Birmingham City must back Zola

Often when a new manager takes over, he does so with a clear aim of righting all the wrongs of his new team. Seeing as there wasn`t that much obviously wrong with Blues under Gary Rowett`s stewardship, the realms of Gianfranco Zola`s job are foggy.

By sacking Rowett, the board have added unnecessary pressure on his successor and the players. Under Rowett, progress was the objective with an outside chance of a play-off tilt. Being just three points off third when he departed indicates that he was meeting targets. By appointing Zola, Trillion Trophy Asia are effectively saying ‘we can do better`.

The unsteady ground on which Zola walked into St. Andrews has not been steadied by the lack of explanation from TTA. Is Zola a quick-fix solution to spend money in January in a desperate attempt to try to push the team into the top six? What happens if that doesn`t happen – does he walk away? Or is the Italian a long term option who they will back for the duration of his two-and-a-half year contract, as long as the football is pretty?

Only TTA truly know, yet their silence is deafening.

We can`t criticise Zola. He is a man who has accepted a job that he believes he can do well. His confidence of molding Blues into a way of playing that fits in with his own mantra is ambitious to say the least. His task is to take the positives currently at the club and add a lot more quality to proceedings. Easier said than done. Especially when your wallet only stretches to £10m when the teams directly competing with Blues spend double that amount to add to their lavish summer spending.

Stability is a big thing in football. Blues had it under Rowett, now we need it under Zola. Chopping and changing managers rarely has a positive impact on a club. TTA could do worse than to release a statement backing their manager for the longer term.