Birmingham City notebook: Paik transfer stance clear, Stansfield chant and a blow to Sanderson

Jay Stansfield celebrates with Birmingham City's fans after the win at Rotherham United
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


“Twenty million down the drain, Jay Stansfield scores again…” Birmingham City fans debuted their new song about the club’s record signing in the 2-0 win over Rotherham United on Saturday.

Stansfield and Tomoki Iwata scored for the second game running to ensure the ‘Galacticos of League One’ or ‘Real Birmingham’ – or whatever else Millers boss Steve Evans likes to call Blues – continued their winning streak and ascent towards the summit.

Whilst it will take a lot for the ‘We’re in for a shock’ chant to be topped this season, another ironic ditty about Stansfield went down well in south Yorkshire. To the tune of Shakira’s Waka Waka, ‘Twenty million down the drain, Jay Stansfield scores again’ was belted out of the away end by 2,168 Bluenoses.

It was one of three Stansfield chants Blues fans sang in Rotherham, the others being ‘Stanno, Stanno’ and ‘what a waste of money’ after the striker netted his third goal in two League One games.

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Paik was never leaving

Onto another hugely important member of Chris Davies’ starting line-up. Paik Seung-ho is one of two outfield players to start and finish every League One game for Blues this season - the other is left-back Alex Cochrane.

Paik has been extremely influential at the base of Blues’ midfield and his level has increased since Davies paired him with Iwata. It beggars belief how Blues have assembled a midfield of Paik and Iwata in League One – there are top-end Championship clubs with weaker pairings.

South Korea international Paik, 27, was one of the few players Davies ring-fenced during the summer transfer window and had no intention of selling.

Davies told BirminghamLive: “There would have definitely been interest in him but I was very consistent all along that he was going to be a key player this season and in future years. He’s an excellent player and an excellent character. In my mind there was no real threat of losing him. He has been excellent so far and needs to maintain those standards.”

Davies deals Sanderson a blow

The performance of Ben Davies against Rotherham was quite rightly commended by his namesake Chris in the post-match press conference. Davies filled in well for the suspended Krystian Bielik to help Blues keep their first clean sheet of the League One season.

In doing so he probably catapulted himself ahead of Dion Sanderson in the central defensive pecking order. Sanderson has been struggling with a foot injury in recent weeks, meaning Davies was the first cab off the rank when Bielik became unavailable.

On-loan Rangers defender Davies has done his chances of more league minutes no harm. Sanderson, who has now returned to light training, is firmly in the back-seat.

Blues Women start strong

The club’s women’s team continued their strong start to their own league season with another thumping home victory. After battering Sunderland 5-0 on the opening day, Blues routed Portsmouth 4-0 on Sunday. Sandwiched in between those two victories was a 0-0 draw on the road at Bristol City.

Amy Merricks’ side are unbeaten and the Women’s Championship is already starting to take shape. Charlton Athletic are expected to be Blues’ biggest rivals for promotion and they have started with three straight wins.