Chris Wood Epitomises Chris Hughton's Revamped Birmingham City

Chris Wood was initially recruited as a stop-gap signing by Chris Hughton earlier this season and his arrival from West Bromwich Albion barely merited a mention.

But the New Zealander is already helping to reinvigorate Birmingham's promotion mission and lift the storm clouds that have been hovering over St. Andrew's for months.

Introduced after injuries to Cameron Jerome and Nikola Zigic, Wood is surpassing expectations after taking his tally to five for the season with a hat-trick against Millwall on Sunday.

Wood epitomises the new-look, revamped Birmingham team under Hughton after a summer of upheaval that has included a staggering turnover of 37 players.

While the likes of Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Ben Foster, Craig Gardner and Jerome all jumped through the escape hatch to the Premier League, Hughton has been battling to assemble a squad capable of delivering Carson Yeung's remit of promotion.
Ever since his appointment at Birmingham, Hughton has had to operate under great uncertainty with the exit resembling a revolving door. He has cut a typically dignified figure during a difficult period of transition and acrimony off the field, while patiently counting down the days until the transfer window closed.

But now, finally, he can plot a promotion challenge in the Championship without the fear of any more departures.

Only four of the personnel from last season in the top flight started in the game against Millwall but Hughton appears to have a squad hungry to prove that so many high-profile exits will not damage their objective.

Wood, 19, has been sent out on loan to Barnsley and Brighton since his arrival at the Hawthorns in 2009 and his spell at Birmingham already appears to be having a beneficial effect on his education.

Hughton said: "Coming in and playing regularly he has an opportunity to improve. It's difficult when you bring players in on loan because sometimes you are never sure how it's going to work out. I was aware of what he'd done last year on loan and so far it's working out for us.

"He's enjoying it very much. I thought the turning point was the game at Nacional away from home where he did very well.

"From that moment there were good signs and now he's playing regularly. He is delighted to be here and really enjoying it."

Wood's performance will certainly have silenced the doom and gloom merchants, while fellow new recruits Boaz Myhill, Chris Burke and Morgaro Gomis also hinted at a bright future.

Retaining Liam Ridgewell and Jean Beausejour, despite the former submitting a transfer request on deadline day and interest in the latter from Wigan, has also been a welcome piece of resistence from Birmingham's board to boost Hughton.

And after such a difficult summer, the Birmingham manager can now operate without distractions and rebuild a club capable of a crack at promotion.