Birmingham City

Background

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear Birmingham city is their intense second city rivalry with Aston Villa. A derby going back many years and still remains on of the most passionate in the country. Recent years has seen Alex McLeish leave 'The Blues' for the claret and blue side of the city. The decision made by McLeish to leave Birmingham City surprised me especially after their league cup win in 2011. 

League Form

As you can see from the form graph on the left (Source: BBC Sport), Birmingham's season has not gone to plan at all. The first half of the season was especially poor. The Blues only won a single match out of 10 games during December and January. Birmingham's form started to pick up at the end of January rising to a high of 11th place recently. The Blues are currently in 15th place and only 5 points clear of the relegation places. So, the last four games are very important for Birmingham City Football Club. Personally, I think Birmingham have enough quality to stay up with the likes of Marlon King and Nathan Redmond.

Transfer Market

Transfer Market information (Source: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk)

Notable Incomings

Paul Robinson             Unattached                     Free

Darren Ambrose         Crystal Palace             £281,600

Hayden Mullins          Portsmouth                      Free

Peter Lovenkrands      Newcastle United            Free

Notable Outgoings    

Jack Butland              Stoke City                   £3,344,000

Ben Foster                 West Bromich Albion £4,400,000

Jordan Mutch             Cardiff City                £1,100,000

Darren Ambrose was a very good player at Palace, I'd like to hear from 'Bluenoses' how he's been getting on at St.Andrews. Lovenkrands is a good signing, a player that I feel is too good for the Championship; Peter has scored 5 goals since his arrival from Newcastle. 

Birmingham fans must have been disappointed to lose two talented goalkeepers. Although, Butland was loaned back to St.Andrews from Stoke, good job too! The Blues picked up a good amount of money from these outgoings, it would be nice if they invested this capital next season to secure some talent. 

Birmingham City Fact-file

Founded: 1875

Ground: St. Andrew's 

Capacity: 30,016

Owner: Carson Yeung

Manager: Lee Clark

Nickname: The Blues, Bluenoses.

Rivals: Aston Villa

Honours: 

• Championship/Second Division, 4 titles: 1892-93, 1920-21, 1947-48, 1954-55.
• League Cup, 2 cups: 1963, 2011. 

Outlook

The future for Birmingham City depends on whether they survive relegation this season. I really cannot see The Blues going down, they have too much quality and with young talent like Nathan Redmond they should be ok. They need to sign a few more players before a return to the Premier League can be considered possible. I'm personally not sure if Lee Clark is the man to take The Blues forward, but I hope I'm wrong. Good luck to Birmingham, I wouldn't mind seeing them back in the Premier League.