Unpredictability is the hallmark of the Championship , but you could always rely on Birmingham City . Regardless of who the manager was, or how many players they signed, finishing in the bottom third of the table, somewhere just above the relegation zone, was almost guaranteed. They were a model of underwhelming consistency in a division of constant flux, circling the drain year after year until it finally swallowed them whole.
Birmingham’s first season under new owners wasn’t supposed to end like this. Knighthead Capital Management, an American investment firm, took control of the club in July, immediately reinvigorating a disillusioned fanbase. “On the rise again” was their tagline for a new era that promised so much.
It proved bitterly ironic as a self-inflicted relegation to the third tier – the lowest the Blues have been since 1995 – unfolded. After 13 years in the Championship, their spell as its longest-serving club is over. A relegation that was waiting to happen Heading into last season, Birmingham had finished between 17th and 20th in each of the previous seven campaigns.
Since former owners Trillion Trophy Asia (TTA) replaced Gary Rowett with Gianfranco Zola in 2016, stability and optimism had all but disappeared. Read Next Oxford United are living their best life - who cares about what comes next? Their stewardship continued in this impulsive and chaotic fashion, relying on a late rescue act from Harry Redknapp in 2017. Several players signed long cont.
