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Bolton Vs Birmingham: Q&A Preview

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Birmingham City currently find themselves 8th in the table. How do you feel your season has gone so far?
The season has been great so far! Gary Rowett has produced one of the managerial performances of the season because he has been working on a shoe string let`s be honest, but the business that he has done has been fantastic.
In January, Rowett spent the most amount of money on a single player in nearly five years which shows that he has the boards backing as we bid to reach the play-off`s and if we can get there it would show how much we have improved with the former Burton Albion boss in charge for a full season.

You stayed up in dramatic fashion on the final day of the 2013/2014 season. How important has survival been to the club?
I think survival at the time was massive for us. I was in the crowd that day and it managed to top the cup win if I am being brutally honest. If we had gone down that day, I think we would still have Lee Clark in charge and I think we might have even been looking at back to back relegations, that`s how poor things were at the time.
As you can see, we have gone from strength to strength since then and when the fixtures came out in June I was praying that we get Bolton away on the last day of the season again so we could have potentially completed the entire turnaround. We could have gone from staying up, to a mid-table finish, to a potential play-off team.

Who do you see as your biggest threat?
There are a few people who could pose you guys a threat but if I had to pick one it would have to be on loan Arsenal man Jon Toral.
The former Brentford loanee has been superb for us this season, scoring six goals, and I think his creative ability and his tactical awareness could be something that causes Bolton several problems on the night.

Who do you see as Bolton`s biggest threat?
In an article that we do called Five-a-side: Best of both!, we looked at a midfield duo from the Trotters where we highlighted that Liam Feeney and Wellington Silva could be the biggest threat from Bolton.
Out of the two of those players I think Feeney could be the player that causes us a threat. His work rate is something that is sure to push him through the 90 minutes and I am sure that Rowett will have highlighted his ability to cause panic amongst the Blues back line.

What do you make of Bolton manager, Neil Lennon?
I personally think he is a very good manager. When you played us last season at St.Andrews, I was in his first post-match press conference, which was actually Clark`s last game in charge of the Blues, and he was a very cool, calm and collected manager.
I think that has continued into this season and your money issues haven`t exactly helped him out which is a shame because us Blues fans know what it is like to go through financial trouble.
However, in recent weeks, it looks as though he has started to slowly turn things around and Saturday`s result for you was a good one, but there could have been more from it in terms of points gained.

Bolton currently find themselves under transfer embargo in the midst of financial turmoil and are on the brink of a potential takeover. What are your thoughts on this?
A potential takeover is always exciting for fans and everyone around the club and I hope it happens quickly for you I really do because it would be nice to see you getting back on track.
Financial trouble is something that we know quite well and only this season have we really seen a change in fortunes, and hopefully in the not too distant future you will be out of trouble.

Finally, what are your predictions for the match?
I think Blues will edge this one because we have had a longer break, ten days to be exact, and I think our players will be raring to go.
The play-off`s are in sight for us and as it looks like we will be welcoming David Cotterill back into the first team fold, I am going to go with a 3-1 Birmingham City win with Clayton Donaldson, Jacques Maghoma and Stephen Gleeson scoring for us.

Many thanks to Tom from Vital Birmingham for his time.

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