On Tuesday it was announced that Harry Redknapp would take charge of Birmingham City until the end of the season.
Following the resignation of Gianfranco Zola, after The Blues suffered a defeat to Burton Albion, the 70-year-old became the 3rd manager at St.Andrew’s this season.
It is a scary fact for many fans of the Midlands outfit to hear, but they are in danger of slipping into the third tier of English football for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
They sit just 3 points above the relegation zone and are a lot worse off now than they were four months ago when Gary Rowett was in charge.
The club’s hierarchy have turned to the experienced Redknapp to keep them in the Championship, but he only has three games to do so.
Tough fixtures against nearest rivals Aston Villa, high-flying Huddersfield Town and relegation rivals Bristol City could prove trickier than he first thought.
It is by no means an easy task for the former Spurs manager, and he has stated that he does not possess a magic wand to turn the club’s fortunes around. Nevertheless, he has to motivate an abysmal side and give them a fighting spirit quickly.
Having kept just two clean sheets in 14 games and only being able to muster a pitiful two wins in 24 games, Birmingham are in a real sticky situation that even a manager of Redknapp’s calibre will struggle to lead them out of.
However, he does believe that just 4 points will be enough to stay in the league – that equates to one win and a draw.
You can see these points coming against Aston Villa and Bristol City, but you should be surprised if they manage to take any points from 4th placed Huddersfield Town.
The chances of the 2011 League Cup winners surviving has improved dramatically considering Redknapp’s record at pretty much every club he has managed.
Redknapp’s success at Spurs, Portsmouth, West Ham and Bournemouth will fill the fans with some confidence, but more importantly, it should give the players a significant boost as well.
The players, though, have to take a lot of the responsibility for the downfall of the side because there is only so much a manager can do for a team once he’s sent them out to play.
The players must not have believed in Zola’s philosophy because when Rowett was in charge, they occupied the 8th place; before his untimely sacking.
The sudden drop of 12 places is entirely unacceptable, but they have a chance of redeeming themselves with crunch time well and truly here.
As stated The Blues have the English manager on a deal until the end of the season, but he is happy to talk to the board about the future if they manage to remain in the Championship.
However, if they do successfully avoid relegation, the London-born manager will be 71 at the end of next season which could prove to be a stumbling block in contract talks.
Redknapp has nothing to lose with this new job, but Birmingham have everything to lose if he “fails”.
