Move over Take That – there’s a new boyband in Town!

If the Blues’ seven summer signings thought they’d escaped an embarrassing initiation ceremony then they can think again.

Today new boys Michael Chopra, Lee Bowyer, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Ivar Ingimarsson, David Stockdale, Nathan Ellington and Aaron Cresswell will be expected to stand up and sing to their team-mates during the long coach journey down to Bristol City.

“I think on the first trip it is only right that new lads have to get up and do some ritual stuff!” said mischievous team mate Carlos Edwards.

“We’ll probably make them sing a song or something, but because there are so many of them it might be better for them to do it as a group rather than individually.”

It means Ingimarsson has got a surprise coming his way having thought he’d dodged such an ordeal.

“No, there have been no initiations yet, and I was surprised because I expected it,” said the Icelander. “The side is relatively new so maybe that custom hasn’t been brought in yet.

“I think it is too late now. If it is not done in the first week then normally it just doesn’t happen.”

As uncomfortable as it might be for the more tuneless members of the seven, it will undoubtedly be a moment that eases any nerves ahead of tomorrow’s big Championship kick-off and acts as a valuable bonding exercise for a squad which is still very much getting to know each other.

“As a footballer you have to learn to blend in as quickly as possible,” said Edwards. “It’s so important to form a unity.

“The first day training at a new club never gets any easier – it’s always a slightly nervous thing. I find that once you mess up a few times though the guys will quickly be on your back with a bit of banter and from there on everything just clicks into place and you’re part of the team.”

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