Ethan Laird and Siriki Dembele, two under-18 players, are the recipients of a prize in Alex Dicken’s most recent Birmingham City diary.
All young football players want a professional contract, but relatively few actually manage to secure one at each club every 12 months. These days, with the gap between academy and first team levels continuously growing, they are extremely difficult to find.

Nonetheless, notwithstanding a dismal season for its first squad, Birmingham City’s academy has been a bright spot. Regaining promotion to the Women’s Super League is probably not something the Women will succeed in accomplishing either.

Although the under-18s have hauled up the most trees, the under-21s are currently the best team in their league. After 18 wins from 25 games, they lead their respective league by 14 points.

The achievement of the U18s has so impressed the Blues’ hierarchy that they have given each youngster a professional contract. At the Open House event earlier this week, CEO Gary Cook disclosed the unexpected move.

“We concentrate on our first team, but you support a football club, not just its first team,” he stated. The under-18 team, consisting of four guys, is winning their class with great speed. In fact, the under-18 players were so good that on Friday they all received their first professional contract. Each and every one of them.

“Is it possible for you to picture yourself in that space or as the boy’s father?” Your initial contract as a professional. If any of the people in the room have played the game, including Robbo (Paul Robinson), Gary Rowett, and Craig Gardner, you can ask them; that’s the day you remember.

“On that day, Birmingham City is making a delivery. You entrust us with your future. We’re excited about the ways in which we’re altering our operations. I would want to express my gratitude to Liam Daish, Louisa Collis, and the entire team for their hard work, as it is truly changing people’s lives.

Laird: We must leave this place.

The first team’s performance has not been encouraging at all. After what many of us thought was a robust summer of recruitment, a campaign that held out a lot of promise has collapsed since October.

The Blues’ decline on the field began with Wayne Rooney’s replacement of John Eustace, and it ended with Tony Mowbray’s little comeback. Since Mowbray’s resignation, things have become worse, and interim manager Gary Rowett is finding it difficult to stop the team’s decline toward League One.

The team’s lone line of defense is that the season has been filled with chaos. With the exception of interim managers, Rowett is the sixth manager the Blues have had this season.

Right-back But that’s not an excuse that Ethan Laird wants to use. The Blues have four games left to spare.

He added, “It’s a part of the game.” “It is beyond my salary level.” Making the best choices possible for our club has been the goal of every decision. Though everyone is free to express their thoughts, the fact is that we are in this current situation. We must leave it behind.

Is Dembele able to wriggle back in?

We were waxing poetic about Siriki Dembele not so long ago.His performance against Huddersfield will go down as the best Blues player solo performance of the season.

The six-goal attacker is now having trouble breaking into squads.How did we get to this point? In other words, Rowett basically acknowledged that it was a mistake to start Dembele in an attempt to finish the match against Leicester.

“I had one of those times as a manager when you see your players coming in and defending last-ditch goals with around 15 minutes left,” Rowett remarked. Either add additional defenders to the game and try to see it out, or add some attackers who could be able to provide us with a little bit of quality to help us go up the pitch. I made what I thought was a bold choice, and now you guys just kind of let yourself go in some places.

On Wednesday, Dembele played no part at all against Cardiff. When questioned about the Ivorian winger later, Rowett responded bluntly, “He’s not hurt, no.”

Dembele was expected to be a star on this club after arriving with much hoopla in July, but Rowett doesn’t seem to have room for him. Dembele struggled for minutes, even under Mowbray and Mark Venus. It raises the issue of whether he will ever be able to force his way back into the Blues picture if he can’t do so now.

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