Birmingham City certainly appear to be going in only one direction under their new American ownership fronted by Tom Wagner, as well as minority shareholder Tom Brady.
The Blues simply need to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and the League One title will be theirs, in what has been a blue and white procession of League One this year.
Wagner and his Shelby Companies Limited (a subsidiary of Knighthead Capital Management Group) own a controlling 45.96 per cent share of the club, and they have been clear in their lofty aspirations for Birmingham City.
They’ve already purchased a 48-acre site on which they intend to construct a £2-3 billion sports quarter on, which will include a state-of-the-art stadium that they are aiming to move into by 2029.
“It wouldn’t surprise me” – Joe Jacobson drops five-year Birmingham City prediction and hails Tom Brady effect
Speaking exclusively with Football League World, we asked pundit and Wycombe Wanderers legend, Joe Jacobson: ‘Gut feeling, do you think Birmingham City will be in the Premier League within the next five years?’
Jacobson said: “It’s really difficult to say whether they will or they won’t be in the Premier League.
“But Birmingham, I feel like sometimes clubs just build momentum and build an aura around them. I’ve spoke many times before about having Tom Brady within the football club, or a face of the football club.
“Players will get attracted to signing for that team because of him, because of what’s going on there. They’ve got huge plans for the stadium, and I think it’s a club which a lot of players within the Championship will really want to get involved in.
| Some of Birmingham City’s signings made in 24/25 season | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | Signed from | Fee |
| Jay Stansfield | Fulham | £15-20m |
| Christoph Klarer | Darmstadt | £2.5m |
| Willum Willumsson | Go Ahead Eagles | £3.5m |
| Emil Hansson | Heracles | £1.5m |
| Lyndon Dykes | QPR | £1m |
“They’ve obviously got the resources to go and spend. If they’re spending £10-15m on one player in League One, God knows what they can go and spend in the Championship – that’s only going to increase.
“So, it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re in the Premier League within that five years. It wouldn’t surprise me if they went back-to-back like an Ipswich have done, like Southampton did a few years ago.
“It’s a lot more difficult now, especially with the parachute payments from the Premier League clubs into the Championship. However, there’s always that surprise, and it really wouldn’t surprise me if Birmingham just ride that momentum and do it sooner than five years.
“I really believe they can do that.”
Birmingham City look primed to give Championship a real good go next season
Birmingham City are certainly riding the crest of a wave at this moment in time, and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping any time soon.
With Championship football set to return to St Andrew’s next season, many will be backing the Blues to not just survive back in the second tier, but thrive.
One key element as to why they could indeed do just that is player continuity. Ben Davies, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Kieran Dowell, Luke Harris and Alfons Sampsted are the only loan players Brum have in their current squad.
As such, so many of their key contributors, such as Jay Stansfield, Alfie May, Tomoki Iwata, Willum Willumsson, Christoph Klarer and Ryan Allsop, for example, are all their own assets.
On top of that, Birmingham will surely feel confident that they can strike permanent agreements for a number of their loan players should they wish this summer, as finances certainly aren’t an issue.
Having that continuity of players that have tasted success is so vital to a team’s organisation, cohesion, morale and tactical understanding, with Ipswich’s Premier League promotion success proving that, as the Tractor Boys carried a number of players from League One into the Championship that would go on to play key roles in their automatic promotion-winning campaign.
With a figure such as Brady on board, and who is as present and visible as he is in the project too, will only add to the draw and allure of playing for Birmingham, and sets a clear standard of what success looks like.
Therefore, Birmingham appear to have all the ingredients necessary to give the second tier a real good go next season, with it sure to be a fascinating watch.
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