The company formerly known as Birmingham Sports Holdings announced their financial results for the year ending 30 June 2024 to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. While ZO Future Group (as they’re now known) have zero financial or operational control over Birmingham City, they still have to cover the club’s financial results in their own accounts, allowing us an early glimpse into the club’s current financial position.
Once upon a time the only mention in a national newspaper of a match between Birmingham City and Wrexham in the third tier of English football would be to report the score. However, times have changed and tonight’s game is potentially the most reportable game in the whole EFL this season.
The last month has been a wild ride for Birmingham City fans. While Blues had to suffer the ignominious fate of being relegated to League One, the ambition of Knighthead to equip the squad with the best players possible remained front and centre with the hugely ambitious capture of Jay Stansfield on a permanent deal from Fulham.
Birmingham City got their League One campaign off to a start with a 1-1 draw with Reading at St Andrew’s on Saturday. A late penalty scored by Alfie May rescued a point for a Blues team that struggled to create clear cut chances despite having the lion’s share of possession.
With the first home game of the season less than 72 hours away the last thing that Birmingham City needed was issues surrounding the distribution of season tickets. Yet despite sending out more than 18,000 digital season tickets on Tuesday evening it appears the club is at a crisis point of its own making.
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.
Birmingham City beat Solihull Moors comfortably 3-0 at the Armco Arena on Wednesday night in the second match of their pre-season programme. Goals from Alfie May, Koji Miyoshi and Lukas Jutkiewicz ensured Blues won the third annual Arthur Cup in front of a busy crowd.
The Daily Mail reported on Monday afternoon that Blues had asked the EFL for permission to play their home League One fixture against Wrexham in America rather than in Birmingham. The report confirmed that the EFL very quickly shot the idea down but that hasn’t stopped a wider discussion of the idea.
Birmingham City announced the first signing of the 2024 summer transfer window on Tuesday afternoon, bringing keeper Ryan Allsop back to his boyhood club from Hull City for an undisclosed fee. After a summer of anticipation is this where the floodgates open?
The last week or so has been incredibly busy for Blues; a new manager has been appointed, season ticket prices have been confirmed and the new first team kit has been launched. While all of this noise is going on in the foreground, the new financial reality of League One continues to govern just what Knighthead and Blues need to do to remain in the black and on the right side of the rules.
