Tomoki Iwata rewarded for Birmingham City start as unwanted Oliver Burke record threatened
Tomoki Iwata has been rewarded for his impressive start to life at Birmingham City with the PFA Player of the Month award for September.
Japanese midfielder Iwata beat off competition from Blues teammate Jay Stansfield, Charlton’s Lloyd Jones, Blackpool duo Kyle Joseph and CJ Hamilton, and Mansfield striker Lee Gregory. The 27-year-old contributed two goals and one assist in three League games during September.
Despite only joining Blues on deadline day in August, Iwata has quickly made himself a fixture in Chris Davies’ line-up to start all seven games that he has been available for. Iwata has formed a solid midfield partnership with Paik Seung-ho and supporters have voted him as the best player in League One for September.
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Sutton United target cup upset
National League side Sutton United landed the plum tie against Blues in the first round of the FA Cup. Blues will travel to Gander Green Line on the weekend of November 1-4.
Their manager, Steve Morison, is already dreaming of an upset. "When you got down to the last four, you see your name come out and you're just like Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham," Morison told BBC Radio London.
"We got the biggest draw I think, I'm going to have 20 fit players to pick from that day that's for certain. The FA cup - we talk about the magic of it.
"All of the investors, all of the shareholders, all of the staff have been messaging straight away - already it's sparked life.
"You go in there with underdog mentality but you have to be professional, do your jobs right, be diligent. It's the FA Cup, you never know what could happen."
Nicky Butt steps down
Ex-Blues midfielder Nicky Butt has stepped down from his position as chief executive of Salford City. Butt, who is on Salford’s board, had been acting as their CEO since 2022 after succeeding Gary Neville.
"Whilst I have enjoyed the day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive role and discovered a huge amount about the challenges an EFL club faces away from the football pitch, I have recently realised how much I miss the coaching and development of players, and this has increased my desire to get back into that side of the game," Butt said.
"Over the past few months there have been several exciting opportunities put forward to me that have put my focus back on coaching and on the grass. That being said I have always wanted to put Salford first, and we now have experienced executives within the senior management team here which means that I can step away from my current duties without any impact on current operations and it will be very much business as usual."
Burke could lose unwanted record
Blues fans might want to forget Oliver Burke’s 23-game loan spell at St Andrew’s. The winger failed to register a goal or an assist and his last action in Blues’ colours saw him booed in a 0-0 draw with Rotherham United in April.
The 27-year-old has since rejoined Werder Bremen and has been reintegrated into their first team group after they failed to sell him in the summer. Burke has played once in the Bundesliga this term.
It has been revealed that Burke is the player with the longest winless streak in Premier League history. Burke went 25 Premier League games with West Bromwich Albion – who paid £15 million for his services in 2017 – and Sheffield United without tasting victory.
His record is under threat from Southampton’s Ben Brereton-Diaz who hasn’t won in 20 matches. Chile forward Brereton-Diaz failed to win in 14 games for Sheffield United last term and in six for new club Southampton.