Exclusive: Mumps scare triggers emergency lockdown at Birmingham City training base | OneFootball

A scare has emerged at Blues - but it will not affect their first-team playing squad ahead of their return to Championship action

Birmingham City look set to close their academy on a temporary basis after an outbreak of mumps, Football League World exclusively understands.

The young professionals and up-coming juniors are facing an indefinite absence from the Championship club’s training facility after three cases were identified.

And now the site is in partial lockdown until the full scope of the infection has been understood.

Birmingham City illness outbreak emerges

Blues run their training facilities from two bases.

One is the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre, housed in Henley-in-Arden which caters for the first-team, analysts and coaching staff, while the other is run at Wast Hills, near Kings Norton, to the south of the city which looks after the juniors and women’s set-up.

And FLW understands that it is that amenity that has been affected by the fresh outbreak of mumps - and it looks set to shut down operations for the near future.

It is understood that immediately after the illnesses were identified, the club undertook a swab test to try and get to the root of the problem.

That involved both staff and players from both the men’s and women’s sides.

They are currently awaiting the results of those tests and will take appropriate action, as required.

Both the academy and women’s set-ups can operate separately and, at present, it is understood that the women’s side may be able to function as normal.

However, the academy has been closed down temporarily while the club clarifies the extent of the issue.

Birmingham City first-team won't be affected by mumps outbreak - but under-21's may be

The men’s first-team is not affected and, with there being around 13 miles’ distance between the two sites, there is next to no crossover between them, so that means Chris Davies will have no worries as his Blues side prepare to get back to Championship action this coming weekend with the visit of Norwich City to St. Andrew's.

It may not be the same case for the underage sides of Blues though, who will now face a race against time to have their squads fit and ready for their next matches.

For the under-21's, they're set to take on AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League Cup on Monday evening in a tournament that they're already bottom of their group with after two matches, having lost 5-1 to Hull City and 3-0 to Reading.

The under-18's of Birmingham though may be less affected. Having defeated Leicester prior to the international break, they're not in U18 Premier League action until early December, meaning that Martyn Olorenshaw's side have plenty of time to get back up to speed