on loan with the club until the summer.
That is almost half of the squad that is currently available to Venus and Mowbray. Given those players are currently facing uncertain futures, it could be understandable if they did have their minds elsewhere.
Anybody’s priority will be themselves, and so they may be thinking about what their next opportunity might be, beyond this season.
However, Birmingham City simply cannot afford for them to be in that mindset. With the club still battling to avoid relegation, they need everyone fully focused on keeping them in the Championship.
That will have everyone in what feels like a high quality squad performing to their best, with less risk of any costly errors they can ill afford being made.
As a result, it will be a test of the managerial abilities of Mowbray and Venus, to get this group of players who may not be at Birmingham City next season, in the Championship for when it begins.