THE BLUES BOSS SPOKE: The Players Are Not “Machines” But Normal Humans Like Us, So The Must…

The Players Are Not “Machines” But Normal Humans Like Us, So The Must…

Explained: The true scale of Birmingham City’s imminent fixture pile up

Birmingham City’s players have one week left to recuperate before the most brutal run of fixtures begins.

Blues were due to play Stevenage today but Chris Davies postponed the game after a handful of his first team squad were called up for international duty. Davies isn’t willing to go into a game understrength and values the opportunity to refresh and recharge.

However, Blues do now have a backlog of matches to cram into what is already a busy schedule. The trip to Exeter City, which was originally pencilled in for early September, will be played a week on Tuesday. Blues still have to set dates for postponed matches with Cambridge United and Stevenage.

Excluding those two fixtures, Blues are set to play 17 matches in the space of 70 days between November 23 and February 1. In addition to the 16 League One matches in the calendar between those dates, Blues will also play their last-32 Bristol Street Motors Trophy match in the week commencing December 9.

If Blues progress in the Trophy, they will face another game in January. That would mean that for the next two-and-a-half months Blues will be playing a game every 3.8 days on average.

Should Blues make the semi-finals of the Trophy they will play two further games in February. An FA Cup run would only add to what is already shaping up to be one almighty pile up.

Blues are already guaranteed to play 54 matches this season and Davies has prepared for 60 from the outset. That will happen if Blues reach the final of the Trophy and round four of the FA Cup.

It is not the number of fixtures that should worry Blues, it is the volume of matches in close proximity to one another. In what is undoubtedly a season-defining period, Blues will now play twice a week every week bar one until the second week of January.