Birmingham Mail

Pre-season tours just ain't what they used to be.

Blues flew safely into Germany, all focused and ready to get down to some hard graft in the sun. Nothing has been left to chance, it seems.

They are billeted in a typically spick and span family-run hotel in a small village in Baden-Wurttemberg, to the south west of the country, near Stuttgart.

There are no distractions in a place that's better described as 'comatose' than 'quiet' and the sports complex of the local side where they are training is a mere five minutes stroll away.

Rewind to the early 1990s and it was different, to say the least.

Remember when Blues won the Leyland DAF Cup in 1991? Well they received a Leyland DAF minibus for their troubles (really) and took it on tour to Ireland with them.

Trouble was that the whole squad, plus kit and luggage, had to be crammed into it for an horrendous drive from Cork up country to Galway.

I can still remember poor Simon Sturridge lying across laps and suitcases trying to get comfortable as everyone packed inside like sardines.

As for the training facilities, Blues were presented with a bumpy parks pitch, complete with rusty goalposts and a worn out six-yard area.

If nothing else, that trip was good for building team spirit as Blues went on to win promotion that season from the old Third Division.

DJ Campbell was left out of the travelling party in order that his transfer from the club can be concluded. But his presence, of sorts, is still with us as the first thing you see when you walk through the entrance to the team's hotel is a poster advertising Wednesday's friendly against Heidenheimer SB that shows Campbell in all his glory celebrating a goal.