GARY Rowett recently went on record with the official Birmingham City website with some of the reasoning behind his signing of Diego Fabbrini on loan for the last eight games of the season.
Despite there being little to play for, Rowett reinforced his view that Birmingham City should still play to win every single game that they have remaining and that he hoped Fabbrini would freshen up the team and excite the supporters in the final few weeks of the campaign.
I will be honest and say that I was one of the fans openly questioning the decision to sign Fabbrini on loan as I’d like to see Blues look at their own players and try out some of the fringe and younger lads to see if they can cut the mustard.
As much as I can agree having seen Fabbrini tear Blues apart when playing for Millwall that he is an exciting player and probably will freshen up the team, I’m still struggling to see the logic.
Should Fabbrini pull a Jesse Lingard on debut and score four times, no doubt I’ll be choking on humble pie. Indeed, if Fabbrini has the impact that his compatriot Federico Macheda had last season I’ll have to prostrate at the feet of the Bromsgrove Mourinho.
The obvious concern is that Fabbrini could also have the impact of his fellow Hornet Lloyd Dyer and be another player who promised much and delivered very little while wearing the Royal Blue.
That would be bad in the terms of wages wasted but I think it would be criminal if it prevents someone from the reserves establishing themselves as the next hot talent.
The Italian attacking midfielder is contracted to Watford until 2017 and, although there is talk of an outside chance that Blues may be able to retain the services of Fabbrini for a longer period of time, I must confess that I can’t see how that is possible unless a serious amount of money has been hidden behind the metaphorical sofa.
Of course, there is the news that there has been movement in the Far East with respect to the sale of the club but, like a football player transfer, I can’t believe it until the new owners are waving a scarf on the Kop and firing up the fax machine in the boardroom – and because of that I’m not holding my breath that we’ll be in the market for players with a decent value just yet.
In short, this is a gamble from Rowett. A gamble that an exciting player will get his team purring and crowd roaring again. While he isn’t risking much in league position, is he risking a tiny slice of Blues’ future?
I hope that he’s proved right and that we can continue to trust in the Rowett Revolution rather than our own fears.
Daniel Ivery is the sole author and editor of the most popular Birmingham City blog online – Often Partisan – and is co-author along with Hong Kong solicitor Will Giles of ‘Haircuts & League Cups: The Rise and Fall of Carson Yeung’.You can find him on Twitter @often_partisan and at his website www.oftenpartisan.co.uk, or read about his book at www.haircutsandleaguecups.co.uk.
