Birmingham

For a broad outline of the team's past read Birmingham City F.C. SS History. For a statistical breakdown per season, refer to the list of Birmingham City F.C. seasons.

The story of Birmingham City Football Club spans the time from 1875 until the present. For details on specific times of the club's past, look up one of the articles below:

Birmingham City were founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875 The club began to play their home matches at Muntz Street. The club became professional in 1885 and three years later was the only football team in history to become a limited-company with an executive board, under the name Small Heath F.C. Ltd. From 1889 to the 1890 season, they were part of the Football Alliance, which ran alongside the Football League. The year was 1892 when Small Heath, along with other Alliance teams was invited into the newly-formed Football League Second Division. They won the title, however, they were not able to secure promotion through the test match system. The following season, their promotion into the First Division was secured after an overall second place and a defeat in a test match against Darwen. The club adopted its nickname Birmingham Football Club in 1905 and relocated to its new residence, St Andrew's Ground, in 1905. The field did not live up to the surroundings. Birmingham were dropped in 1908 and forced to submit a re-election application within two years, and were part of the Second Division until they had fought in the First World War.

Frank Womack's captaincy as well as the inventiveness of Scottish international player Johnny Crosbie contributed much to Birmingham winning their second Division Two title in 1920-21. 14 Womack was able to play 515 times in the club's record books as an outfielder in 20 years of playing. The year 1920 was also the time for the introduction of 19-year old Joe Bradford, who went on to score club records of 267 goals in just 445 games. He also won 12 international caps with England. In 1931, the manager Leslie Knighton led the club to their first FA Cup Final, which they lost 1-1 to Second Division team West Bromwich Albion. Although Birmingham was in the top league throughout 18 seasons they had a difficult time to stay in league play, with a lot of dependence by England goalkeeper Harry Hibbs to make up for the absence goal scoring, Bradford excepted, at the other end. The team was exiled in 1939, which was the final season in which they played in the league before that the Football League was abandoned for the duration of the Second World War.

Birmingham City F.C. was named after the city in which it is located. Birmingham City F.C. was adopted in 1943. In 1943, under Harry Storer, appointed manager in 1945, the team was crowned their first Football League South wartime league and advanced to the semifinals of the postwar FA Cup. The following year, they won their 3rd Second Division title, conceding just 24 goals over the 42-game campaign. His successor Bob Brocklebank, though unable to avert relegation until 1950 brought in players who played a significant part in the team's success over the following decade. After Arthur Turner took over as manager in November 1954 the club was able to play closer to their full potential, and a 5-1 victory on the final day of the season was a confirmation of their status as champions. After their return within the First Division, Birmingham achieved their highest league position of sixth. They also made it to their first FA Cup final, losing 3-1 to Manchester City in the game that was notable for City's goalie Bert Trautmann playing the last 20 minutes of the game with a broken bones in the neck of his. The following season , the club was eliminated at the FA Cup semifinal for the third time since wartime but this time they were defeated against Manchester United's "Busby Babes".

Birmingham was one of the very first English club team to compete in European competitions after they participated in the first group match at the start of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition on 15 May 1956. They made it to the semifinals, where they lost 4-4 in aggregate against Barcelona and lost the replay with a 2-1. Birmingham were in fact the very first English club team to make it to an European final, falling 4-1 against Barcelona at the time of the Fairs Cup final and 4-2 to A.S. Roma the following year. in the final of 1961,, they defeated Internazionale at home and away. the only English club had won an official game at the San Siro until Arsenal managed to do it in 2003. Gil Merrick's team stowed away their best performance for tournaments in the cup. Although the opponents during the 1993 League Cup final, local rivals Aston Villa, were pre-match favorites, Birmingham raised their game and beat them 3-1 to claim their first significant trophy. In 1965 after ten years in the top division Birmingham were relegated back to Second Division.

The businessman Clifford Coombs took over as chairman in 1965and enticed Stan Cullis out of retirement to run the club. Cullis's team was awe-inspiring in their football which led them to semi-finals in the League Cup in 1967 and of the FA Cup in 1968, but league football required an entirely different approach. The successor Freddie Goodwin produced a team who played a shrewd, aggressive style of football that earned promotions and made it to the FA Cup semifinal. A few years later the club made a profit through the sale of Bob Latchford to Everton for the British record price of PS350,000. However, without his vision, the team was struggling. Sir Alf Ramsey was briefly in charge of the club until Jim Smith took over in 1978. As a result of relegation the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest which made the first transfer at a cost of PS1 million. Francis scored three29 goals and scored 133 goals in his nine years in Birmingham.

Smith was able to take Birmingham directly back in back to First Division, but a bad beginning to the 1981-82 season was followed by his replacement Ron Saunders, who had recently left the league champions Aston Villa. Saunders team struggled to score goals, and they were eliminated in 1984. They returned to the top however, the final home match of the promotion season 1984-85 which was in the match against Leeds United, was marred by riots that culminated to the death of one young boy who was killed when a wall fell on the boy. It was the same day that there was the Bradford City stadium fire, and the incident in St Andrew's formed part of the scope of Mr Justice Popplewell's inquiry on safety on sports fields. Birmingham was unstable both in as well off of the pitch. Saunders left after an FA Cup defeat to non-League team Altrincham Staff were fired The training facility was sold and in 1989 Birmingham was being placed into the Third Division for the first time in their history.

In April 1989, the Kumar brothers, the owners of an apparel chain, purchased the club. Rapid turnover of the managers, the lack of investment promises and a threat of massive refusal by players to renew their contracts was only relived by a victory at Wembley at the associate members Cup. Terry Cooper delivered promotion, however the fall that was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) forced the Kumars companies in receivership. In November 1992, the BCCI's liquidator placed up for sale the 84% stake in the club's football team.

The club was under administration for four years up to the point that Sport Newspapers' proprietor David Sullivan purchased the club for PS700,000. He appointed then young Karren Brady as the managing director, and granted Cooper to sign players. On the final date of the campaign Cooper's team avoided being relegated to the third tier however, after a slow beginning to the 1993-94 season, Cooper got replaced Barry Fry. The switch did not stop the team from being relegated, however Fry's first full season led to promotion back to the second division as champions. A win against Carlisle United in the Football League Trophy through Paul Tait's golden strike was the final piece of this "lower-league Triple". In the following year, Fry was dismissed to be replaced by Trevor Francis' return. Trevor Francis.

With players of top quality experience, such as Manchester United captain Steve Bruce Francis's team narrowly missed the play-off spot in 1998. Three years of defeats in play-off semifinals were the result. They made it to an 2002 League Cup final against Liverpool at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Birmingham came back in the closing minute of normal timing, however, the game went to an extra shoot-out, that Liverpool took. By the end of October 2001, a inability to progress made Francis's job untenable. After the 6-1 League Cup defeat to Manchester City and a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City, he was dismissed with mutual consent. Bruce's return to the position of manager shakes the team that was stale; He led them from mid-table to play-offs and defeated Norwich City on penalties in the final to earn the promotion in the Premier League.

Inspiring by the inspiring Christophe Dugarry, Birmingham's first top flight season in 16 years ended in mid-table. Mikael Forssell's loan signing and 17 league goals assisted Birmingham to finish in the top half in 2003-04. However, after he suffered an injury and the team was unable to score to score goals. Then, in July of 2005 the chairman David Gold said it was the right time for Birmingham to "start thinking about becoming as successful as any team in the bottom 3 or 4" with "the greatest team of players over the past more than 25 years". The loss of form, injuries and insufficient spending in the transfer window led to them being relegated after an awful season, which culminated in seven-0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool. Jermaine Pennant as well as Emile Heskey left the club for record amounts, while several others were let go and Bruce's new recruitment strategy, which combined the free transfer experience of young "hungry" players with shrewd use of loan markets led to automatic promotion at close of the season, which was also a source of demands for his head.

On July 7, 2007, a Hong investor Carson Yeung bought 29.9% of the shares owned by the club which made him the largest single shareholder and aspires to becoming the sole owner in the near future. Uncertain about his future with the ownership changes, Bruce quit midway through the season. He was succeeded by Scotland National team coach Alex McLeish, was unable to avoid relegation but was promoted into the Premier League at the first attempt. Yeung's firm took over in 2009 and the team was in ninth position, their best performance in 51 years. The team won the 2011 League Cup. won two wins in the League Cup, defeating favourites Arsenal 2 to 1 with goals scored by Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins and qualifying for the Europa League, with relegation back to the second division and after that, McLeish quit and joined Aston Villa.

Birmingham was a bit late to make it to the knockout stages for the Europa League and the play-off final. The club was struggling financially and subject to a transfer embargo and director Chris Hughton left. In the era of Lee Clark, Birmingham twice kept their divisional status with the exception of Paul Caddis's 93rd-minute goal in the final game of 2013-14 in order to avoid relegation due to goal difference, however his poor performance continued to see him removed in October 2014. Gary Rowett stabilised the team and helped them achieve two top-ten finishes, before being controversially dismissed by the new owners of Trillion Trophy Asia in favour of the "pedigree" of Gianfranco Zola, who was expected to help the club's "strategic long-term vision" to lead the club in a fresh direction.

Two wins in 24 games in the time of Zola left Birmingham with two victories from the last three games in order to remain in the top four, something they managed to achieve under the leadership by Harry Redknapp. Redknapp was in charge for another month, while his predecessor Steve Cotterill five months, which left his the successor Garry Monk another - ultimately successful - battle to avoid relegation. Despite the restrictions of budgets as well as a deduction of nine points due to infractions to the league's Profitability as well as Sustainability (P&S) guidelines the team came 17th in the 2018-19 season. However, Monk was sacked in June due to a disagreement over the team's board. Monk was replaced by his assistant Pep Clotet, who initially served as the caretaker. In the 2019-20 campaign, the season has been suspended for a period of time from march through June 2020 because of COVID-19 The club again was able to avoid relegation, despite a 14-match lossless streak towards the conclusion of the season, and the possibility of another points loss. The academy player Jude Bellingham was sold to Borussia Dortmund in the summer in the record price of a deal believed to be worth PS30 million. Following that, Aitor Karanka lasted eight months as the club's head coach prior to being replaced the former Birmingham players Lee Bowyer. After 16 months, and another struggle to be relegated, with speculation of an imminent acquisition, Bowyer was replaced by John Eustace.

Small Heath Alliance members. Small Heath Alliance members decided to decide among themselves that their colors were blue. In the beginning they would wear whatever blue shirt they owned. The first uniform consisted of a dark blue shirt and sash of white, and white shorts. A variety of variations on the blue theme were conceived but the one that stuck is the blue royal shirt that had the white "V" that was adopted in the First World War and retained until the 1920s. While the style changed however, the royal blue color remained. In 1971, they took on their "penguin" strip that was royal blue with a wide white central front panel. It lasted for five years. Since then, they've typically been wearing plain, typically royal blue shirts, although the actual shade is different. Shorts are usually white or blue, with socks are usually white, blue or a mix of the two. Red, white, yellow and black, either on as a pair or in combination were the most popular colors for away kit.

There were some exceptions for the 1992 version was that was a product of Triton Showers, was made of a blue fabric decorated with multi-coloured splashes that was reminiscent of the curtain of a shower. The home shirt only previously featured stripes. In 1999 the blue shirt was adorned with the front of the shirt covered in thin white and blue stripes, which was a style like the Tesco supermarket bags at the period.

The team changed their name to Small Heath to Birmingham in 1905, the club adopted the city's coats of arms as the badge but it wasn't ever worn on the shirt. In the 1970s, the "penguin" shirt had the words "BCFC" that were interspersed in the middle on the chest. It was reported that the Sports Argus newspaper ran a contest in 1972 in order to design an emblem to represent the team. The winning design included a line-drawn globe and ball along with a ribbon that carried the name of the club and the date of its foundation with a plain white and blue it has been adopted by the team, but was did not appear on shirts for play until 1976, when the design was approved to the College of Arms in 1975. The original design that was recorded by the College did not contain the ribbon, but was instead branded as "A football that was signed to a planet". It was subsequently granted as a emblem of the heraldic status of the English Football League and was licensed to Birmingham City. A test was conducted in the 1990s using the color of the ball and globe, but it was subsequently abandoned.

In June of 2020 they announced that the team would be signing a 4-year partnership with Nike as the kit supplier that carry their logo and that of its primary patron, Irish bookmaker BoyleSports. This year's home kits comprises of a blue shirt sporting a patterns on the front with two blue shades white shorts, and blue socks. The away kit is an orange shirt that has blue pinstripes and trim like that of the Europa League kit of ten years earlier, featuring white socks and blue shirts.

The club seldom stays longer than three consecutive seasons using the same manufacturer. The first brand to get its name printed on the football shirt was Birmingham's brewery Ansells in 1983. They pulled out of the shirt in mid-1985 and the shirts were not sponsored until January 1987 in which Co-op Milk paid a "five-figure amount" to have its logo on the shirt until the end of the season. This was a great relief for the club, not just financially but also financially. The vice-chairman said that, as an "big team ... fans are expecting that we have a shirt sponsor , and we've been behind". The sponsors that followed included the car retailer PJ Evans/Evans Halshaw (1988-1989), Mark One (1989-1992), Triton Showers (1992-1995), Auto Windscreens (1995-2001), Phones 4u (2001-2003), Flybe (2003-2007), F&C Investments (2007-2011) Foreign exchange firm RationalFX (2011-2012), "lifestyle and leisure" business EZE Group (2012-2013 and 2015-2016) E-cigarettes business Nicolites (2013-2014) as well as mobile payment platform Zapaygo (2014-2015) as well as the 888sport (2016-2019).

Small Heath Alliance played their first home games on a waste ground located off Arthur Street, Bordesley Green. When interest increased and they sought an area that was fenced off located in Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, which was a place where admission could be paid. In the year following they made another move, to a field that was adjacent to Muntz Street in Small Heath, near the main Coventry Road, with a capacity of around 10,000. The Muntz Street field was suitable for 1880s friendly games and the capacity was gradually increased to 30,000. However, when a large number of spectators climbed walls and smashed down turnstiles in order to enter the stadium for a First Division match against Aston Villa It became apparent that it was no longer able to meet the demand.

Director Harry Morris identified a site to build a new stadium at Bordesley Green, some three-quarters of 1 mile (1 km) from Muntz Street to the city's centre. The site was once where the brickworks was once located and the terrain slopped steeply down to stagnant water pools, however, the stadium was built within a short period of time from land clearing to the its opening ceremony in Boxing Day 1906. A heavy snowfall nearly prevented the opening ceremony; volunteers were required to clear terraces and the pitch before the match, which ended in a scoreless draw against Middlesbrough could be played. The grounds are believed to be cursed by gypsies who were exiled from the ground and, despite the fact that gypsies were known to have stayed in the vicinity, there is no current evidence of their removal by the club.

The initial capacity for St Andrew's was reported as 75,000 with seating for 4,000 on the Main Stand and space for 22,000 in the covered area. In 1938, the capacity was 68,000 and Feb. 1939 witnessed the record attendance set in the fifth round of the FA Cup tie against Everton with a number of different numbers, including 66,844 and 67,341. In the midst of the Second World War, the Chief Constable directed the ground's closing due to the risk of air strikes and it was the sole stadium to be shut, and it was returned to play after the issue was brought up by the House of Commons. The ground was severely damaged in the Birmingham Blitz: the Railway End and the Kop due to bombardment, while it was also destroyed when the Main Stand burnt down when the fireman mistakenly believed that petrol was water.

The new Main Stand used a propped cantilever roof with less pillars that blocked spectators' views of the field. The floodlights were put in place in 1956, and then officially turned on to play a friendly game in the match against Borussia Dortmund in the year 1957. In the 1960s, there was a stand built on the Railway End to the same layout like that of the Main Stand, roofs had been installed over both the Kop as well as the Tilton Road End, and the capacity of the ground had decreased to 55,000.

Based on the report of the Popplewell Report into the safety of the sports ground and the subsequent Taylor Report, the capacity of St Andrew's was set at 28,235 due to safety concerns However, it was decided that the stadium must be upgraded to meet the latest all-seated standard. After the final home match during the 1993-94 season it was decided that the Kop as well as the Tilton Road stadiums were destroyed Fans took to their homes a substantial amount of souvenirs. They were replaced at the beginning of the new season with the 7,700-seat Tilton Road Stand, continuing around the corner to the 9,500-seat Kop which was opened just two months later. An 8,000 seat Railway Stand followed in 1999 10 years later. it was renamed"the Gil Merrick Stand, in honor of the club's former appearance record-holder and former manager however, this stand is not yet finished. Main Stand has still to be upgraded. The club's website listed the stadium's capacity at 29,409.

In 2004, a plan was made to construct an "sports village" consisting of a 55,000 capacity City of Birmingham Stadium, additional leisure and sporting facilities, and a huge casino that would be co-financed through Birmingham City Council, Birmingham City F.C. (via funds from selling St Andrew's) and the casino group Las Vegas Sands. The plan's viability was contingent on the government granting the necessary licence to build an ultra-casino, and Birmingham being selected to host the event, however this didn't occur. The club is granted plans to develop their Main Stand, but club and council members continued to look for other sources of funding for this City of Birmingham Stadium project.

In 2013, Birmingham City Supporters' Trust's request for the listing of St Andrew's as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) - any land or building that's primary use "furthers the wellbeing of the community or needs of the local community" and in cases where it is reasonable to believe that it may do so in the near future. The Localism Act 2011 was approved by Birmingham City Council. The Localism Act 2011 requires any sale proposal to be made known to the Council and also provides the City with a six-month moratorium over this sale to allow the Trust as well as other community groups to present the bid of their choice. This year, the owners of the club signed a three-year partnership agreement that changed the name to St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium.

Birmingham fans view their biggest opponents in the form of Aston Villa, their nearest neighbors geographically, with whom they compete in their Second City derby. Other rivalries are with the other West Midlands clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion. According to an 2002 survey of the Football Fans Census research, Aston Villa fans thought of Birmingham City as their main rivals, but it was not always the scenario.

Birmingham's fans are often called "Bluenoses" by the press, as well as by fans themselves. The name is often used in a negative way by fans of other clubs. A sculpture in public view that is an oversized head that is ten times the size of a human being sitting on a mound close to St Andrew's Stadium. St Andrew's ground, Ondre Nowakowski's Sleeping Iron Giant, has been repeatedly damaged by the blue color of its face. Between 1994 and 1997, the club's mascot was the blue nose, however it's now a dog called Beau Brummie which is a play on the names Beau Brummell and Brummie, the slang name for someone who is from Birmingham.

Many fans' associations are associated to the club, both in England as well as abroad. An action group was created at the time of 1991, to voice their displeasure against the chairman Samesh Kumar. The club blamed an online petition for the demise in the acquisition of Lee Bowyer in 2005, and a hostility towards the board caused a hostile chanting campaign and an invasion of the pitch following the final match of the 2007-08 campaign, however, when the club was facing financial trouble, supporters donated to programs that financed purchasing stars Brian Roberts in 1984 and Paul Peschisolido in 1992. A trust for supporters was created under the auspices Supporters Direct in 2012.

There have been many fanzines created by the supporters. The one produced by Brum was first released back in the year 2000, is the sole one available regularly in 2013. The Zulu began a few years before and played for at minimum 16 seasons. The hooligan company affiliated to the team, called the Zulu Warriors, were unusual in having a multi-racial member in a time where numerous of these firms had affiliations with right-wing or racist groups.

The fan's anthem was a parody to Harry Lauder's "Keep Right On to the End of the Road", was adopted by the 1956 FA Cup campaign. The Times's football correspondent outlined during the Cup Final preview how

The Birmingham clans took their way to Wembley as the first team ever to make it to the final without ever playing in their home stadium - under the aegis of the tune "Keep going until the finish line".

The player Alex Govan is credited with popularizing the song by singing it in front of the coach's route to the quarterfinal and also when he said to a reporter that this song was his most-loved song.

As we were preparing for 1957's FA Cup semi-final with Sunderland I was interviewed by the media and I was able to say that my most-loved track was Harry Lauder's old song from the music hall "Keep Straight until the end of the road". I didn't think much about it, but after the third goal came in during the semi-final at Hillsborough The Blues fans began singing the song. It was one of the most memorable moments in my life.

Small Heath F.C. was incorporated as a limited company in 1888. The initial share sale was at the amount of PS650. The board was comprised of local businessmen and other dignitaries until 1965 in which the club was bought by Clifford Coombs. In the late 1980s, the club was struggling financially. Control was passed through the family of Coombs to the former Walsall F.C. chairperson Ken Wheldon, who cut expenses, eliminated redundancies and also sold off assets that included the club's training grounds. In a state of insolvency, the club's payments, Wheldon sold it to the Kumar brothers, the owners of a clothing store. The debt was growing when the situation came to a head with the fall of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) placed the Kumars companies in receivership. The club remained being in administrative status for the duration of four months, until Sport Newspapers' proprietor David Sullivan purchased the Kumars 84% stake for 700,000 from the liquidator of BCCI in March 1993. Birmingham City plc, of which the football club was a wholly-owned subsidiary, was listed in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 1997. It was able to offering of fifteen million shares, bringing in PS7.5 million of investment. The company earned a pre-tax profit of PS4.3M in the year to on August 31, 2008.

In July 2007 Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung through his Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK)-listed company Grandtop International Holdings Limited (GIH) purchased 29.9 percent of the plc from the directors. Though his plans to assume full control over the club was initially zero, GIH completed the purchase in the month of October 2009, at the price of PS81.5M The club was registered as a private corporation and changed the name of Birmingham International Holdings (BIH). Birmingham International Holdings (BIH).

Trade in BIH shares was stopped in June of 2011 following Yeung's arrest over charges of money laundering. Financial results were often delayed, which led to the Football League to impose a transfer embargo. Moreover, offers to buy the club were accepted until 2012. Following the time that Yeung was dismissed from his posts as a company and club member in the early months of 2014, shares trading was resumed. Following his conviction, the efforts accelerated to sell the club. This required a gradual process to ensure that the BIH share list.

As 2015 approached The Football League made public their concerns regarding Yeung's efforts imprison his selection of directors within the BIHL board, despite his conviction that he was not qualified for having influence over the club. Relations became increasingly fickle and this was evident in the inability of three directors as well as the club's director of operations Panos Pavlakis, to gain an election, and then the following day with their reinstatement. On February 17 the board of directors voted to choose receivers from the accountants Ernst & Young to take control of the business. The statement stated that there was no winding up petition filed and it was not the case that the business had been placed in liquidation.

As of June 15, 2015 the receivers made deals with the former major shareholders that stipulated that any legal actions towards them was stopped in exchange for their agreement not to hinder any transfer of ownership any of their chosen bidders, registered investment vehicle of the British Virgin Islands, Trillion Trophy Asia (TTA) which is owned wholly by Chinese businessman Paul Suen Cho Hung, who also agreed the company will not be sold off within the next two years. The process was completed in October 2016 leaving TTA holding 50.64 percent of BIH's share capital, an amount of ownership that forced TTA to offer to purchase the remaining shares.

Birmingham City's honours are the following:

Second Division/ First Division / The Championship (level 2)

• Champions: 1892–93, 1920–21, 1947–48, 1954–55
• Runners-up: 1893–94, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1971–72, 1984–85, 2006–07, 2008–09
• Play-off winners: 2001–02

3rd Division / Second Division (level 3)

• Champions: 1994–95
• Runners-up: 1991–92

FA Cup

• Runners-up: 1930–31, 1955–56

Football League Cup

• Winners: 1962–63, 2010–11
• Runners-up: 2000–01

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

• Runners-up: 1958–60, 1960–61

Associate Members' Cup / Football League Trophy

• Winners: 1990–91, 1994–95

Birmingham Senior Cup

• Winners: 1905
  
  Small Heath first entered the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1878-79 - ten years before creation of the Football League - and won for the first time in 1905, beating West Bromwich Albion 7-2 in the final. The significance of the team diminished as the number of League games as well as from 1905-06 onwards, Birmingham fielded teams containing reserve players.

Football League South

• Champions: 1945–46
  
  To prepare for preparation for the Football League resuming in 1946-47 The First Second Division and First Second Division clubs from the final pre-war season were split geographically into two Leagues North and South for 1945-46. As of the final week of play Aston Villa were top of League South but had finished their program two points (one victory) over the runners, but with a an inferior goal-scoring average. Charlton Athletic were second, ahead of Birmingham in the league by 0.002 of an inch. Although Charlton was unable to draw at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham won away against Luton Town, so claimed the title with 0.3 of goals.

Birmingham reached their highest finish position, in sixth place at the very top of their league for the season 1955-1956 First Division. Frank Womack holds the record for Birmingham league appearances, playing 491 games between 1908-28. He was closely then Gil Merrick with 485 between 1946 between 1946 and 1959. If all senior tournaments are counted, Merrick has 551, more closely followed by Womack's 515 that sets the mark for an outfielder. The player with the most international caps during his time at the club was Maik Taylor, who has 58 caps in Northern Ireland.

The record for goals scored holds Joe Bradford, with 249 league goals, or 267 in total from 1920 to 1935. No other player can come even close. Walter Abbott holds the records for scoring the most goals during a single season, 1898-99. He scored scores of 34 goals scored in league play during the Second Division and 42 goals all in all.

The club's biggest margin of victory for the season was 12-0. This was a score that they only achieved within the Football Alliance, against Nottingham Forest in 1899. Then, they won two times within the Second Division, against Walsall Town Swifts in 1892, and Doncaster Rovers in 1903. They've lost a league game with an 8-goal margin eight occasions, once during the Football Alliance and five times in the First Division, all away from home. Then they lost at home, they were beaten with a score of 8-0 to AFC Bournemouth in the Championship in 2014. Their previous record FA Cup win was 10-0 against Druids in the fourth qualifying round of 1899's competition. their best FA Cup defeat was 7-0 at home against Liverpool in the quarter-finals of 2006.

Birmingham's attendance record at home was set during the fifth-round FA Cup tie against Everton on February 11, 1939. The attendance record can be interpreted as 66,844 and 67,341. The highest transfer price paid for an Birmingham player is, as per Sky Sports' website Sky Sports website, "a assured PS25 million upfront" that was paid in July 2020 by Borussia Dortmund to Jude Bellingham, which made Bellingham the most expensive 17-year-old in the world of football. The deal also contained add-ons "worth many millions more". The most expensive amount paid was PS6.3m to Croatian midfielder Ivan Sunjic, who joined from Dinamo Zagreb in July 2019.

Birmingham City Football Club Birmingham City Football Club, which is an English association soccer club located in Birmingham City, a city in Birmingham formed in 1875 under the name Small Heath Alliance. They first participated in into the FA Cup in the 1881-82 season. When national league soccer played in England began, the team was referred to at the time as Small Heath F.C., was the first member of the Football Alliance which was formed in the year following the formation of the Football League. In 1892 the Football League decided to form the Second Division, inviting the members of the Football Alliance to join; as one of the less successful members, Small Heath were placed in the Second Division. Since then, the team that was formed by the club has played in a variety of national and internationally organized competitions, and players who have participated in at least 100 these matches are listed below.

The player's information includes the length of their Birmingham career, the typical position of play while at the club, as well as the amount of goals and games achieved in domestic league matches, as well as all competitive senior matches. If appropriate, the list comprises the National team that the player was selected as well as the total number of international senior caps which he was awarded.

• Squad numbers relate to 2021–22 season.

No. Pos. Player Nation 1 GK Neil Etheridge  Philippines 2 DF Maxime Colin  France 4 DF Marc Roberts  England 5 DF George Friend  England 6 MF Ryan Woods  England 9 FW Scott Hogan  Republic of Ireland 10 FW Lukas Jutkiewicz  England 12 DF Harlee Dean  England 14 FW Jonathan Leko  England 16 FW Sam Cosgrove  England 19 MF Jordan James  England 20 MF Gary Gardner  England 21 MF Juninho Bacuna  Curaçao 24 MF Jordan Graham  England 35 MF George Hall  England 36 FW Troy Deeney (captain)  England 37 MF Odin Bailey  England 38 GK Zach Jeacock  England 39 MF Jobe Bellingham  England 40 FW Adan George  England 41 MF Remi Walker  England 42 MF Alfie Chang  England 43 DF Mitchell Roberts  England 46 MF Brandon Khela  England 47 MF Ryan Stirk  Wales 48 MF Josh Williams  England 50 DF Nico Gordon  England 51 MF Kyle Hurst  England 52 DF Marcel Oakley  England 53 MF Tate Campbell  England 54 FW Keke Simmonds  England — MF PrzemysÅ‚aw PÅ‚acheta (on loan from Norwich City for the season)  Poland — DF Dion Sanderson (on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers for the season)  England — MF Finley Thorndike  England

Birmingham City F.C. Development Squad, and Academy is the reserves team and youth development system from Birmingham City Football Club. The reserve team, which was formed in 1879, participated in the Premier Reserve League South in the 2009-10 season. However, the team did not join an official league in the season 2012-13 which saw it moved to Northern Division of the recently established Professional Development League 2, which is a league that is predominantly for under-21 players. The Academy was formed in its current format in 1999, teaches boys from the age of 9 to 18 years old.

To acknowledge Jude Bellingham's contributions in only a few months with the first team, being the youngest player to make his debut at just 16 years old and 38 days old, and the club's the youngest goal scorer, he played an entire season, before becoming Birmingham's record-breaking transfer and most expensive 17-year-old in the world, "showing what can be accomplished by hard work, talent and commitment" with an "caring gentle and congenial on-field manner" The club resigned the jersey number 22 "to be remembered by the memory of a player who was the players we have and also to encourage others."

Birmingham City Ladies Football Club was founded in the year 1968. The initial team made their way through leagues before being promoted into the FA Women's Premier League in 2002. Following the time that Birmingham City F.C. dropped financial support in the year 2005, the club was only able continue their existence due to a donation from a friend. They returned to affiliation to Birmingham City in 2010, formed the founding member of FA WSL in 2011 and were awarded the FA Women's Cup in 2012. Second place during the 2011 FA WSL earned them qualification for the 2013-14 Champions League, in which they made it to the semi-finals. Following the time that TTA assumed control of Birmingham City F.C. in November of 2016 The women's team was incorporated into the team. It was officially changed to Birmingham City Women in 2018 in November 2016, and will be known as simply Birmingham City except where that could cause confusion when compared to the men's squad.

Owners:

As of 27 January 2022

• Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd 75.00%Oriental Rainbow Ltd 21.64%

Board:

As of 12 May 2022

• Chairman: Wenqing Zhao
• Directors: Chun Kong Yiu, Gannan Zheng, Yao Wang, Ian Dutton

Football staff:

As of 4 July 2022

• Technical director: Craig Gardner
• Head coach: John Eustace
• Assistant head coach: Keith Downing
• Assistant head coach: Matt Gardiner
• Goalkeeper coach: Maik Taylor
• First team development coach: Paul Harsley
• Head of physical performance: Sean Rush
• Sports scientist: Elliott Woolmer
• Academy director: Paul Williams

Gil Merrick was the first Birmingham manager to win a major award that was that being the League Cup in 1963. Merrick also guided the club towards winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in 1961 in the wake of Pat Beasley who had done similar in 1960. Leslie Knighton took the club to the final of the FA Cup in 1931; Arthur Turner did likewise in 1956, in addition to being in charge of Birmingham's best league position, sixth for the season 1955-1956 First Division. Birmingham was in an appearance in the 2002 Football League Cup Final under Trevor Francis, whose successor as manager permanent, Steve Bruce, twice was promoted into the Premier League. Birmingham took home the League Cup for the second time under Alex McLeish in 2011. The World Cup winner of 1966 Sir Alf Ramsey, was appointed manager of Birmingham for a brief period in 1977.