Harlee Dean speaks out over former Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer | OneFootball

Birmingham struggled under Lee Bowyer during the last campaign and it led to the Blues ultimately deciding to part ways with the former player and replace him with John Eustace.

The club wanted to try and push on and under Bowyer, they were unable to do so. The ex-Charlton boss managed to steady to ship initially at St Andrew’s but they continued to float dangerously close to the drop zone and it led to him losing his job.

One player that the former midfielder did cast aside during his time in charge of Birmingham was Harlee Dean. The defender was shipped out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday, with Bowyer deciding he didn’t have a part to play in the club’s plans. With the old boss now not at the helm, Dean is back in the team and despite being cast out of the side, he has told BBC Sport that he ‘understood’ the decision and that it was ‘fair enough.’

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Dean has spent six seasons with the Blues over the course of his career and has played in a total of 176 games. He is one of the most experienced in the squad then and after featuring fairly regularly to start Bowyer’s tenure, he would have been surprised then when he was pulled out of the squad completely.

He went on to feature in seven league games for Wednesday with one assist and has now returned to the fold at St Andrew’s. He’s even played his first game back for them at the weekend and got a full 90 minutes under his belt.

Now, the 31-year-old has revealed just how he felt after being dropped and told BBC Sport: “I’d started the season well but we had a run of four or five bad games after an international break – that happens in football. If you’re not performing, which I wasn’t, you’re the first to go and sometimes you’ve just got to accept that.

“It had never happened to me before but there was never any hard feelings. I understood it. It never changed what I felt about myself but sometimes you’ve just to take it and see where you go. I know my performances weren’t good enough, so that’s what you get judged on. If the manager, who you like as a person – and I think he liked me – tells you ‘I can’t play you any more’ that’s fair enough.”

Birmingham have a fresh start under John Eustace and so too does Harlee Dean, who looks like he could end up a regular feature in the main side again.

The Blues and Dean struggled both together and apart last time around. Birmingham have spent the best part of the last two seasons looking over their shoulders at the relegation spots and it does remain the case even now. As for Dean, he didn’t perhaps get quite as many games as he would have liked, even after his move to Sheffield Wednesday.

Now that he is back in the first-team fold with the Blues, he will no doubt be delighted. To get a full 90 minutes under his belt is key and shows that he could have a part to play again for the team this campaign. Of course, a new manager will have new ideas about who he wants and Dean is clearly back in the picture for the club.

Dean then will have hoped he made quite the impression on his first fixture back – and if he has, then it could mean he is a first-team regular for them again.