Blues fans awoke this morning to the news that three academy graduates have been offered new contracts.

As the Birmingham Mail reported here, Mitch Hancox, Will Packwood and Amari'i Bell have been offered new deals, whilst Callum Reilly has had an option in his contract exercised by Blues to keep hold of the midfielder for another year.

Hyperbole is something that is common among football fans of every club, up and down the country. At Blues, nowhere is hyperbole more prominent than when starting a discussion about Nathan Redmond.

Much has been made this week of the future of Blues boss Lee Clark following the team's 5-0 home demolition by Barnsley.

The general consensus amongst Birmingham fans is that he should either be sacked or resign - a viewpoint I find frankly absurd.

That's not much else that could have gone wrong for Blues today.

From the offset, we were without a recognised right-back, a problem that extended to the other side of the pitch when David Murphy went off injured. Ambrose replaced Murphy and Jonathon Spector slotted in at left-back as Blues' defensive woes continued.

As Lee Clark touched on after the Watford defeat, Blues have started poorly in all four competitive games so far this season.

We went 1-0 down to Barnet after a sloppy opening period, whilst Charlton could have been a few goals clear, had Bradley Wright-Phillips been any good in the air. On those occasions, Blues came back to steamroll their League Two opponents and snatch a draw against the newly-promoted Addicks.

With the league campaign kicking off this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the squad we will be using to do battle. A 5-1 victory last night against Barnet has given us a few pointers for the season ahead and I'll be using that game, some pre-season action and manager Lee Clark's comments in this preview.

As it would be wrong of me to squeeze the whole squad into one piece, I will break it down to ensure everyone gets a fair write-up. Today, I'll focus on the goalkeeping position and I will work down the pitch each day, culminating in the strikers preview on Saturday morning before the Charlton game.

Blues have been handed a 'category two' status under the FA's new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).

The plan, which is designed to improve the quality of home-grown players, means that clubs with the highest category rating receive more funding than ever before in their youth development schemes and consequently, the national team will apparently benefit.

No sooner is the madness of England's EURO2012 campaign over than events closer to home force their way back to the forefront of our minds.

It was a pleasant change watching England - no worries about whether they can sign any new players, not a care in the world as to whether their owner was going to sell or not. Apart from the McLeish tactics, it was a breath of fresh air.

As Chris Hughton sat in the Carrow Road press conference room this afternoon being unveiled as Norwich City's new manager, it all felt a little surreal. His blue-and-white striped tie had been replaced by the Canaries' gold shimmer and he was talking about his new club with an excitement and sense of purpose.

To me, it felt like seeing your wife with her new man - having left you the day before.

So near; yet so far. Just for a moment, as Curtis Davies wheeled away circling his arms in celebration, it looked like we could do it. The momentum was with us and there were 15 minutes left to find a goal to force extra-time. We did not deserve it, but we had belief.

However, the fact that we needed such a comeback was our own doing. We had only come alive for the final half hour of a 180-minute tie. The first ninety was a contender for our worst performance of the season and the second game did not start any better.

The term 'cult hero' is one that is usually given to players who entertain fans and make them laugh - yet are not usually the best players on the pitch.

Ray Parlour was given this status by fans at Arsenal. The Charlie Dimmock lookalike was a rare Englishman during Arsene Wenger's early days with the Gunners and whilst he was not as technically able as Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg or Patrick Vieira, his work ethic endeared him to the fans. (Scoring an FA Cup final goal after being mocked live on air by Chelsea supporter Tim Lovejoy also helped his case.)

Every team has their own set of cult heroes past and present and Blues have unearthed a new one this season.

He may have played for Atletico Madrid and started for his country at the 2006 World Cup - but Spanish international Pablo Ibanez will have to prove his quality all over again as Blues push for play-off glory.

Ibanez will start his first game in his favoured centre-back since the FA Cup replay with Chelsea in early March when he lines up next to Curtis Davies at The AMEX Stadium against Brighton on Saturday.

Regardless of what division Blues find themselves in next season, the position of goalkeeper is likely to be one that is up for grabs.
Currently, we have three 'keepers registered to the club that are in and around the first-team set-up - yet only one of those seems to be preparing for a quiet summer with no transfer talk.

In London, if you drive through certain busy areas, you can be penalised for causing traffic and, as a deterrent, you are made to pay a fee for doing so. However, come to Small Heath in Birmingham and you are actually rewarded for causing a congestion. Unfortunately for drivers, this is not on the roads, but on the football pitch at Birmingham City Football Club.

Yet again this weekend, Blues struggled to overcome a team who came to St. Andrew's and set-up with a five-man midfield.

Welcome to my first Baggies blog.

A pretty good time to start doing one I feel, although bad times tend to produce more opinion.

It probably would have been a much darker read under Saunders, Buckley, Gould or Little.

Not now though. Can anyone remember a better time to be a Baggie post 1982?