Mehdi Nafti is one of the more colourful and comical characters in the Birmingham City dressing room.
The multi-lingual Tunisian has amused many around the Wast Hills training ground during pre-season with his shocking brown velour tracksuit but now Nafti is planning to put smiles on the faces of the Blues supporters by helping the club make an immediate return to the Premier League.
Nafti scored his first goal for the club during the 4-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers in the Carling Cup on Wednesday but the tough-tackling midfielder admits he isn’t relishing another season in the Championship following relegation but said the entire squad was determined to make sure it is only a short stay outside the top flight.
“I am not happy to be playing in the Championship and I don’t think if you ask any player in the squad if they are happy that they will say ‘yes’,” said Nafti who, nevertheless, signed a new contract in the summer.
“Everyone wants to play in the Premier League and the fact we are in the Championship is our fault. We can talk about [former manager] Steve Bruce and the [off-field problems at the] club but at the end of a season and after 38 games, the worst three teams go down and that was the case. We can’t complain and now we have another 45 games to get back into the Premier League.
“Our pride was hurt last season but we deserved to go down. We can’t say we were unlucky because you are not unlucky over 38 games. Let’s bounce back and give some happiness and joy to the fans, and to the city.”
The harsh reality of what happened last season will hit home to Nafti and his team-mates when the Premier League kicks off this weekend. The big guns will take centre stage and, after relegation, Nafti knows that Birmingham are now understudies in English football.
“The hardest thing about being in the Championship is that you are not playing against the best players and testing yourself against the best teams, like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool,” he said. “The Premier League is the most important league in the world. It hurts not to be part of the Premier League this season but we have had two or three months to think about that during the holidays. We don’t think about it much now but perhaps when we see the games on television involving Manchester United and Liverpool, it will hit home.
“We have to battle this season and win the games to prove to ourselves that our place is in the Premier League and try not to make the mistakes we made last season.
“The Championship was quite hard two years ago and it is about trying to win all the games and concentrating all the time. There will be no easy games because all the teams would like to beat us, but the Championship is a good challenge.”
