“They didn’t spend £35 million” – Club owner makes Birmingham City accusation against Ipswich Town.
Darragh MacAnthony, the owner of Peterborough United, has justified Birmingham City’s expenditure during the summer transfer window, claiming that they, like Ipswich Town, have the potential to secure consecutive promotions.
The Blues are playing in the third tier of English football for the first time in over 30 years this season after being relegated from the Championship last season, but they appear to be in a great position to bounce back at the first try following a summer of significant expenditure.
Birmingham’s board backed new manager Chris Davies this summer, bringing in 17 new recruits and spending up to £35 million.
| Birmingham City summer signings | ||
| Player | From | Loan/Permanent |
| Ryan Allsop | Hull City | Permanent |
| Bailey Peacock-Farrell | Burnley | Permanent |
| Alfons Sampstead | FC Twente | Loan |
| Christoph Klarer | Darmstadt | Permanent |
| Ben Davies | Rangers | Loan |
| Alex Cochrane | Hearts | Permanent |
| Marc Leonard | Brighton & Hove Albion | Permanent |
| Tomoki Iwata | Celtic | Permanent |
| Taylor Gardner-Hickman | Bristol City | Loan |
| Luke Harris | Fulham | Loan |
| Willum Thor Willumsson | Go Ahead Eagles | Permanent |
| Scott Wright | Rangers | Permanent |
| Emil Hansson | Heracles Almelo | Permanent |
| Alfie May | Charlton Athletic | Permanent |
| Ayumu Yokoyama | Sagan Tosu | Permanent |
| Lyndon Dykes | Queens Park Rangers | Permanent |
| Jay Stansfield | Fulham | Permanent |
The Blues broke the League One transfer record twice this summer, spending £3.5 million on Willum Thor Willumsson and Christoph Klarer. On deadline day, they smashed it again by re-signing Fulham striker Jay Stansfield for a reported fee of over £15 million.
Birmingham retained the most of their top players this summer, with just Alex Pritchard, Jordan James, Juninho Bacuna, Siriki Dembele, and Koji Miyoshi being moved.
The Blues have had a good start to the season on the pitch, with Chris Davies’ team sitting third in the standings after accumulating 10 points in their opening four games.
Darragh MacAnthony makes a big Birmingham City prediction.
MacAnthony claims he has no objections to Birmingham’s summer expenditure, and he feels the Blues have the ability to duplicate Ipswich’s feat of two consecutive promotions from League One to the Premier League.
“Let’s get it straight, they didn’t spend £35m, I think it’s easy when you throw add-ons in and everything else, let’s say they spent £20-25 million,” MacAnthony told talkSPORT.com.
“I was under the assumption that they had a £20 million budget to enter League One and reset.
“They tried to buy four of our players throughout the summer.”
“I have no issue with what Birmingham did; they had a new owner take over a short time ago, they had a lot of older players on huge contracts in the Championship, and they came in and reset the course.
“I believe it will set them up for an Ipswich-style run, where they might potentially go back-to-back.
“Even the Stansfield deal, which everyone is criticizing for overpaying, if you think about it, at his age, if he scores 20 goals in the Championship, he’ll be worth £26-27 million if you go on the boy who went from Coventry to abroad (Viktor Gyokeres).”
“It’s all reasonable business, and I don’t believe they’ll have to do a whole lot of business if they are promoted from League One.
“I guess everyone wants to have a go at all these teams spending money, but I have no problem with what Birmingham have done.”
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