Arguably the biggest sleeping giant in England, Birmingham City have been tucked up in bed for a long time and haven't troubled the Premier League for over ten years.

Birmingham City are an English professional football club based in England second biggest city. The club was formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance.

They went on to be renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905 and, finally, adopted Birmingham City in 1943.

Birmingham's St. Andrews ground holds nearly 30,000 but their fans haven't witness a great deal of silverware pass through its doors in recent years.

They have won the second tier of English football three times - 1892/93, 1947/48 and 1954/55 - and the third tier in the 1994/95 campaign.

Birmingham have won the League Cup in 1963 and 2011, but have been beaten finalists in the FA Cup in 1931 and 1956 and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961.

Birmingham City won the League Cup as recently as 2011, but they were relegated to the Championship from the Premier League at the end of that season.

They remained in English football's second tier until they were finally relegated into the third tier for the first time in 30 years at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Birmingham City's early history

The club initially played their games at Muntz Street, turning professional in 1885.

In 1892, they were invited to join the Football League Second Division.

Then, in 1905, the club took up the name 'Birmingham', moving into St. Andrew's the following year.

Blues had some success decades in the 1920s and 1930s.

Frank Womack, who played for the club from 1908 to 1928, was an inspirational captain as they won the Second Division title in 1920/21. However, Birmingham subsequently struggled in the top flight.

In 1931, they reached their first FA Cup final, losing 2-1 to Second Division club West Bromwich Albion.

Birmingham were relegated in 1939 at the end of the last full season before soccer was suspended because of the Second World War.

 

Birmingham City's post-war success

Having taken up the club's current name, Birmingham City, in 1943, the team enjoyed a successful period under the guidance of Harry Storer, who was appointed manager in 1945.

With Storer at the helm, the club won the Football League South wartime league.

When the FA Cup resumed following the end of the Second World War, Birmingham City reached the semi-finals at the very first attempt.

Two years later, they won another Second Division title with a stellar defensive record of only 24 goals conceded in 42 matches.

Bob Brocklebank was Storer's successor, and, although he did not manage to guide the team clear of relegation in 1950, he brought in players who would form a key part of a successful Birmingham City side in years to come.

Arthur Turner took over as manager in November 1954, guiding Birmingham City to the Second Division title in 1954/55.

They sealed the triumph with a 5-1 win on the last day of the season.

In their first season back in the First Division, Birmingham City achieved a commendable sixth-place finish - their best-ever in the top flight.

The club also reached the FA Cup final but lost 3-1 to Manchester City.

Birmingham became the first-ever English club to play in a European competition.

They played their first match in the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition on May 15, 1956.

Blues reached the semi-finals, where they drew 4-4 with Barcelona on aggregate, but lost 2-1 in the replay.

They were also the first English club team to reach a European final in 1960 but were thumped 4-1 by Barcelona in the return leg after a goalless first leg.

They reached the same final the following season but lost 4-2 on aggregate to AS Roma.

In 1963, Birmingham City beat fierce local rivals Aston Villa in the final of the League Cup. However, two years later, they were relegated to the second tier.

 

Yo-yoing between the leagues

Birmingham City won promotion back up to the First Division at the end of the 1971/72 season and reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1974/75.

At the end of the 1978/79 season, the Blues were relegated back to Division Two but bounced straight back up the following campaign.

This began a trend of Birmingham bouncing up and down between the top two tiers of English soccer.

They were relegated again at the end of the 1983/84 season, then bounced back up in 1984/85 only to drop down once again at the end of the 1985/86 campaign.

By 1989, Birmingham City had fallen down to the Third Division.

Their financial troubles deepened and the club were put into administration prior to David Sullivan buying it for £700,000 in March 1993.

By this time, they were back in the second tier (then known as Division One).

Relegation followed then promotion the following season.

Birmingham City subsequently stabilised in Division One before winning promotion to the Premier League in 2002 under the guidance of Steve Bruce.

Bruce helped Birmingham City consolidate in mid-table of the Premier League for the following three seasons, with the club finishing 13th, 10th and 12th respectively.

However, at the end of the 2005/06 season, they were relegated back to the Championship after finishing 18th.

Bruce took the club straight back up to the Premier League via automatic promotion at the end of the 2006/07 season.

Carson Yeung became Birmingham City's majority shareholder in July 2007 and Bruce left the following November.

He was replaced by Alex McLeish, who was unable to stave off relegation, but won promotion the following season.

The 2010/11 season saw Blues beat Arsenal 2-1 in the final of the League Cup - only to get relegated to the Championship later the same season. They have remained in the second tier ever since.

Under head coach John Eustace, Birmingham City finished 17th in the 2022/23 season - their 12th consecutive campaign in the second tier.

But despite a good start to the 2023/24 season Eustace was sacked after a come-from-behind 3-1 derby win over West Brom in early October left Blues sixth in the Championship after 11 fixtures.

The former England skipper Wayne Rooney replaced Eustace after leaving DC United at the start of October 2023.

Rooney signed a three-and-a-half-year contract at St Andrew’s and, headed into the role with a 27 per cent win rate across his first two jobs with Derby and DC United. But that figure was about to get even worse.

Birmingham were lying sixth in the Championship table after Eustace had been surprisingly sacked.

Rooney spoke of the goal of promotion, but defeat in his first match, 1-0 at Middlesbrough, set the tone and another 14 games later he was sacked on January 2, 2024 with the team languishing in 20th place.

The Blues registered victories in only two of Rooney’s 15 matches, with nine losses, for a win percentage of 13.3.

That gave him an overall managerial record of 40 wins from 154 games (26 per cent), with 40 draws and 74 defeats.

Rooney was given his marching orders on January 2, 2024.

The former Sunderland and West Brom boss Tony Mowbray was named as Rooney's replacement on January 8.

He had been sacked by the Black Cats in December 2023, after 15 months in charge, despite guiding them to the play-offs in the 2022/23 season.

But, just eight games after taking charge, Mowbray was granted a leave of absence until the start of pre-season for medical reasons after undergoing surgery on an undisclosed issue.

Gary Rowett, who managed the club between 2014 and 2016, was brought back in as interim manager – with Blues above the relegation zone on goal difference, 15 places worse off than when Eustace was dismissed.

However, he was unable to steady the ship and Birmingham were relegated despite securing a 1-0 win over Norwich on the final day of the season.

Paik Seung-ho’s 55th-minute winner became irrelevant because of wins for rivals Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn at Sunderland, promoted Leicester and Hull respectively.

It means Blues will be playing in the third tier for the first time in 30 years after 13 seasons in the Championship and four last-day brushes with relegation in the last 11 years.

Mowbray stepped down as Birmingham manager two weeks after the club's relegation, saying he needs to focus fully on his recovery from surgery.

Birmingham owner Tom Wagner said: “We are disappointed that Tony will not be coming back to lead the team forward but respect his decision to put his health and his family first.

“In a short period of time at Blues Tony demonstrated excellent leadership skills and a work ethic that galvanised all around him. He is an outstanding human being and will always be welcome at St. Andrew’s”

In June 2024, Birmingham turned to Tottenham assistant coach Chris Davies in their bid to earn promotion back to the Championship.

Davies signed a four-year deal at St Andrew’s to take on his first managerial role.

 

Birmingham City's rivals

Birmingham City's main rivals are second city neighbours Aston Villa.

Blue also have rivalries with midlands sides Wolves and West Brom.

Former Blues managers Alex McLeish and Steve Bruce have both had spells in charge at Villa Park.

 

Birmingham City's owners

Blues have been owned by China-based Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited since 2016 after taking over from the controversial Carson Yeung.

In May 2023, Shelby Companies Ltd, led by American financier Tom Wagner, agreed a deal to buy 45.64 per cent of the shares in Birmingham City plc and Blues' St Andrews Stadium.

The new prospective part-owners are to purchase 24% of shares from Blues' parent company Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited, plus 21.64% of shares which will be transferred from Oriental Rainbow Investments and Achiever Global Group.

Wagner's company Shelby Companies Limited will also take ownership of St Andrew's, the club's home since 1906.

Shelby Companies Limited completed the takeover of Birmingham in July and in August, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady became a minority owner in the club.

 

Birmingham City's finances

Birmingham posted a pre-tax loss of £4.7million for the year ending June 2021, down from £18.3m the previous year, mainly due to the sale of teenager Jude Bellingham.