You’ve come a long way, baby.
The last time Blues opened their season with a competitive cup match, it was in 2020.
It was the September, as football was coming out of the Covid-enforced shutdown, and Jude Bellingham had not been long sold in a world record deal for a 17-year-old.
Aitor Karanka had been appointed as the man Dong Ren chucked all his chips on for promotion.
Agus Medina, Amari Miller and Odin Bailey all scored in Blues last pre-season friendly, against Walsall.
Four days later, Blues welcomed Cambridge United of League Two to a closed St. Andrew’s to launch the campaign and promptly lost, 1-0, with debutant goalkeeper Andres Prieto getting beaten to a cross.
Adan George was up front for Blues and Charlie Lakin started in the three behind him.
We all know what transpired that season. Karanka-ball ran aground in March. Lee Bowyer came in. Blues avoided the drop, again. Dong’s five-year tenure and his Netflix account came to an end.
So, yes, as we kick-off 2026/27 in the same competition, the Carabao Cup, at Swansea City, you’ve come a long way, baby.
Both sides are sure to take this fixture seriously and not treat it like a glorified friendly as the Championship begins a week later.
Chris Davies has just completed his third pre-season as Blues manager, something that has not been afford anyone in the hotseat since Lee Clark made it to preparations in 2014.
That continuity and the gradual build of the squad for this level should be a plus for Blues, as should the understanding and knowledge from within the walls at EPIC what needed to be addressed after a 10th place finish in 2025/26.
Unfortunately, as if often the way – and they are not alone, here – Blues still have work to do in finalising their team and squad.
Five players have been added, with James Beadle returning for a successive season on loan and Jhon Solis making a loan permanent.
Again, those two know what it’s all about at Blues and in this league, so that should be of benefit.
And the same goes for January signings August Priske – who has been sharp and deadly in pre-season – and Carlos Vicente.
Whilst Luis Vazquez is an unknown quantity, it looks as if his profile is a decent fit for the Championship and how Blues want to adapt their style.
Dael Fry, after an age at Middlesbrough, is a wise, adept hand and could be a shrewd signing over the course of a demanding campaign.
Kristoffer Lund was a swift, surprise replacement for Kai Wagner, whose return to Philadelphia and the MLS was unexpected.
Should Marvin Ducksch and Kanya Fujimoto move on – as seems likely – then Davies would surely be seeking another centre-forward as well as a wideman. Ibrahim Osman, who added pace and predictability from January on loan, remains on the wish list.
In midfield, Paik’s ongoing shoulder issue and current, unspecified niggle and Taylor Gardner-Hickman’s hamstring injury has spotlighted the lack of depth in the central areas. Another midfielder has to be among the Davies wants.
Recruitment, as ever, remains so important to good or bad fortune.
Last season, Davies felt Blues could maintain their possession and passing game to wear opposition down. At St. Andrew’s, where Blues were by and large excellent, they often did. Away from home, it was the opposite. Often they were steamrollered.
As we saw in the final weeks of last season, Blues altered their approach to play direct and forward quicker and not stay as deep and pass the ball around.
That has been evidenced again in pre-season, as has a more robust, taller and physical line-up to go with it.
The Watford debacle on New Year’s Day, when Tom Ince waltzed in a hat-trick (surprise), was the watershed moment for Davies and the club – players were unceremoniously moved out, new ones came in, a different tack evolved on the field.
Blues seem set to continue with that hybrid approach we glimpsed at the end in 2025/26, adjusting their style and game-plan as the situation demands.
There should be more risk-taking via through balls, less playing the ‘safe’ percentage pass, physicality and Davies has also identified the requirement of a better output in transitions.
The issues that cropped up at deal balls hopefully will have been taken care of by the appointment of Scott Fry as set-piece coach, a first for the club.
In effect, Blues have it within them – or should do, once the window has shut and we are really into things – to become a more effective, less flaky Championship unit, doing what they must and playing how they must to get results.
In a lot of metrics last season Blues numbers stacked up favourably. Defensively they were difficult to unhinge in the main, apart from those wince-inducing occasions on the road which, combined with stodgy football and a lack of penetration made for some unhappy trips.
In the goals for column, they registered 57. That’s not enough and better chance creation quality and a clinical end product are what Davies has also spoken about.
There has been a distinct lack of tub-thumping and bullishness around this summer, unlike the last following on from the record-breaking League One campaign. Good.
There was a giddiness as new signings spoke about The Project and the club’s ambitions. Expectations rose to unhelpful levels.
Davies and his staff internally felt the team was realistically likely to end up around midtable, but hopefully with a shout of the play-offs.
Tenth place was Blues best finish since 2015/16 and the points accrued the highest since 2010/11, when the play-offs were last reached.
With chairman Tom Wagner absent from public life as he recovers from a stroke, and the World Cup, this summer has been more low key on the club front.
Craig Gardner’s shock departure as director of football and the lack of a replacement to this point, plus the slowness of the transfer market (and the late kit, and the sponsor etcetera . . ) brought suggestions of stasis. But that was never the case.
The league has opened up the scrap for the play-offs by bumping down qualification to eighth place in a revolutionary move. It might mean a puncher’s chance for the unlikeliest of contenders.
On the other hand, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, unless they play with blindfolds on or somehow self-destruct, should fill the top two automatic places.
The division is probably the hardest it has ever been, according to club legend Paul Tait on the latest Forever Blues podcast.
Blues should be competitive, as good as anyone on their day, and a candidate for the top six, not solely the top eight. After that, well it’s anyone’s guess.
Hull City showed that an unfashionable side could go a long way. Millwall, too, but their lack of quality and nous cost them when it mattered.
Coventry City also showed that a side with high-calibre players, experience of the league, that has been built over the years, was the best around. And in the play-offs, had Southampton not been you know what in the bushes, then they would probably have gone up.
One thing I do hope for this season is patience from within and without. Not every defeat or hiccup should trigger a Michael Stipe (It’s the end of the world as we know it).
The Championship can often be a league of runs – four wins on the spin one month, a couple of defeats and draws the next – and it is how people hold nerve and conviction.
Being consistent, doing the basics at a high level every game and having durability and physical prowess are important, as is firepower from all over. And if you have better quality, as those coming down from the Premier League often possess, that normally tells in the final analysis.
There were positives to build on from last season for Blues and also big wrinkles that have and are in the process of being ironed out.
In those six years since the cup opener against Cambridge, Blues have come a long way, baby, even taking into account a relegation.
Let us see what the next stage of the journey brings.
