Birmingham City

Birmingham City have spent the majority of their history moving between the top two divisions of English football, and have won the second tier on four occasions through their history. However, the 2023-24 season was something of a disaster for the Blues and they find themselves in the third tier for the first time since 1992. Birmingham have started the season positively and are expected to push for and achieve promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking.

The players are being cheered on by huge crowds, with the average home attendance so far this season easily surpassing the averages for the three seasons following Covid at an incredible 27,061.

Birmingham City Updates

After last season's relegation, Birmingham have started the new campaign with just one defeat in 13 League One outings and have won 13 games in all competitions as at writing. The Blues have scored 24 league goals already and have picked up crucial wins against playoff chasers such as Wrexham, Lincoln City and Bolton Wanderers.

Former Celtic midfielder Tomoki Iwata has been one of the standout performers for the club this season, scoring three goals and providing one assist in his nine starts. Alfie May and Jay Stansfield are proving to be lethal in front of goal, with both having found the net on a regular basis already this season. The Blues are currently without Lee Buchanan, Emil Hansson, Scott Wright and Alfie Chang who all remain on the treatment table.

Birmingham City Transfer News & Rumours

Birmingham enjoyed a busy and rumour filled summer in the transfer market. Deadly League One striker Alfie May joined the club from rivals Charlton Athletic and, along with fellow new striker Jay Stansfield, has hit the ground running in front of goal. The key departure for the club was that of highly rated youth product Jordan James who left to join Stade Rennais of France.

Birmingham City outspent their nearest League One rival by more than £27 million during the summer, spending close to £30 million on 16 new arrivals. The nearest team to the Blues in terms of spending was Peterborough United, who shelled out just over £2 million but managed to recoup close to £6 million from player sales.

Birmingham City Signings

The headline arrival over the summer was undoubtedly Jay Stansfield, whose goals the club forked out almost £15 million for to Fulham. Charlton's Alfie May was also brought in for his goal scoring prowess and he was joined by Icelandic attacker Willum Willumsson who cost the club over £3 million from Go Ahead Eagles.

Player	Age	Nationality	Left	Fee	Contract Duration
Jay Stansfield	21	England	Fulham Premier League	£14,700,000	7 Years
Christoph Klarer	24	Austria	SV Darmstadt 98 German 2.Bundesliga	£3,400,000	3 Years
Willum Willumsson	25	Iceland	Go Ahead Eagles Eredivisie	£3,300,000	4 Years
Emil Hansson	26	Sweden	Heracles Almelo Eredivisie	£1,500,000	3 Years
Lyndon Dykes	28	Scotland	QPR Championship	£1,000,000	3 Years
Alex Cochrane	24	England	Heart of Midlothian Premiership	£1,000,000	4 Years
Tomoki Iwata	27	Japan	Celtic Premiership	£815,000	3 Years
Ryan Allsop	32	England	Hull City Championship	£815,000	3 Years
Alfie May	31	England	Charlton Athletic League One	£760,000	3 Years
Marc Leonard	22	Scotland	Brighton and Hove Albion Premier League	£490,000	4 Years
Bailey Peacock-Farrell	27	Northern Ireland	Burnley Championship	£440,000	4 Years
Scott Wright	27	Scotland	Rangers FC Premiership	£300,000	3 Years
Ben Davies	29	England	Rangers FC Premiership	Loan	1 Year
Taylor Gardner-Hickman	22	England	Bristol City Championship	Loan	1 Year
Alfons Sampsted	26	Iceland	Twente FC Eredivisie	Loan	1 Year

Birmingham City Key Matches

Due to the stature of the football club, Birmingham will be targeted by the other teams in League One this season, with everyone keen to derail their promotion push. On their promotion quest, the Blues will have to overcome genuine promotion challengers as well as navigating tricky away trips to sides battling for survival. Their start to the season certainly suggests they have enough quality within their squad to manage the relentless League One schedule and maintain their push for a Championship return.

Birmingham have some tough games to come on the road, including to playoff chasing Barnsley and the much anticipated clash with Wrexham. Trips to Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town and Peterborough United will all provide stern tests of their promotion credentials. At home, the Blues would expect to be dominant but will still have to overcome some difficult tests, including title challengers Wycombe Wanderers and a Lincoln City side who are excellent away from home. The Barnsley and Mansfield Town home games could be key in securing that return to the Championship.

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Birmingham City's Key Achievements

Birmingham City were founded in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, later becoming Small Heath and then Birmingham. It wasn't until 1943 that the name Birmingham City was adopted. The club's first major silverware came in the 1892-93 when they were crowned champions of the English Second Division. Further second division titles would follow in 1920-21 and 1947-48.

It was the 1950s and 1960s that saw the club enjoy their most successful period, winning another Second Division title in 1955. That was followed by a losing appearance in an FA Cup final and a sixth place finish in Division One. In 1956, the club entered European competition in the shape of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup and would go on to reach the final in 1960 and 1961. 

Birmingham's first national silverware came in the shape of the 1962-63 Football League Cup, a competition they would sensationally win again in 2011. The Blues are currently in League One and have one third tier title to their name already, winning the old Division Two in 1994-95. During that season, they also added the Football League Trophy to their cabinet.

• 1892-93 Second Division Champions
• 1920-21 Second Division Champions
• 1947-48 Second Division Champions
• 1954-55 Second Division Champions
• 1960 - Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Runners Up
• 1962-63 League Cup Winners
• 1994-95 Division Two Champions
• 2010-11 League Cup Winners

Birmingham City's Current Squad

Birmingham City have invested heavily in their squad this season, almost completely revamping the side that suffered relegation last term. 

Birmingham City Attackers

City have an abundance of attacking threats in their squad and have added extensively this season. Jay Stansfield was the marquee signing of the summer and has hit the ground running with seven goals from his first 11 matches. Fellow striker Alfie May joined off the back of a stellar season with Charlton and has already scored five times. Behind, there is the giant Icelandic attacker Willum Willumsson, a summer signing from Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles. Willumsson not only provides goals but is excellent on the ball and does his fair share of work to help the team defensively too.

Birmingham City Midfielders

Seung-Ho Paik and Tomoki Iwata have been two of the club's standout performers this season with both being incredibly comfortable in possession and dictating a lot of Birmingham's play. The Birmingham midfield is so packed with talent that the much sought after Marc Leonard is having to make do with appearances from the bench, as is the on loan Fulham man Luke Harris.

Birmingham City Defenders

Birmingham City have started the season with one of the toughest defensive units to crack in the division, so far conceding less than a goal per game as at writing. Captain and Poland international Krystian Bielik has returned to the lineup to sure up an already solid defence. He is likely to be partnered by either Rangers loanee Ben Davies or big money summer signing Kristoph Klarer. Klarer is happy to receive the ball deep in his own half and looks to start a lot of his side's attacks. Former Manchester United full back Ethan Laird adds a strong attacking threat down the right while summer signing Alex Cochrane brings a similar threat on the opposite side.

Birmingham City Goalkeepers

The Blues have added two vastly experienced goalkeepers to their squad to battle it out for the number one shirt this season. Ryan Alssop left Championship club Hull City to join the Birmingham City revolution. The former Derby County keeper is a reliable presence between the sticks who is a good shot stopper and comfortable playing out from the back. Northern Ireland international Bailey Peacock-Farrell, like Allsop, left the Championship for League One. Peacock-Farrell left Burnley after five years with the club and is another keeper who is adept at helping start attacks.

Birmingham City Manager & Coaching Staff

Last season was a tumultuous one on the managerial front for Birmingham City. John Eustace was surprisingly replaced by Wayne Rooney who then left the club for Tony Mowbray to take over. It would eventually be Gary Rowett who was in charge when the club's relegation was confirmed. 

During the summer, the Tottenham Hotspur assistant manager Chris Davies was appointed to steer the club back to the second tier. Davies was joined by Ben Petty who is one of three assistant managers, alongside Nathan Gardner and Tom Huddlestone. The new arrivals have joined goalkeeping coach Maik Taylor as part of the backroom team looking to guide the club to promotion.

Chris Davies - Manager

Davies is a vastly experienced coach and assistant manager but this is his first opportunity at being a manager. The 39-year-old has worked extensively under Brendan Rodgers, acting as his assistant at Swansea City, Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester City before taking on the same role for Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.

Davies enjoys a possession based approach and is described as an excellent man manager who is the perfect fit to lead Birmingham City back to the Championship.

Ben Petty - Assistant Manager

Petty is another former Leicester City man and worked with Davies at the King Power. He has been in charge of developing Aston Villa's young players and has worked in the Under 21 set up at Leicester. The move to St Andrew's is his first step into coaching the senior side.

Nathan Gardiner - Assistant Manager

Gardiner has previously held a number of backroom roles at a range of clubs, including fitness coach, rehab coach and sports scientist. His most recent post prior to joining the Blues was as sports scientist at Spurs, where he worked alongside Davies. The 49-yea-old was the fitness coach to Fabio Capello's England during the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Tom Huddlestone - Assistant Manager

During his playing career, Huddlestone represented clubs such as Derby County, Tottenham and Hull City as well as representing England at senior level. His first foray into coaching was when he moved to join the Manchester United Under 21s and has since held short term roles with England Under 20s and Under 21s and Wigan Athletic. Huddlestone was an accomplished midfielder as a player and will look to pass those qualities on to the players at Birmingham.

Maik Taylor - Goalkeeper Coach

Taylor is a former Northern Ireland international keeper who was a stalwart between the sticks for Fulham and Birmingham. Since hanging up his gloves, Taylor has coached for Northern Ireland, Bradford City and Walsall before retuning to the Blues in 2022. The 88-cap international played over 500 games in his long career and will be looking to pass that knowledge on to the club's current crop of keepers.

Birmingham City's Former Managers

Before the arrival of Chris Davies, Birmingham went through managers at a rate of knots. The previous four permanent managers of the club were Tony Mowbray. Wayne Rooney, John Eustace and Lee Bowyer.

• Tony Mowbray was brought in to steady the ship after the Wayne Rooney debacle had left the club threatened by relegation. Unfortunately, Mowbray had to step down from his role due to ill health after only eight matches. 
• Wayne Rooney replaced John Eustace as the club were looking good for a playoff push. The former striker would only oversee 15 matches before being relieved of his duties, having won just twice in that time. 
• John Eustace took charge of 63 Birmingham City matches, winning a third of those before being sacked and replaced by Rooney. Eustace is now leading a promotion push for current club Blackburn Rovers.
• Lee Bowyer is a former Birmingham player who took charge of the club in March 2021 and would oversee 59 matches. Bowyer is perhaps surprisingly the current manager of the Montserrat national team.

Notable names of the past to have managed Birmingham City include England's World Cup winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey, one of football's most eccentric characters Barry Fry and their mercurial ex-player Trevor Francis. Steve Bruce delivered promotion to the Premier League and former Scotland manager Alex McLeish guided the club to the League Cup in 2011.

Birmingham City Legends

Damien Johnson

He joined Birmingham in 2002 from Blackburn Rovers and quickly became a fan favourite for selflessly putting the team before himself. Across eight years, Johnson played over 200 for Blues and achieved over 50 caps for Northern Ireland. He was in the squad that won promotion to the Premier League in 2002 and would remain at the club until 2010, when he left for Plymouth Argyle.

Nikola Zigic

Zigic is a giant Serbian striker who was signed from Valencia for close to £7 million. Zigic scored 20 international goals and became a cult hero at Birmingham City, after scoring 36 times in 159 games. He is perhaps best remembered for scoring the winner in the League Cup quarter final tie against bitter rivals Aston Villa, a goal that kept City on track to win the competition.

Emile Heskey

He had a a glittering career that included 62 England caps and over 100 Premier League goals. He represented Blue on 88 occasions and scored 15 times after joining from Liverpool for a then club record fee in 2004. 

David Dunn

David Dunn is considered by many to be the club's finest ever player. He played 169 games and scored 58 goals before his transfer to Blackburn Rovers.

Christophe Dugarry

Dugarry only spent a matter of months with Birmingham City but established his legendary status. The French World Cup winner came in to help Steve Bruce's side avoid relegation. He amassed 55 caps for France and scored six goals in 37 games for the Birmingham.

Birmingham City Team Metrics & Performance

As at writing, Birmingham City have played 13 League One matches and have scored 24 times, conceding only 12 goals. They have won nine of those 13 and have only tasted defeat on one occasion, against Charlton Athletic. Despite their dominance, City have only kept three clean sheets in the league which is only better than Blackpool and bottom side Shrewsbury Town.

Blues are expected to gain promotion back to the Championship and are backed by many to win the league outright. Last season, the club struggled and were eventually relegated after finishing in 22nd place. Birmingham had spent 13 seasons in the Championship after a period of bouncing back and forth between the Championship and the Premier League.

Not since 2015-16 had they finished higher than 17th and had not made the playoffs since 2012.

Watch Birmingham City's Latest Highlights

Birmingham City Pitch & Amenities

St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, formerly St Andrew's Stadium, has been the home of Birmingham City since 1906, replacing the club's Muntz Street ground. From opening until 1939, the ground underwent a lot of construction work, with the capacity set at 68,000 by the time war broke out. During World War II, the stadium suffered bomb damage and Grandstand burned down. During the 1950s, the club replaced the Grandstand and installed floodlights.

By the 1980s, St Andrew's had become dilapidated and was in need of modernisation. In the 1990s, the ground underwent an extensive redevelopment and the capacity for the modern St Andrew's is 29,409. 

St Andrew's has hosted England international matches at all levels except senior level and has been the venue of semi final matches in the FA Cup. Coventry City used the ground as their home between 2019 and 2021.

Birmingham City Fanbase & Support

Despite relegation, Blues fans have turned up in their droves to support the club in League One. During the summer, they sold close to 17,000 season tickets and they are averaging over 27,000 for their home games so far this season. 

Birmingham have a number of recognised fan groups:

• Blues Trust - an independent supporters' organisation that aims to represent the views of the football club.

• Birmingham City Supporters' Club - a fan run organisation offering membership benefits and travel to away games. 
• Blues 4 All - Blues 4 All is a diverse supporters group encompassing all aspects of the communities in and around Birmingham

Birmingham City's Rivalries & Notable Matches

Birmingham City's fiercest rivals are Aston Villa and the pair compete in the hotly contested Second City Derby. The rivals have met on 128 occasions with Birmingham winning 38 of those. One of the standout matches between the two was the 1963 League Cup final, a competition that was won by Blues after two legs. Birmingham would again get one over their rivals in the League Cup on their way to winning it in 2011, beating Villa 2-1 in the fifth round at St. Andrew's.

In 2003, Birmingham achieved their first win on Villa soil since 1987 thanks to Stan Lazaridis and Geoff Horsfield as Dion Dublin sent off for headbutting Birmingham midfielder Robbie Savage. Blues actually completed the double over their city rivals that season. The game at St. Andrew's is perhaps best remembered for Birmingham's bizarre second goal. Villa's Olof Mellberg took a throw in back to his keeper Peter Enckelman and the keeper allowed the ball to role under his foot and into the net, handing Blues their second goal in a 3-0 victory.

Birmingham City Facts

Birmingham City History

The club were founded in 1975 as Small Heath Alliance and were granted entry into the newly form Second Division in 1892. In 1905 the club became known as Birmingham, the City would be added in 1943, and a year later completed the move to St. Andrew's. The ground would sustain damage during World War Two as it acted as a fire station.

The club reached the 1956 FA Cup final, the same year they had become the first English club to compete in European competition as they reached the semi final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup before losing to Barcelona. In 1960, Blues became the first English club to reach the final of European competition as they lost out again to Barcelona in the same competition before losing to AS Roma of Italy a year later.

Birmingham's first major silverware arrive in 1963 in the shape of the League Cup. Legendary goalkeeper Gil Merrick was in charge of a team that beat fierce rivals Aston Villa over two legs to take the trophy back to St. Andrew's. 

At the start of the 1980s, Blues had reclaimed their status in Division One but would find themselves in Division Three. They remained in the third division until 1992, gaining promotion to become known as Division One due to the formation of the Premier League. The club were again relegated to the third tier in 1994 but bounced back immediately as champions, also adding the Football League Trophy to the cabinet.

On their return to Division One, the club set their sights on reaching the promised land of the Premier League and would, after three failed playoff campaigns, eventually achieve that status under Steve Bruce in 2002. The club remained in the league for four seasons before being relegated back to Division One, now called the Championship. Blues would then bounce between the two top divisions, going straight back up before being relegated and going back up again at the first time of asking.

Two seasons in the Premier League and a League Cup win came before their next relegation, with the cup win securing European football for the following season. In terms of league positions, Birmingham have been on a decline since their relegation and from 2017 to their demotion in 2024 had not managed to finish higher than 17th.

Last season was one of turmoil that ended ended with the club finishing 22nd in the second tier and facing League One football this season. 

Birmingham City Social Media Links

To keep update with the latest news, match build ups and rumours, the club's social media and website are a must. Follow the club on X or visit their official site for all the latest from St. Andrew's.

Birmingham City Outlook & Forecast

Birmingham City are expected to gain promotion back the Championship this season, with many backing them to win the league outright. They face eight league matches before the turn of the year, with the results potentially shaping their January recruitment plans.

If Blues find themselves where they expect them to be, their next moves in the transfer market are likely to be with an eye on building a squad for the Championship next season. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Birmingham City Football Club

How much would it cost to buy Birmingham City Football Club?

Prior to the investment by Tom Wagner, Birmingham City were valued at £22 million.

Did Birmingham City play in the Premier League?

In its current guise of the Premier League, Birmingham have spent seven seasons in England's top flight.

What is Birmingham City nickname?

Birmingham's nickname is Blues.

When was the last time Birmingham City won a trophy?

The club's last major trophy was the 2010-11 League Cup.

Is Birmingham City a big club?

Although their trophy haul may not suggest it, Birmingham City are a big club. They have won national cups, had renowned players and managers represent them and have a large following.

Where to watch Birmingham City FC?

You can watch Birmingham City compete in League One at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in Birmingham.