Joys and Sorrows

The rollercoaster life of a Birmingham City fan – the highs and the lows, the peaks and the
troughs, the good and the bad.

10 Years ago, the blues were scheduled to play Reading in a game that would decide who
would take the final automatic promotion spot. The 2008/2009 season had been a very
strong one for Birmingham – from the second week all the way through to the final week of
the season, the blues had had control of one of the top three places in the league. But that
didn’t matter – it was all about the final standings.

Wolverhampton Wanderers had already been

declared champions and that second spot was still
up for grabs for three different sides: Sheffield
United, Reading and Birmingham City. The blues
were in prime position, a win and they were
guaranteed to be playing Premier League football.
Goals by Keith Fahey and Kevin Phillips meant that
Birmingham had won. Goodbye to the
Championship and hello to the Premier League.

First game back in the Premier League and it couldn’t get any tougher – Manchester United
away at the theatre of dreams. A 1-0 loss against the red devils wasn’t the worst start the
blues could have had. But the belief around the club was high – everyone thought that this
season could be special.

A financial takeover of the club saw the end of David Gold and David Sullivan’s time at
owning the club and welcomed the new owner – Carson Yueng, a Hong Kong businessman.

The 09/10 campaign was the highest finish Birmingham City had ever achieved in the
Premier League. A ninth place finish from Alex McLeish’s men meant that it was one of the
most successful seasons any blues side had ever had – also making it to the quarter final of
the FA Cup, as well as a 12 game unbeaten run.

The next season was a complete contrast to the success of the 2009/10 one – the thought
of relegation had daunted them. In the final 13 games, the blues could only pick up 2 wins –
which was the main reason that after 38 games, they could only finish in 18th place meaning
it was back to the Championship.

But in a season full of doom and gloom there was one shining light throughout. Cup
competitions.

In the FA Cup – the blues went all the way to the

quarter final only to be beaten by Bolton Wanderers
3-2.

But in the Carling Cup – Birmingham went on to

win the whole competition and in doing so, they
picked up their second major trophy in the clubs
history. They beat sides like West Ham and their
arch rivals. Aston Villa to get to the final, where they played Arsenal and against all the odds
they won 2-1. A last minute goal by Obafemi Martins raised the roof of Wembley, followed by
a triple back flip and a pool of players on top of him.

The end of the 2010/11 season also saw the end of Alex McLeish’s time as manager, as he
resigned from the role – only to take the job of the manager of Aston Villa.

21st June began the era of Chris Hughton as the manager of the royal blues – he led the
side to a fourth place finish, in their first attempt to get back to the Premier League.

This meant that if Birmingham were to get promoted they would have to get through the
playoffs. As the blues finished fourth it meant they would face fifth place side Blackpool over
two legs. Blackpool won the first leg 1-0 meaning they held a great advantage going into the
second leg. At St. Andrews, Birmingham could only get a 2-2 draw which was not enough to
see them get through to the final.

With winning a domestic trophy in the season

prior, it meant that the blues had qualified for the
Europa League - they came up against CD
Nacional in the playoff game, who they beat 3-0
over two legs. Birmingham had qualified to the
group stages of a European competition – the first
time in the clubs history.

The blues finished the group stage on 10 points

which was only good enough for them to finish
third to Club Brugge and SC Braga.

The 2012/13 season was a very average one for Birmingham City – finishing in 12th place, 7
points clear of relegation and 7 points off the playoffs. More financial difficulty surrounded
the club though as they were in debt and owner Carson Yueng was in jail for money
laundering. This resulted in the club being handed a transfer embargo – limiting the number
of signings new manager, Lee Clark could make.

The news season invited lots of new issues around the club. Nobody knew what was going
on with the club off the pitch but they did see what was going wrong on the pitch – and that
was that the players were not good enough to represent this famous club. But due to the
lack of money the club could spend, it limited the quality of players the club could acquire.

All of this negativity combined and lead to one of the worst seasons the club had ever
endured. Birmingham City were staring at the face of League 1 for majority of the campaign.
When on the 3rd May 2014 – the blues would go to the Reebok Stadium needing at least a
point as well as other results to go in their favour.

It was between Doncaster Rovers and Birmingham to see who would be getting relegated in
the final space. Doncaster went to Leicester – already champions but aspiring to surpass the
100 points total. The foxes beat Doncaster to reach 102 points which meant that it would be
a nervy few final minutes at the Birmingham game. The score was 2-1 to Bolton at the time
going into stoppage time.
 The blues fans sang their hearts out to try and urge
their beloved team on – and then 93rd minute, Paul
Caddis rises up to head the ball into the back of the
net. Birmingham had done it. Safe with the last
touch of the game.

“Keep Right On To The End Of The Road”

The 2014/15 season got off to an atrocious start for Birmingham City which ultimately
resulted in the sacking of manager, Lee Clark, following an 8-0 defeat to Bournemouth at
home. The club sat in 23rd in the league and the whole atmosphere around the club was
toxic. Whoever takes over the role of manager at the club will be fighting the hardest
challenge of their career.

The man who did take the reins of the club was former player – Gary Rowett. Formerly
manger of Burton Albion and now faced with the challenge of getting Birmingham out of the
situation they find themselves in.

A string of good results at the start of his time as manager saw the blues rise to 17th in the
league, before suffering his first loss as boss to the hands of Blackpool. Then his men
reacted in the best possible way and went and won the next game 6-1 against Reading.

Birmingham then went on to have a solid season and ended up finishing in 10th place –
which was a major achievement to the season before where they required at last second
goal to keep them from playing League 1 football.

In the 2015/16 season – Rowett done excellent with the squad at his disposal and kept the
side in the top 10 throughout the whole campaign and eventually getting them back to back
10th place finishes.

In the League Cup the same season the blues did

get drawn against fellow Birmingham side – Aston
Villa. The last time the two sides met in this
competition was when a Nikola Zigic goal in the
84th minute sent Birmingham through to the semi
finals. It was a different story this time - Aston Villa
playing in front of a sold out home crowd
managed to win 1-0 sending them through to the
fourth round.

2016/17 Was one of the strangest seasons Birmingham City have ever had. Three different
managers in one season is almost unheard of. Gary Rowett was managing a very steady
ship and the team had the potential to reach the playoffs until the club got some new
owners. As soon as the club lost their first couple of games under the new ownership,
Rowett was shown the door in an act that left everyone confused.
Gianfranco Zola was the next man in the hot seat. When he took over the club was sat in 7th
place and then everything went south. Zola won 2 of his 23 games in charge before leaving
his role as manager – leaving the side in 20th place and dicing with danger once again.

Harry Redknapp was the next man appointed – with three games remaining: Aston Villa,
Huddersfield Town and Bristol City. A 1-0 defeat in his first game in charge to them down the
road meant that fans had not got much hope for the remainder of the season.

But somehow the blues had managed to win both of their final games and were safe again.

It was a new season and Redknapp was given the license to spend whatever money
required to build the team up to a standard capable of competing with others. A club record
fee was paid for the Spanish midfielder from Brentford, Jota.

After a poor start from the blues – picking up four points from a possible twenty four –
Redknapp was given the boot and the owners had to go out to try and find the right man for
the job.

Assistant to Harry Redknapp in the season before – Steve Cotterill took over and it was a
bright start, beating Cardiff City 2-1. Everything went downhill after that – in his time as
manager he won 6 out of 26 games, this lead to him getting the sack and Birmingham were
left in 22nd place and relegation was on the cards once again.

Garry Monk was appointed on the 18th March and brought hope and passion back to the
supporters of the club – with nine games remaining Monk managed to get the blues into a
much more structured side and in doing so, they won five of the last nine games. Safe again.

The 2018/19 season was a rollercoaster of emotions for everyone associated with
Birmingham City. A team that was playing better than anyone would ever expect and
lingering on the outskirts of the playoffs before being hit with a nine point deduction from the
EFL due to breaching Financial Fair
Play rules over the last three years.

But even after this major setback, the

players, the staff and the fans were all
united and all wanted to work together
to push the team forward.

Eventually they avoided relegation

with ease and the club was looking in
a really good place for the first time in
years.