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Birmingham chairman upbeat over season chances

Chairman David Gold has revealed that he is more optimistic about Birmingham's chances of having a successful season than he was before the campaign began, reports the Birmingham Mail.

"When you first come up into the Premier League you are at a disadvantage because of the huge overhaul you have to undergo," said the chairman. "The changes you have to make in the first season are drastic, it's about 80 or 90 per cent of players.

"Usually, when you are established, you make a few tweaks. Maybe add a player here, drop a player there. Your team stays much the same.

"So we have had that to contend with and then we saw the huge amounts of money that was going around in the summer.

"We knew that would make it difficult for us to compete as well. I think when Steve Bruce first started to bring players in, especially in certain areas, we all thought 'how's this going to work?'

"We seemed to have too many people for one position. Defensively, I think we were all a little concerned about how we would cope as well. But I take my hat off to Steve. He has brought it all together and it is fair to say that we are a competitive team at the highest level.

"We have eight points from nine games. Of course we would have liked a lot more, but you look at it and say 'OK'.

"What is encouraging for me is the way we have played. The fact we should have won against Manchester United, we got something with an outstanding defensive action at Liverpool, we gave Chelsea a real run for their money.

"We were unlucky against Sunderland. With these types of performances behind us, personally I am optimistic of us doing better than perhaps I originally thought."

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