As June draws to a close the new football season is almost truly upon us. Blues players report back for testing and pre-season training this week, while new contracts for players begin from July 1 with the new financial year. And even though England are still in the World Cup (for now), the time has come to once again start getting excited about what might happen at St Andrew’s this season.
On Thursday afternoon John Percy of the Telegraph reported on X that Craig Gardner is to step down from his position as Director of Football. Gardner has spent the last five years in various roles at Blues and played an important part in the sale of Blues to Knighthead in 2023.
It wasn’t meant to be like this. The message stemming from Tom Wagner was that Birmingham City’s return to the Championship was to be as brief as the stint in League One; another year of victory and uplift culminating with promotion to the Promised Land™ of the Premier League.
Blues go into the final match of 2024 in a good position in League One. Six consecutive league wins have put Chris Davies’ men top of the table with a game in hand, as well as the opportunity to break last year’s points total with less than half of the current season gone.
Marc Leonard became the eighth signing of what seems a very impressive transfer window for Birmingham City on Thursday morning. The 22-year-old Scottish midfielder wrapped up a transfer which had been rumoured for a more than a month to join what appears to be the squad to beat in League One this season.
After multiple years of circling the plughole, on Saturday afternoon it finally came. Despite winning against Norwich, Blues found themselves relegated after every one of their rivals also pulled a last day win out of the bag. What should have been a summer of excitement for the future ahead has for now become one of suffering brickbats in the media.
After having threatened to do so for a few weeks, Birmingham City finally fell into the bottom three of the Championship following a 2-1 defeat away to Leicester. A late Leicester winner coupled with an injury time winner for Huddersfield conspired to ensure Blues now lie in 22nd place, one point from safety.
Blues pushed themselves deeper into the relegation mire on Tuesday night, falling to a gutless 1-0 defeat at home to Middlesbrough. While the defeat hasn’t cost the club any league places the game in hand advantage is now gone with Blues only one point outside the bottom three.
It’s been a few days now since Birmingham City have announced the naming rights deal agreed with Knighthead. Although touted as the largest commercial deal the club has done in its history, the deal is more than just about money. It gives us an insight into the true potential of the Tom Wagner-led ownership regime and just how big things might get.
Once again, it appears that the only certainties in this life are death, taxes and Birmingham City in turmoil. A 2-0 defeat to Coventry City on Friday night mean Blues have now only taken five points from a possible 27 in the league under Wayne Rooney amid growing calls for his removal.
