Welcome to the second instalment of Matchday Review.
Yesterday afternoon Blues took on Nottingham Forest in our annual pre-season friendly fixture commemorating our greatest ever player Trevor Francis.
It was a fitting day to remember the great man, a bright hot sunny day at St. Andrew’s where we unveiled the much anticipated statue. There was a short ceremony featuring comedian and close friend of Trevor’s, Jasper Carrot. Who was great as always.
I am a big fan of Jasper’s and him speaking how one bloke in Marbella mistook Francis for him really made me laugh. After ages of trying to convince he was Trevor Francis he eventually signed “To Graham, lots of love… Ken Dodd.”
It was a great feel good day. It as they often say the only person missing was the one we were remembering. And it is such a shame Francis isn’t still around to see all that’s happening at the club. Which why it makes it more important than ever to pay tribute to him.
And what a brilliant way to honour him with a statue. It looks tremendous. A big shout out to the sculptor [Douglas Jennings](https://www.instagram.com/douglasjenningssculptor/). It ties the stadium together wonderfully and it’s something we’ve been crying out for for such a long time now. Well done to all those involved.
We then headed to the [Charlie’s Fried Chicken](https://www.instagram.com/charliesfriedchicken/) for some, you guessed it… chips.
They’re a family run food truck and after years of trying to get on the Kop car park they finally got their dream on the exact day they sadly lost their Grandad one year ago.
We were more than happy to help them out so we headed on over for some of their waffle fries. Yes, us Kelsall’s are all vegetarian’s, don’t crucify us! And I must say… they are absolutely banging. Ask the chip connoisseur herself, Mrs Lindsey Kelsall, who gave them a perfect 10.
There was a bit of hefty wait but I’m sure with time they’ll get quicker. Plus it was pretty packed there yesterday so queuing was a bit of a faff. But I shall be returning if they’ll be there every game and I highly recommend them.
We then headed in and found our seats. We chose to sit somewhere different from usual. Pre-season’s always good for that. We did consider sitting in the main stand but in hind sight I’m glad we didn’t, it was pretty empty over there.
During the build up Mr Mikey B played a bit of Harvey Andrews. A fine touch if I may say so myself. Home and Away is honestly one of my favourite Blues songs and I haven’t heard it down St. Andrew’s in such a long time.
It’s one thing about the documentary I really appreciated. Their attention to detail in our traditions was brilliant and while the club continues to create new traditions it’s still great to keep some old ones. And Harvey Andrews is definitely one to keep!
As for the game, well I thought we looked excellent. Another shout out goes to Keshi Anderson who continues to impress me. That little nutmeg yesterday was brilliantly timed and you can tell he’s high on confidence at the moment. Again as I said in the vlog yesterday I expected him to eventually fade out of the first team but I think he’s getting better.
However Paik was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. I don’t think he didn’t win a tackle yesterday, he was immense. Excellent distribution, slipping round players, and working back really well too. Him – Iwata – and Doyle is going to cause so many problems to opposition teams this season.
Stansfield took his goal really well. The ball in from Doyle was perfectly weighted and Jay didn’t give up the heavy touch on the turn and rightly so. It was a really smart finish, didn’t need too much power, just to slot it past the keeper – 1-0.
Allsop is still the main keeper for me too. His kicks over the backline to the forwards is an amazing threat to exploit and with the pace Stansfield and Gray supply, I think we could blow some teams away with that this season.
Not going to get too ahead of myself as I know Forest didn’t put their strongest side out but still they had players in that starting 11 that Championship teams would love to have. So while we didn’t beat a top Premier League side, we definitely beat a squad of players that would be a top Championship side. And to play the way we did should give us immense confidence heading into Ipswich on Friday night.
Warm weather, good food, winning football, are an accumulation to make another great day out.
I’m almost too excited for the new season to begin. I’m like a little kid again, getting all giddy and thinking of all the possible outcomes.
I do think we’ll beat Ipswich. Under the lights at home with a strong, confident team. I think it has all the ingredients for a win.
Only time will tell but one thing is for sure with this season – “come wind, rain, sleet or snow – The family tradition says I have to go – It’s in my blood – But I don’t care – If the Blues are playing – I’ll be there…”
Thanks for reading.
Keep Right On 💙
(P.s. the reaction video didn’t go out yesterday due to my phone overheating – Typical!)