Birmingham City are building for the Championship with a promotion party on the horizon after a long slog of a season in League One.
Blues haven't mathematically secured promotion but a 12-point lead on the chasing pack with 10 games to play means Chris Davies' side are all but back in the Championship.
There will inevitably be a summer rebuild, albeit a much smaller one than last year, with Blues looking to compete at the right end of the second tier for the first time in over a decade. But which of Blues' existing players are ready to play a regular role next season?
Brian Dick (BD) and Alex Dicken (AD) discussed every player on the latest Keep Right On Podcast and put them into one of three categories. Are they 'Championship top 10 ready', 'Championship fringe players' or do they fall into the 'struggles for minutes' category?
You can listen or watch the podcast in full but here's a taste of what was said about the four strikers currently on the books...
Jay Stansfield
BD: Absolutely, he’s low-end Premier League at the moment. It’s not just the goals, I’ve been impressed with the mentality and the way he’s handled the pressure. I’ve been impressed with the variety of his finishes. I’ve been impressed with him technically actually.
Could he play striker more physically? Could he put his body on defenders more? Yes he potentially could. He’s quite a slight young man and maybe that won’t be the way he pays his bills. He will play football in a more non-contact kind of way.
He has most of the abilities you would want to play low-end Premier League, I’ve got no issue with Jay. It’s been a good season for him, hasn’t it?
AD: It has, yes. Since the turn of the year, since he got back into the striker position, I think he’s been excellent. He has really shown the difference between himself and Alfie May and you can see that he is top-end Championship.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he went into the Championship this time around and scored 20 goals. He has that in him now. Scoring 20 goals for the first time in his career should have given him that confidence.
The finishing has been top drawer. The one against Bradford and the one against Charlton is really trademark Stansfield, showing the pressing ability to win the ball back in the first place and not give up on a lost cause, to then go forward and smash one into the roof of the net from 20 yards.
Lyndon Dykes
BD: He’s a really easy one for me, he’s fringe Championship. He’s not a top 10 Championship striker in my mind. I don’t think he ever has been. There’s the injury to throw into the equation there, it will be interesting to see whether he’s back for pre-season and how much of a pre-season he gets.
He’s not going to displace Jay and I don’t think he’ll get the opportunity to play the number 10 role which he sometimes has. He has attributes but for me it will likely be off the bench.
AD: For me, he falls into two categories: one being, as you said, ‘Championship fringes’ and the other being ‘struggles for minutes’. I can’t see him playing an awful lot and I do feel like they are going to need another striker to compete with Jay Stansfield for that position.
Alfie May
BD: I think he’s going to struggle for Championship minutes next season. He came to football late and he’s had a solid lower league career, but he’s not broken into the Championship yet and I don’t see him making an impact in the Championship. I don’t think you want him up front week in week out if you’re looking to be a top 10 team.
AD: Alfie May is a very good goalscorer, as we know, and a really good finisher. I think he’s shown this season more ability with a football than I thought he would have, in terms of the assists he’s got he is quite high up in the charts with other Blues players.
He’s shown that part of his game is good, but I don’t think he’s scored enough goals with the chances that he’s had.
He hasn’t caused defenders enough issues since January. I think back to that Bolton game and I thought he looked a bit timid against their defenders, and they are one of the better League One sides in terms of personnel, so I worry that he won’t be able to compete well enough with Championship defenders.
Is he the player where you rely on his finishing ability and his ability to sniff out a chance and you bring him on for the final 10 minutes of a game if you’re chasing one? Other than that, I don’t see him getting many chances, which is a shame because he’s done so well in League One over the last three or four years, he’s probably deserved a chance to play in the Championship, but I don’t think he’ll get regular football with Blues.
Lukas Jutkiewicz
BD: He’s struggled for minutes this season so logically he’s going to struggle for minutes next season. With nine substitutes, do you keep him around and have him on the bench?
AD: “Again, he’s one that you’re not going to always. You’re probably not going to use him to close a game out so, a bit like May, you’re going to use him five or 10 minutes if you’re chasing a goal and lumping the ball into the box trying to get an aerial contact.
Dykes should be that player for Blues, or maybe someone else. He’s younger and he has the same physical frame as Jutkiewicz so why not use it? We saw against Bradford that he’s got the jumping power when he wants to. He’s got to bring something to the party so maybe he could be that guy.
BD: Do you just say to Juke: ‘The ball’s in your court, there’s some kind of contract for you next season if you’re happy to play five minutes every fourth game.’ I think I would just say, yes, your call.
If he thinks, ‘I’ve played my part in returning Blues to the Championship, I now want to go and play two, three or four more years playing regular league football’, I think you do him the courtesy of making that choice himself.
