The Great Escape of Birmingham City

Birmingham City just escaping relegation is no new trend. After a COVID interrupted season last year, the Brum side finished 20th, barley scraping by, with some fortunate luck from Wigan Athletic’s 12-point deduction, as they fell into administration. At the end of that season Aitor Karanka was then appointed to be with the Blues for the next three years, which when looking back retrospectively, was not the successful partnership Birmingham had expected and Aitor did not even last the season.

 

Another blow for the club, before they entered this year’s season was the loss of Jude Bellingham. Birmingham born Bellingham had debut for the Blues at just 16 years old, scoring for his club just 25 days later. The Brummy boy is on course to be a world class player and set a record fee when he moved to Borussia Dortmund for £25 million, making him one of the most expensive 17 year olds in the world of football. Being described by many Dortmund fans as their best midfielder, when he left the Blues, there was a Bellingham sized hole, which they did not manage to fill, clearly impacting on this year’s results.

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A busy summer

 

The loss of Bellingham and fear of relegation meant it was a busy summer of transfers for Aitor, as he built his side for the 20/21 season. Defender George Friend would be the managers first signing, after he rejected his contract extension to stay at Middlesbrough. Jon Toral, Ivan Sanchez and Jonathan Leko all then joined the Birmingham side, in hopes of strengthening the team. An important signing for the club would be that of Scott Hogan, the ex-Villa player arrived at Birmingham City for an undisclosed fee and will stay with them for four years. The vast number of signings made last summer gave hope that the Blues would enter the new season with a fresh mindset, and stronger play, hope which quickly crumbled, as the season took off.

 

Performance issues have not been the only concerns looming over the Birmingham side. It was revealed earlier in the season that the club had fallen into a £100m debt and stands in their stadium had not passed safety checks. Birmingham Legend Garry Pender told in an interview, after this news had broken that “I don’t feel the club belongs to the people of the city of Birmingham anymore”. These owner issues and financial instability have proved that club concerns off the pitch, have great impact on player performance on the pitch.

 

This season started off relatively average for the Blues, and what was to come was them slipping further and further down the table. Only five games in and the side were already 16th, a position they did not manage to overtake, instead fell further from. From games 27 through to 36, the Brum boys dipped in and out of relegation, with their fate seeming particularly unclear.

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A turning point in Lee Bowyer's arrival

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In the midst of a slump that saw the fans express their discontent in the streets of Small Heath in the middle of a lockdown, Aitor Karanka's days were numbered. The Spanish manager, unable to turn around a delicate situation, was logically sacked on 16 March, on the eve of a match against Reading, a Top 6 candidate. Birmingham was sitting in a worrying 21st place, six points clear but four games ahead of Rotherham, and were determined to change their fortunes in the hope of securing survival.

 

Lee Bowyer, who had been linked with the Blues since his surprise

departure from Charlton a day earlier, was sworn in barely thirty minutes

after the announcement of Karanka's departure. A news which

questioned many fans and critics alike at the methods adopted by the

owners, but which had the desired effect: a trigger. If proof was

needed, it was not long before it came. On the pitch, almost instantly

the desired effects were witnessed with Birmingham City beating

Reading in Bowyer's first game (2-1). A great performance that gave

the Blues a breath of fresh air, a feeling they had been waiting for weeks.

 

Under its new coach, Birmingham tightened up on the basics and found

a real identity. In his third game in charge, Bowyer adopted a 3-4-1-2

formation that gave the St Andrew's club a solid defence and more

attacking options, with the full-backs much more involved in the transitional phases.

 

The results were, once again, immediate, with a last-minute victory over Swansea (1-0), another contender for Premier League promotion. A draw at Brentford (0-0), a win against Stoke (2-0) and the Blues were soon on a staggering and admirable run of six consecutive games without defeat. This culminated in a hard-fought 2-1 win at fellow strugglers Derby (2-1), which eventually secured their place in the Championship for next season.

 

With four clean sheets in eight games under Bowyer on the sidelines, Birmingham have done better in a month and a half than in Karanka's last three months (3/12).

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(Re)building for the future, the Blues' new challenge

 

Since his arrival, Lee Bowyer has helped Birmingham City to a peak of

2.13 points per game, compared to 0.92 for his predecessor. This is a

staggering average, worthy of a contender for the top flight. Now that

they have secured their place in the league, the serious business begins

for the Birmingham club. While the Blues can celebrate their hard-won

survival, they must not forget that such results are not the kind of thing

a club like Birmingham City needs to achieve.

 

No one forgets the rich history of the century-old club, which won the League Cup in 2011. In ten years, things have moved on and the Blues have gone from a place in the European Cup to almost yearly battles for survival in the Championship. This is by no means the same standard as former Blues player Lee Bowyer, winner of that famous 2011 League Cup, the club's most recent trophy.

 

With Bowyer in charge, Birmingham made the choice to bet on the future, the long term, while returning to more "local" bases. This change also marked a symbol of awareness generated thanks to past failures. The Blues manager will now be in charge of recruitment, an essential phase for a club like Birmingham, which must now rebuild its foundations at the dawn of the new season. In order to do so, the Blues will have to rely on a more coherent recruitment, undoubtedly less flashy but more realistic, more efficient. In short: adapted to the real needs of the club.

 

The question now is whether the club's owners still have the means and the ambitions to transform Birmingham City. In the grip of financial troubles, there could be a brake when it comes to this new turn in the summer of 2021. It is up to the club as a collective whole to learn from its mistakes and revive a machine that has seemed to be rusty for several seasons.