Birmingham City have experienced their fair share of inconsistency this season in the Championship with the Blues falling away from the early season play-off conversation to the depths of the bottom half.

Despite sitting in 18th, Blues still have an eight point cushion on the bottom three and will be hoping that with a few shrewd additions this month they can return to pushing for a top half finish.

Birmingham have not finished above 17th in any of the last five seasons and therefore it is not as if they are performing below par under Bowyer.

The former League Cup winner with the club as a player gave some fighting talk when asked about relegation concerns by BirminghamLive.

Bowyer said: "I am a fighter and I know the reason why I came here. I was going to be a fight to stay in the league and I still came.

"Now it is tough, every time we are stepping on to the pitch it is tough.

"But I am here for the long-term, I want to be here.

"The reason why I came is because I know the potential, I want to be that person that watches the club grow again.

"Yes we are in a sticky patch but we will come through that, we all have to stick together.

"If you think of the amount of people we have got out, we are still fighting – but yes, we will be okay."

Birmingham have won just one of their last eight games and in that they could get a little nervy if the teams in the bottom three start to hit their straps.

If the first half of the season is anything to go by, that is very unlikely and Blues will have one of their more comfortable seasons in the second tier for a long time.

The Verdict 

Due to a lack of resources and power in the transfer market, Blues will not be competing in the upper echelons of the Championship for some while and without a penny to spend, Bowyer has been able to assemble a decent squad that should steer well clear of the drop.

Their recent run of just four wins in 18 since their impressive start to the campaign, is more concerning that it could continue into next season where the relegation battle may not be as forgiving.

Bowyer has been very stubborn in deploying a three at the back formation this season to differing degrees of success, even in the absence of many specialist wing backs.

Whether that is sustainable and could contribute to them getting dragged into the dog fight remains to be seen, but their eight point cushion feels like too much already and the focus switches over to what shape they will be in to go again next season in striving for improvement.