Jay Stansfield thanked Lukas Jutkiewicz for being a good role model before departing Birmingham City and returning to his parent club Fulham.
The 13-goal striker won all five awards at Blues’ end-of-season awards dinner on Sunday evening after a stellar loan. Stansfield‘s goals couldn’t save Blues from relegation to League One for the first time in 30 years though.
It has, however, been a good learning experience for Stansfield, 21, and club captain Jutkiewicz helped guide him through a season of turmoil. Stansfield certainly didn’t anticipate working under six different managers when he signed for Blues last August.
Asked which players have helped him most during his stint at St Andrew’s, Stansfield revealed: “Jukey, massively. He is such a leader and a role model. He has helped me in and around, and been supportive. A lot of the senior lads were there for me when times got difficult.”
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Stansfield also gave a special mention to Jordan James. The pair’s friendship blossomed over the course of the season and is one of the reasons why it is such a wrench to leave Blues for Stansfield.
“My mate JJ, I’m going to have to say goodbye to him,” added Stansfield. “Our dads played together when they were at Hereford and we played for England with each other. We just seemed to connect straight away.”
Carolan bids farewell
Gary Rowett and his interim coaching staff signed off on Sunday evening, too. Rowett, Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan attended the awards dinner to say their goodbyes.
Carolan, who was part of Rowett’s staff during his first stint at Blues, posted a message to supporters on his X account on Tuesday. He said: “A whirlwind six weeks back at BCFC where we gave our all but unfortunately we fell just short of our goal.
“The efforts of everyone who helped us during this short time is hugely appreciated and the support from the terraces was outstanding! The atmosphere at St Andrew’s on Saturday was easily one of the best I’ve experienced in my career. The future for BCFC is so positive and exciting, and this is the chance to reflect, reset and reignite.”
Players to learn fates soon
The eight senior players who are out of contract will soon learn whether they are part of the club’s plans for League One. Neil Etheridge, John Ruddy, Marc Roberts, Ivan Sunjic, Gary Gardner, Keshi Anderson, Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz see their deals come to an end at the end of June.
There are one-year options to extend the contracts of Roberts and Anderson but Blues have to inform them by the third Saturday in May (May 18) whether they intend to take it up.
Dugarry and Fry return to Birmingham
One of the highlights of Sunday’s awards dinner was watching people bid in excess of £1,500 to be Christophe Dugarry or Barry Fry’s assistant manager in Saturday’s BluesFest match at St Andrew’s. Dugarry and Fry will go head-to-head with teams made up of celebrities and influencers in aid of the Birmingham City Foundation.
Dugarry and Fry will regale stories about their time at Blues at Millenium Point on Friday before taking to the dugouts on Saturday. Tickets for the Q&A session with Dugarry and Fry are priced at £35 while tickets for the match itself start at £10 for adults.
