So what is your thoughts? Tell us what you've seen of Josh Key through his career.

Yeah, I mean, I think with Josh Key, I was very impressed with him at Exeter City where he played a kind of wingback role and he was often tasked with being the one to take people on and maybe either put a cross on himself or maybe ping the ball back for somebody to flip one in.

And he was very good at that and also had plenty of pace to get back.

as well and so he was unbelievable in League 2 and did really well in League 1 and I think subbing up to the Championship obviously the athleticism at Championship level is very different and it's difficult to find the same consistency as you might have been able to do at lower levels but I think that I've got to give Josh every credit for how he's responded to some of the question marks from last season this year.

But he's got competition now, hasn't he? Because you've obviously got Philip Bliss, who can play centre-half and can play right-back, who comes with rave reviews from Falkirk.

Maybe offering a slightly more conservative option, I would imagine.

So for tough away games, you've got Lissa as an option and maybe for the more favourable home games, Josh Key might be the man.

So what do you think the rest of the season looks like for Swansea? Do you think they can keep up, not necessarily first, but a sort of automatic challenge? Or do you think something else has been more realistic for them?

I would love for you to talk me through and give me a flavor of what it's been like to be a Birmingham fan during that, that time.

Yeah, I think, um, the first thing would probably be, be excitement that we've, for the first time we've got an ownership regime that has the potential to deliver success for the club, which it hasn't really felt like for, uh, for a long, long time.

Um, and so that's a really exciting thing about what Tom Wagner and, uh, Nine Head Capital have done.

They've definitely raised the ambitions of the club.

But then, uh, in equal measure, there's also some pressures that come with that.

And I think, um, I think after we smashed the Football League points record with 111 in League One last season, um, maybe on reflection we would've been better off keeping more of a stable squad and not signing as many players as we did.

I think it was about 10 additions, something along those lines.

[laughs]

Where, where, where are we at with Chris Davies now? Is, is he still backed at this stage of the season, or do you feel it could be another, could be a tough, tough couple of months un- unless he starts to, to really solidify the sort of Birmingham as a sort of top, top eight team?

Sure.

Um, yeah.

Well, obviously the expectation is there.

I think for a lot of clubs, um, the expectation comes from the fan base, and it's down to, uh, the owners to sort of, uh, or the club to live up to that.

Whereas at Birmingham, I think the expectation is dictated by the owners, and the fans are almost, um, catching up with that.

And so I think because, um, Tom Wagner has been so bullish about what he thinks, you know, we can achieve together, um, that does set the bar quite high.

Uh, do you think we're gonna struggle?

Very impressive.

Well, I was going to ask you about the defensive side, because I really like the addition of Sven Sprangler.

I think we saw one of the shots Gillingham had from outside the box.

I felt like Sven was making his presence felt with that destructive side of, you know, putting challenges in and making it difficult for them to create chances.

And I suppose I just look at...

I don't want to be too disrespectful to the likes of Liam Kinsella and Brandon Comley, I suppose.

But, you know, since Adam Chambers retired, have Walsall at times missed that kind of influence in certain games? I mean, I think Sven Sprangler can be that guy at the base of midfield and get stuck in and possibly bring that security that helps other players play their game.

But without that kind of massive presence, that's something that I'm a bit...

But, you know, it all depends on what happens

between Annie Ender and Wendell.

I think from my point of view as a Birmingham fan, lots of people look at it as a negative that we've not gone big in the win day.

But there's part of me that's actually quite almost relieved about that, because I think when you go spend, spend, spend and bring in 10 new players, A, it ramps up the expectation even more.

And B, it creates a sort of... a challenge where you've got to integrate lots of new players and actually the big problem that we had last season it maybe wasn't so much the quality of players because i do think that on paper pound for pound we had a group that could have been good enough to get towards the uh towards the playoffs but it's that continuity it's building partnerships relationships And I do think that maybe this season we might have that.

We've brought in a centre forward to compliment Jay Stansfield, which I'm quite excited about because I don't think he quite had that last year.

And I do get the impression that Stano is the kind of forward that needs the right foil.

And just before you do, a very quick reminder that you are on a West Bromwich Albion podcast and there might be one name that you are better served