We got just a quick peek into the future on Saturday against Nottingham Forest.
Now hopefully tonight’s game will be ‘the final frontier’ as it were, and we finally get what we’ve been asking for. Well, maybe not all of us, but certainly myself at the very least.
Jack Concannon finally got his first ‘glimpse’ of first-team football on Saturday as he found himself on the bench for the game. Anyone who is a regular to this page will know that I have been singing his praises an awful lot this season, and I can’t help shake the feeling that the decision to get him that close to the side on Saturday was just a way of getting him set for tonight’s game against Coventry City.
Speaking during a Q&A for Birmingham Live yesterday, Blues journalist Brian Dick did hint at the possibility of Concannon getting a look in against the Sky Blues tonight: “Jack Concannon could well come in and play behind who the striker is”.
And when you look at the way the club have been talking about promoting the club’s youth so far this season, both for the Nottingham Forest game as well as the game tonight, you can easily put two and two together to see that there’s a clear structure in place to give youth as much of a chance as they can this campaign.
But as I said last week, there eventually has to come a time when the words have to end and the action has to start, and a game against a lower league side is the perfect chance to give him a runout. Not only will it give a senior player a chance to rest up, but it would also give us an insight into what he can offer and if he can hack it at this level, and if he’s not up to it then no big deal, we can have him sit back and send him on loan in the summer.
If it doesn’t come tonight though, you do start to wonder when he is going to get his chance because with the Blues not too far away from a potential relegation battle, it’s not the ideal time to take a risk on a young man and asking him to make his debut in that high-pressure environment.
Should Jack Concannon play more towards the end of the season?
Yes
No
But it comes down to the old adage, we won’t know until we’ve tried it. Plus, it will save me banging my head against the wall waiting for it to happen, so there’s that too.
