Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
Jay Stansfield scored the winner against Bristol Rovers in the 2-1 win on Tuesday night for Birmingham City in League One.
EFL experts have questioned Stansfield recently, especially his goalscoring record when ignoring penalties. He had blanked in the last five games, with no goal or assist to his name.
| Appearances | Starts | Minutes | Non-penalty goals | Goals including penalties | Assists | |
| League One | 28 | 25 | 2119 | 9 | 16 | 2 |
| EFL Trophy | 4 | 3 | 229 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| FA Cup | 2 | 2 | 156 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Birmingham Live suggest that the fee to bring him back is around £12 million with add-ons, which smashes the League One record. He excelled despite relegation last season, and continues to be the main man for Chris Davies in a new-look Blues side.
His form is why we also called for him to be dropped for Alfie May ahead of the clash with Bristol Rovers, but Davies kept the faith with Birmingham’s star player and was vindicated for it.
- READ MORE: Full list of Birmingham City pubs for Vertu Trophy final at Wembley and which one you should go to
Jay Stansfield praise emerges from Sky pundits
Former Blues hero David Dunn was joined in the Sky Sports studio by Curtis Davies for punditry duty, with both having plenty to say on Stansfield prior to kick-off.
Dunn said: “Yeah, I love the way he plays. He plays on the shoulder. You know, a lot of modern-day players now are always looking to try and come towards the ball.
“He’s a throwback; always looking to try and run. Curtis will know, the worst thing to do is to defend running back towards your own goal. He’s perfect at it; brilliant at it.
“When he gets into them positions, he is lethal as well.”
Davies responded: “That’s exactly it. It’s that clinical edge to him. When they signed him, it made you think, ‘did they need a Jay Stansfield in League One for the money that they paid for him?’
“But, when he’s come in, he’s actually done the business. When you talk about the composure that he’s able to show, the quality shows why he was worth so much money.
“Maybe it was a little bit of a vanity project for the owner himself. But he’s got a man that wants to be at the football club.
“He loved his time on loan and wanted to come back. They’ve got the man that — touch wood — in the Championship, can continue this form and keep them firing up the leagues.”
Dunn added: “They’ve probably got two of the best players in the league in Alfie May and Stansfield.”
Tom Brady’s investment looks set to continue in 2025, as we exclusively revealed their summer plans recently. There could be more Stansfield-like signings to come for Birmingham in the near future, even if he was a vanity project.
Jay Stansfield’s importance to Birmingham City explained
Birmingham are breaking recent League One records along the way, with some statistics annihilated as they get ever closer to wrapping up the title in the near future.
Stansfield will be a huge part of their future, and he may have aspirations of being yet another player from the EFL to play for England.
His latest strike was another huge step towards promotion, although it was actually Keshi Anderson who stood out in our match ratings.
His potential could take him to the Premier League one day, even if he had a quiet night prior to winning and scoring the penalty in a below par display for his side against Bristol Rovers.