Birmingham City F.C.
| Birmingham City | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Birmingham City Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Blues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1875 as Small Heath Alliance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | St Andrew's Stadium Bordesley Green Birmingham |
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| Capacity | 30,009[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  David
Gold |
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| Manager | Steve
Bruce |
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| League | Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–07 | The Championship, 2nd (promoted) |
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Birmingham City Football Club are an English professional football club based in the city of Birmingham. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham F.C. in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City F.C. in 1944. They currently play in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, which is the level at which they have spent the majority of their history.
Small Heath were founder members and first ever champions of the Football League Second Division. The most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final in 1956, reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won their only major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate. The club's darkest era came between 1986 and 2002, when they were continuously outside the top division. They spent two brief spells in the third tier of the English League, during which time they won the Leyland DAF Cup and the Auto Windscreens Shield.
St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Birmingham derby. The club's nickname is Blues, due to the colour of their kit, and their fans are known as Bluenoses.
History
1875 – 1919
Birmingham City were founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875, and from 1877 played their home games at Muntz Street. The club turned professional in 1885,[2] and three years later became the first football club to become a limited company with a board of directors,[3] under the name of Small Heath F.C. Ltd.[2]
From 1889–90 they played in the Football Alliance, which ran alongside the Football League. In 1892, Small Heath, along with the other Alliance teams, were invited to join the newly-formed Football League Second Division. In that first season Small Heath were Second Division champions, scoring no fewer than 90 goals in the 22 matches, but were denied promotion after losing test matches against Newton Heath.[4] The following season promotion to the First Division was secured after a second place finish and test match victory over Darwen.[5]
At an Extraordinary General Meeting held in March 1905, director T. D. Todd proposed that, Small Heath being the only major football club in the city[6] since Birmingham St George's had folded in 1892, the club should be renamed Birmingham City F.C. The shareholders were not in favour, though they were prepared to go as far as plain Birmingham Football Club instead. Even this was a step too far for some; one reporter referred to "the Small Heath club now masquerading as Birmingham".[7] A new ground with reported capacity of 75,000, which became known as St Andrew's, was built and opened the following year,[8] though matters on the field failed to live up to their new surroundings. Birmingham were relegated in 1908, were obliged to apply for re-election two years later, and remained in the Second Division until after the First World War.[9]
1919 – 1939
Inspired by Scottish international playmaker Johnny Crosbie and the captaincy of Frank Womack, Birmingham won their second Division Two title in 1920–21.[10] Womack went on to make 515 appearances, a club record for an outfielder, over a twenty-year career.[11] 1920 also saw the debut of the 19-year-old Joe Bradford. Signed from junior football in Leicestershire, he scored a club record 267 goals in 445 games, and won 12 caps for England.[12]
Birmingham failed to enter the 1922 FA Cup because secretary-manager Frank Richards forgot to send in the entry form.[13] Nine years later, manager Leslie Knighton led them to their first Cup Final. Between semifinal and final Birmingham lost six of their nine league matches; opponents West Bromwich Albion were heading for promotion from the Second Division and full of confidence.[14] Joe Bradford had played just once since the semifinal and only declared himself fit on the morning of the match.[15] Birmingham had a goal disallowed early on, then fell behind; Bradford – clearly nowhere near fully fit[16] – equalised, but W. G. Richardson went upfield straight from the kickoff and scored.
Though Birmingham remained in the top flight for 18 seasons, they struggled in the league. Much reliance was placed on England goalkeeper Harry Hibbs to make up for the lack of goals, Bradford excepted, the other end.[17] They were finally relegated in 1938–39, the last full season before the Second World War, when the club's record attendance of 66,844 was set, in the fifth round of the FA Cup against Everton.[1]
1939 – 1965
St Andrew's was heavily bombed during the war, and the main stand burnt down, destroying the club's records, when a fireman used petrol instead of water to damp down a brazier.[18] The club's current name of Birmingham City F.C. was adopted in 1943.[19] Harry Storer was appointed manager in 1945. In his first season the club won the Football League South wartime league and reached the semifinal of the first post-war FA Cup. Two years later they won their third Second Division title, conceding only 24 goals in the 42-game season.[20]
Bob Brocklebank succeeded Storer as manager in 1950. Though unable to prevent them being relegated, he and chief scout Walter Taylor laid the foundations for the club's successes of the 1950s. Brocklebank was responsible for introducing future England internationals Trevor Smith and Jeff Hall to the side, and for bringing in the likes of Peter Murphy, Eddy Brown, Roy Warhurst and Alex Govan.[21] Arthur Turner took over as manager in November 1954 with the club mid-table in the Second Division. By the end of the season they had scored 92 goals, with all five first-choice forwards reaching double figures,[22] inflicted a club record 9–1 defeat on Liverpool,[23] and confirmed themselves as champions with a 5–1 win in the last game of the season away at Doncaster Rovers.[24]
Their first season back in the First Division saw Birmingham make their highest league finish of sixth place. They also reached the FA Cup final, losing 3–1 to Manchester City in the game best remembered for City's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann playing the last 20 minutes with a broken bone in his neck. City won using the Revie Plan; Revie might not have found the freedom to orchestrate the game had the "utterly ruthless"[25] Warhurst not missed the match through injury.[26] It was during this FA Cup campaign, in which all Birmingham's games had been away from home, that Harry Lauder's Keep right on to the end of the road was adopted as the fans' anthem.[27] The following season the club lost in the FA Cup semifinal for the third time since the war, this time beaten 2–0 by Manchester United's "Busby Babes".
Birmingham became the first English club side to take part in European competition when they played their first group game in the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition on 15 May 1956; they went on to reach the semifinal where they drew 4–4 on aggregate with Barcelona, losing the replay 2–1. They became the first English club side to reach the final of a European competition, losing 4–1 on aggregate to Barcelona in 1960 and 4–2 to A.S. Roma in 1961.[28] In the 1961 semifinal they beat Inter Milan home and away; no other English club won a competitive game in the San Siro until Arsenal managed it over 40 years later.[29]
Under manager Gil Merrick, appointed in 1960, league form was uninspired, but the new League Cup competition introduced in 1960–61 provided an alternative. Entry was optional; several top-flight clubs chose not to enter, but Birmingham did so from the first year.[30] In 1962–63, while avoiding relegation to the second division only by winning two of their last three matches, they showed their best form in reaching the final of the new cup competition. The opponents, local rivals Aston Villa, were clear pre-match favourites, having won their most recent league meeting 4–0. But in the home leg Birmingham "served up a treat of attacking football … controlling the game with such assurance that their supporters must have wondered why the team had performed so badly in the First Division",[31] and with two goals from Ken Leek and one from Jimmy Bloomfield came out comfortable 3–1 winners. Inspired by captain Trevor Smith, who man-marked Bobby Thomson out of the 2nd leg match at Villa Park which ended goalless,[32] a solid defensive performance[33] saw Birmingham lift their only major trophy to date. In 1964–65, after ten years in the top flight, they returned to the Second Division.
1965 – 1979
Businessman Clifford Coombs took over as chairman in 1965, and lured Stan Cullis, manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in their glory days, out of retirement to manage the club. Cullis's team played attractive football; he led them to the semifinals of the League Cup in 1967 and the FA Cup in 1968, but league football had changed since the 1950s, and the club needed promotion. Coombs persuaded Cullis back into retirement, approached Brian Clough and Peter Taylor and then Don Revie without success, finally appointing Brighton manager Freddie Goodwin.[34]
Goodwin livened the club up; he added Roger Hynd in defence, Alan Campbell in midfield, Bob Hatton to play up front alongside the home-grown Bob Latchford and introduced the 16-year-old Trevor Francis to first team football. In 1971–72, Birmingham won promotion to the First Division and reached the semifinal of the FA Cup, playing skilful, aggressive football that attracted the fans; average home league attendance rose to over 32,000.[35] The club still needed to raise money. In February 1974, Everton came in with a bid for Latchford; though Goodwin held out for a British record fee – £80,000 cash plus players Howard Kendall and Archie Styles, a deal valued at £350,000 – the team struggled without such a goalscorer.[36][37] The next season they again reached the FA Cup semifinal, this time losing a replay to Second Division Fulham, to a goal scored in the last seconds of extra time as the ball trickled over the line having rebounded off John Mitchell from goalkeeper Dave Latchford's clearance.[38]
Alf Ramsey briefly managed the club before Jim Smith took over in 1978, creating a stir by signing Argentina's World Cup-winning fullback Alberto Tarantini. With relegation a certainty – the first league win came nearly three months into the season[39] – the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest, making him the first £1 million player;[40] Francis had scored a total of 133 goals in 329 appearances over his nine years at Birmingham.[41]
1979 – 1996
Smith invested the proceeds of the Francis sale in experience, bringing in Archie Gemmill, Colin Todd, Frank Worthington and Jeff Wealands, and took Birmingham straight back to the First Division in 1980. A poor start to the 1981–82 season saw Smith dismissed, to be replaced by Ron Saunders, who had just resigned from league champions and local rivals Aston Villa. This did not go down well on either side of the city.[42][43] Saunders assembled a team full of "hard men" – Mick Harford, Noel Blake, Robert Hopkins – which struggled to score goals, in two years average attendance had dropped to just over 14,000 and they were relegated again.[44]
They bounced back up, but promotion came at a cost. The last home game of the 1984–85 season against Leeds United was marred by rioting, culminating in the death of a boy when a wall collapsed on him; this was on the same day as the Bradford fire, and the events at St Andrew's formed part of the remit of Mr Justice Popplewell's inquiry into safety at sports grounds.[45] After a long period without a win, and defeat to Altrincham in the FA Cup, Saunders quit. The club was in trouble financially; the Coombs family sold out to Ken Wheldon, former Walsall chairman, staff cuts followed both on and off the field, and the training ground was sold. By 1989, average attendance was down to 6,200 and the club was down in the Third Division for the first time in their history.[46]
In 1989 Wheldon sold the club to the Kumar brothers, owners of a Manchester-based clothing chain, who said they would invest in the team. Dave Mackay replaced Garry Pendrey as manager. His first season was one of getting used to lower-division football, the second brought the prospect of further relegation, terrace protests, the resignation of Mackay and his staff[47] and introduction of Lou Macari as manager, and a successful trip to Wembley in the Leyland DAF Cup. Macari and his backroom staff walked out to join Stoke City,[48] an action group was formed to try and remove the chairman, and many of the playing staff were out of contract and reluctant to renew.[49]
The next manager, Terry Cooper, delivered promotion via a combination of a professional approach and sound signings, some of which were paid for with money raised by supporters. Off the field, Cooper and Kumar were at odds; the team needed the promised investment but the club was heavily in debt and losing money. The collapse of the BCCI bank put the Kumars' businesses into receivership; in November 1992 BCCI's liquidator put up for sale their 84% holding in the football club.[50] Though several groups expressed interest, the club continued in administration for four months, until Sport Newspapers proprietor David Sullivan bought it for £700,000.[51] Sullivan installed the 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director and allowed Cooper money for signings. On the last day of the season, the team avoided relegation back to the third tier.[52]
A poor start to the 1993–94 season saw Cooper's resignation, to be replaced by Barry Fry. Birmingham were fined by the Football League and ordered to pay compensation to Southend United after being found guilty of poaching Fry and his staff,[53] though the change of manager did not prevent relegation. At the end of the season, the Kop and Tilton Road sections of St Andrew's were demolished, to be re-opened the next season as all-seater stands.[54] The season ended with promotion back to the second tier and victory in the Auto Windscreens Shield at Wembley. Birmingham beat Carlisle United with a golden goal scored by Paul Tait, the first time this method had been used to settle a senior final in England.[55] After one more year, Fry was sacked to make way for the return of Trevor Francis.
1996 – present
Fry used no fewer than 47 players in his last season;[56] Francis set about introducing some stability. He mixed top-flight experience – Furlong, Ablett and Manchester United skipper Steve Bruce – with promising youth – Adebola, Ndlovu, Purse – and in his second season the club narrowly missed out on a play-off position. Off the field, the third side of the ground, the Railway End, was modernised. Then followed three years of play-off semifinal defeats, to Watford on penalties, Barnsley on aggregate, then Preston North End on penalties.[57]
They reached the 2001 League Cup final against Liverpool, the first major final played at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium during the construction of Wembley Stadium. Birmingham equalised Fowler's opening goal with a Darren Purse penalty in the last minute of normal time, then referee David Elleray failed to award another penalty during extra time when Andrew Johnson was tripped. The match went to a penalty shootout which Liverpool won.[58]
By October 2001, lack of progress had made Francis's position untenable. After a 6–0 League Cup defeat to Manchester City, he left by mutual consent.[59] Coaches Mick Mills and Jim Barron acted as caretaker managers while the battle to secure Steve Bruce's release from employers Crystal Palace reached the High Court.[60] Bruce shook up a stale team, taking them from mid-table into the play-offs. This time they were successful, beating Millwall on aggregate in the semifinal and in the final, again at Cardiff, beating Norwich City on penalties to take the club back to the top flight after 16 years away.[61]
Bruce strengthened the team significantly, adding Cunningham, Morrison, Senegal World Cup captain Aliou Cissé and the combative Robbie Savage. After starting the season well, they faded when the small squad was hit by injury and suspension.[62] Further reinforcement in the January transfer window, buying Upson, Clemence and Clapham and signing the inspirational Christophe Dugarry on loan, resulted in a comfortable finish in 13th place, above local rivals Aston Villa whom they had beaten home and away.[63][64]
The start of the 2003–04 campaign saw Birmingham never out of the top six. Loan signing Mikael Forssell's 17 League goals helped them to a top half finish, but performances and results tailed off badly towards the end of the season. First-team coach Mark Bowen was sacked and replaced by former Coventry City manager Eric Black.[65] International class players were signed – Grønkjær, Heskey, Melchiot – but an injury to Forssell left them struggling for goals. Aided by transfer window loan signings Pennant, Nafti and Pandiani, another mid-table finish ensued.
Before the 2005–06 season, chairman David Gold said it was time to "start talking about being as good as anyone outside the top three or four" with "the best squad of players for 25 years".[66] Forssell, Nafti, Pandiani and Pennant had signed permanently, Butt and Jarošík joined on loan, but the first seven home games produced one point. Injuries, lack of form, and a lack of investment during the transfer window saw them facing the second half of the season with a strike-force of Heskey, an injury-prone Chris Sutton and the lively but inexperienced DJ Campbell. They suffered a 0–7 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final and by the last game of the season were already relegated.[67]
Heskey and Pennant left for record fees,[68][1] many more were released,[69] though Bruce was not, the board concluding that "Steve is the right man to achieve this ambition" of immediate promotion.[70] A new recruitment strategy was adopted, combining young "hungry" players – Jerome, McSheffrey – with loan signings – the Arsenal trio Bendtner, Muamba and Larsson – and free-transfer experience – Jaïdi, N'Gotty. An up-and-down season had calls for the manager's head in October, topping the table and beating Newcastle United 5–1 on their own ground in January,[71] no league games for a month due to freak postponements, culminating in automatic promotion.[72] Before the 2007–08 season, Birmingham made eight permanent and four loan signings, most notably former French international Olivier Kapo, Dutch U-21 winger Daniël de Ridder, Aston Villa defender Liam Ridgewell, and Arsenal defender Johan Djourou on loan.
In July 2007, Hong Kong-based businessman Carson Yeung bought 29.9% of shares in the club, making him the biggest single shareholder.[73]
Colours and badge
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| Small Heath Alliance original kit | |||||||||
The Small Heath Alliance members decided among themselves that their colours would be blue; in the early days, they wore whatever blue shirt they had.[74] Their first uniform kit was a dark blue shirt with a white sash and white shorts.[75] Several variations on a blue theme were tried; the one that stuck was the royal blue shirt with a white "V", adopted during the First World War and retained until the late 1920s. Though the design changed, the royal blue remained. In 1971 they adopted the "penguin" strip - royal blue with a broad white central front panel - which lasted five years.[76] Since then they have generally worn plain, nominally royal blue shirts, though the actual shade used got gradually lighter over the years. Shorts have been either blue or white, and socks either blue, white or a combination. The colours of Birmingham's change strip have varied greatly over the years; white or yellow (on their own or with blue or black) and red with white or black have been the most frequently used combinations.[77][78]
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| Birmingham City 2007–08 third kit | |||||||||
There have been aberrations. The 1992 kit, sponsored by Triton Showers, was made of a blue material covered with multicoloured splashes which resembled a shower curtain.[79][80] Birmingham have only ever worn stripes on their home shirt once; in 1999 they wore a blue shirt with a front central panel in narrow blue and white stripes,[78] a design similar to the Tesco supermarket carrier bag of the time.
For the 2007–08 season Birmingham have revived the "penguin" shirt in a more traditional, darker shade of royal blue, with white shorts and blue socks. The away kit consists of a white shirt with blue trim, blue shorts and white socks. This season they also have a third kit which is all red with blue and white trim. This season's strip is manufactured by Umbro and carries the name of the sponsors, F&C Investments.
When the club changed their name from Small Heath to Birmingham in 1905 they adopted the City of Birmingham's coat of arms as their crest, although this was not always worn on the shirts.[81] The 1970s "penguin" shirt carried the letters "BCFC" intertwined at the centre of the chest.[82] The Sports Argus newspaper ran a competition in 1972 to design a new badge for the club. The winning entry, submitted by Birmingham supporter Michael Wood, was the line-drawn globe and ball, with ribbon carrying the club name and date of foundation, in plain blue and white.[83] This design was adopted by the club but not worn on playing shirts until 1976. An experiment was made in the early 1990s with colouring in the globe and ball, but the club soon reverted to the plain version.[84]
Stadium
- 1875-1877 Arthur Street
- 1877-1906 Muntz Street, Small Heath
- 1906- Present St. Andrews, Bordesley Green
St Andrews
St Andrews was built on an old gypsy camp. The gypsies are reputed to have put a curse on the ground when they were evicted. Fans still blame this when the club has a string of bad results.
Since World War II, redevelopments at St Andrews had been very minimal, with the only big change being the rebuilding of the Railway End. Over the years, capacity at St.Andrews had gradually been reduced, from 68,000 before the war, down to 53,204 by 1963. By 1988, the capacity had dropped further, down to little over 38,000. However, after the tragedies at Hillsborough and Valley Parade, and the subsequent issuing of the Taylor Report, the capacity at St Andrews dropped to 28,235. However, it became clear that it was time to completely renovate the stadium in order to bring it into the twenty-first century.
Three sides of the stadium were redeveloped in the 1990s to make a modern all-seated stadium. First the Kop and Tilton Stands were rebuilt, followed a few years later by a new Railway stand. Only the main stand now remains of the pre 1990s stadium which is of a 1950s design and is noted for being one of the first to use a propped cantilever roof design, giving spectators a less restricted view of the playing area.
It has been rumoured that there will soon be a giant television installed in the ground to show replays of incidents and goals. The giant television is the same television that was shown to Wimbledon's Henman Hill.
In January 2007 the St Andrew's turf was replaced with what had originally been the spare pitch for the new national stadium at Wembley.[85] Birmingham had to postpone their game against Leeds on 13 January because the newly-laid pitch was not in a playable condition. This was the first time in the history of English senior football that this had happened.[85]
The current ground capacity is 30,009 and the pitch measurement is 110yds/100 meters x 74yds/68 meters.
Honours
- Second Division / The Championship (level 2)
- Champions: 1893, 1921, 1948, 1955
- Runners up: 1894, 1901, 1903, 1972, 1985, 2007
- Third Division / Division Two (level 3)
- Champions: 1995
- Runners up: 1992
- FA Cup
- Runners up: 1931, 1956
- League Cup
- Winners: 1963
- Runners up: 2001
- Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
- Runners up: 1960, 1961
- Associate Members Cup / Football League Trophy
- Winners: 1991, 1995
- Birmingham Senior Cup
- Winners: 1905, 1907, 1915, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1983, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003
Statistics and records
Coloured horizontal lines indicate league divisions.
Frank Womack holds the record for Birmingham league appearances, having played 491 matches between 1908 and 1928, closely followed by Gil Merrick with 485 between 1946 and 1959. If all senior competitions are included, Merrick has 551, less closely followed by Womack's 515 which is the record for an outfield player. The player who has won most international caps while at the club is Maik Taylor with 35 for Northern Ireland.[86]
The goalscoring record is held by Joe Bradford, with 249 league goals, 267 altogether, scored between 1920 and 1935; no other player comes close. Walter Abbott holds the records for the most goals scored in a season, in 1898–99, with 34 league goals in the Second Division and with 42 goals in total. Bradford holds the record for league goals scored in a top flight season with 29 in 1927–28.
The club's widest victory margin in the league was 12–0, a scoreline which they have achieved twice in the Second Division, against Walsall Town Swifts in 1892 and Doncaster Rovers in 1903. Their heaviest league defeats were 9–1, both in the First Division, against Blackburn Rovers in 1895 and Sheffield Wednesday in 1930. Their record FA Cup win was 10–0 against Druids in the fourth qualifying round of the 1899 competition; their record FA Cup defeat was 0–7 against Liverpool in the 2006 quarter-final.
Birmingham's record home attendance is 66,844 for a fifth round FA Cup match against Everton on 11 March, 1939. As the current ground's capacity is around 30,000, it is unlikely that this record will be beaten in the foreseeable future.
The highest transfer fee received for a Birmingham player is £6.7 million, possibly rising to £8 million, from Liverpool for Jermaine Pennant in July 2006,[1][87] while the most spent by the club on a player was £3.5 million, possibly rising to £6.25 million, for Emile Heskey from Liverpool in May 2004.[1][88]
Players
Current squad
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Out on loan
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Notable former players
Managers
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Committee | 1892 - 1910 |
 Bob McRoberts |
1910 - 1915 |
| Frank
Richards |
1915 - 1923 |
| Billy Beer |
1923 - 1927 |
| Bill
Harvey |
1927 - 1928 |
| Leslie Knighton |
1928 - 1933 |
| George Liddell |
1933 - 1939 |
| Bill
Camkin |
1939 - 1944 |
| Harry Storer |
1945 - 1948 |
| Bob Brocklebank |
1949 - 1954 |
| Arthur Turner |
1954 - 1958 |
| Pat
Beasley |
1958 - 1960 |
| Gil
Merrick |
1960 - 1964 |
| Joe
Mallett |
1964 - 1965 |
| Stan
Cullis |
1965 - 1970 |
| Freddie Goodwin |
1970 - 1975 |
| Willie Bell |
1975 - 1977 |
| Sir
Alf Ramsey |
1977 - 1978 |
| Jim Smith |
1978 - 1982 |
| Ron
Saunders |
1982 - 1986 |
| John Bond |
1986 - 1987 |
| Garry Pendrey |
1987 - 1989 |
| Dave Mackay |
1989 - 1991 |
| Lou
Macari |
1991 - 1991 |
| Terry Cooper |
1991 - 1993 |
| Barry
Fry |
1993 - 1996 |
| Trevor Francis |
1996 - 2001 |
| Steve
Bruce |
2001 - Present |