Townsend: A Difficult Beginning But an Opportunity to Leave a Mark
The left-back Conor Townsend thinks the Championship campaign is off to a rough start, but it gives promotion-chasing Town an opportunity to make a statement early in the season.
Before Southampton, one of the other three Premier League demoted teams, visits Portman Road the following week, the Blues get off to a fast start on Friday, August 8, at St Andrew’s against League One champions Birmingham City.
Townsend told TWTD after attending the club’s fixture release luncheon that “it was almost written in the stars that it was going to be against a promoted team, Birmingham away.”
“A challenging game. Although the first two games have been difficult, this is a great chance for us to go out and begin the season with some serious determination.
The 32-year-old continued, “We’ve had some tough games against them in the past couple of years,” in reference to the Saints’ visit.
These are the kinds of games we need to be winning if we want to be contending at the bottom of the table and performing as the boys did the previous season. It’s an opportunity to set a precedent. It’s an excellent chance for us to start strong.
After being released, Townsend kept an eye out for games against the team he had paid £750,000 to join the Blues for the previous summer.
“West Brom, of course, given how long they’ve been there,” he continued. “We’re playing them in the second-to-last game of the season. Before the Q&A, I joked with [chairman and CEO] Mark Ashton, who was formerly a young player, coach, and director with the Baggies, that it would be good to get promoted there. We shall see.
“You take a quick look, but as a player, you look at the Christmas season, the beginning of the season, and the end.”
Considering that the Blues have three away games in ten days—Millwall on Boxing Day, Coventry three days later, and Portsmouth on Sunday, January 4—with the only home game during that time being the meeting against Oxford United on New Year’s Day.
Townsend thought, “You always hope for a home game over the Christmas period, but obviously it wasn’t to be. However, we have New Year’s Day at home, which isn’t too bad.”
“We would have preferred a home game, but we have to try to get some results in the limited number of games that we have.”
The Hull-born defender responded, “You have a glance,” when asked if players view the final stretch at this early point in the game in the same manner as supporters do.
The issue is that nobody truly knows what these teams will do, even though you can see what you’re up against.
“People who are struggling and those who are doing well always amaze me. If teams are playing well or have performed better than you anticipated, what you consider to be a strong finish today could turn out to be a very challenging one at the end of the season.
“You have a look, but it’s hard to really say whether it’s easy or hard, and I don’t think the Championship has any easy games anyway, so getting promoted is always going to be tough.”
Fans will have immediately searched for the dates of the derbies against Norwich City, with the Blues visiting Carrow Road on Saturday, April 11, and the Canaries visiting Suffolk on Saturday, October 4.
“For the supporters, I hope we can make amends this season because I learned just before the Q&A that we haven’t defeated them in sixteen years. Early in the season, we have the opportunity to accomplish that, and the away game is a little later.
“Hopefully, we can get a win for the fans, and these will be fun games to play.”
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