Alex Dicken’s notebook: Manager bids farewell as Jay Stansfield calls Birmingham City ‘role model’

Jay Stansfield has thanked Lukas Jutkiewicz for being a good role model before he left Birmingham City and returned to his parent club Fulham.

The 13-goal striker won all five awards at the Blues’ end-of-season awards dinner on Sunday night after an excellent loan spell. Stansfield’s goals could not save the Blues from relegation to League One for the first time in 30 years.

Still, it was a good learning experience for Stansfield, 21, and club captain Jutkiewicz helped guide him through a season of turmoil. Stansfield certainly did not anticipate working under six different managers when he signed for the Blues last August.

Asked which players helped him the most during his time at St Andrew’s, Stansfield revealed: “Jukey, massive. He is such a leader and role model. He helped me in and around and supported me. A lot of the senior guys were there for me when times got tough.”

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Stansfield also gave a special mention to Jordan James. The pair’s friendship has blossomed throughout the season and is one of the reasons it is so difficult for Stansfield to leave the Blues.

“My colleague JJ, I will have to say goodbye to him,” Stansfield added. “Our dads played together when they were at Hereford and we played for England with each other. We seemed to connect right away.”

Carolan says goodbye

Gary Rowett and his interim coaching staff came to an end on Sunday night. Rowett, Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan attended the awards dinner to say goodbye.

Carolan, who was part of Rowett’s staff during his first spell at the Blues, posted a message to supporters on his X account on Tuesday. He said: “A whirlwind six weeks ago at BCFC where we gave it our all, but unfortunately we didn’t achieve our goal.

“The efforts of everyone who helped us in this short time is greatly appreciated, and the support from the terraces was amazing! The atmosphere at St Andrew’s on Saturday was certainly one of the best I have experienced in my career. The future for BCFC is so positive and exciting and this is the chance to reflect, reset and rekindle.”

Players will learn the destinies soon

The eight out-of-contract senior players will soon find out if 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 all see their deals completed at the end of June.

There are one-year options to extend Roberts and Anderson’s contracts, but the Blues must inform them by the third Saturday in May (May 18) if 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 over £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 celebrity and influencer teams in support of the Birmingham City Foundation.

Dugarry and Fry will talk about their time with the Blues at Millenium Point on Friday before taking to the dugout 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.