They say there’s no ‘i’ in team, and that maxim very much fits in with Chris Hughton’s philosophy.
There’s no big-time Charlies nor any cliques at Hughton’s Birmingham City. And the general esprit de corps around the Wast Hills training centre is evident on the pitch.
It’s not been the easiest of tasks for Hughton to basically rebuild a squad in the wake of Premier League relegation.
But he has done so with typical businesslike gusto and made sure that every player fits the right mould in regard to their character.
Listen to Wade Elliott, one of Hughton’s new signings.
“I have obviously not been here that long, and nor have a lot of the other lads either. But we seem to have knitted pretty well, pretty quickly.
“And I think more importantly and more pertinently we have got respect for each other.
“We respect each other’s abilities and we know that we have got a good squad of players. I think that helps.”
Blues, who resume Championship action on Sunday at Cardiff City, have manoeuvred themselves into a handy position, on the fringe of the play-off zone with games in hand.
And Hughton has had to carefully juggle his squad to cope with the demands of the domestic and foreign.
That inevitably means some players are going to be frustrated as to figure in every game would represent a tall order.
Yet that ‘good feeling’ within the group – that no ‘i’ in team – has ensured Hughton doesn’t have a camp of discontent. “They have been excellent,” he said.
“All of the players, like a Guirane N’Daw, for example, would have wanted to play more games. But what we have got at the moment is Jonathan Spector and Keith Fahey who have settled into the midfield formation and are doing OK for us.
“So it has been tough for some, I must admit. But I can’t fault the response we’ve got from them, The attitude around the games and in training has been excellent.”
And Hughton said that he didn’t necessarily have a fixed best eleven, such was the parity in quality across the squad.
“You certainly have your best eleven-ish in any given period of time.
“But it changes and you want it to change because that means people are changing your mind and people are playing well enough to occupy a spot that perhaps they wouldn’t have occupied two or three weeks ago.
“That’s why we’re constantly telling the players that might have some disappointments about not playing they just need to keep focused and keep working hard because with the amount of games we’ve got things can very quickly change around.
“You don’t really want a best eleven because you want to keep people on their toes and you want to give everybody the feel that there’s a lot there to play for.”
Hughton added: “What we have at the moment is a good feel about the group, and good competition.
“There is a bit of belief in the squad but all that stands for nothing if you don’t see it in the games.
“We are showing a bit of quality in games and definitely a bit of fighting spirit and consequently we’ve been able to come back from what looked like some defeats.”
