The Birmingham City paradox: relegated to League One, but fans are loving it

The Birmingham City paradox: relegated to League One, but fans are loving it.

Birmingham: Are they “the greatest League One team ever”? Few teams have enjoyed being relegated as much as the Blues have.

Daniel Storey’s journey to every English football league club in a single season is known as “Doing the 92.”By subscribing here, you may follow his adventure the best way possible.

There’s a yellow road sign at one corner of St Andrews, which is now known as Andrew’s at Knighthead Park for reasons that will

become apparent, with stickers from Birmingham City added to two of its corners. “Corporate guests” are directed to a 100-yard-distance entrance.

It will be busy tonight more than any other.There are too many to mention, but David Beckham is the honoured VVIP guest. After

thirty minutes, Tom Brady does a full lap around the pitch and signs autographs for those who arrived early. He then appears on TV,

rapidly realising the significance of this particular sport, and he looks just like a celebrity in it.

If this were any other lower-tier match, fans Perhaps the main attraction will be Wrexham and their entourage from Hollywood. No,

not now. You can see why Sky Sports, with their broadcasting vans clogging up a parking lot, is marketing their telecast as the greatest

League One match in history. In the span of three months, Birmingham

Birmingham paid more in transfer fees this summer than Premier League winners Manchester City. It began with Bailey Peacock-

Farrell, the custodian for Northern Ireland, and Alfie May, the top scorer in League One the previous season. Then came in European

immigrants Christoph Klarer and Willum Willumsson (who brought in over £6 million apiece), along with little less than £1 million each for Lyndon Dykes, Ayumu Yokoyama, and Tomoki Iwata.

In the closing hours of the transfer window, Jay Stansfield arrived for a guaranteed £15 million plus add-ons. Stansfield has been

acquired by a League One team, making him the most expensive acquisition in Championship history if those conditions are met. Not even close. This was the most audacious transfer project in the history of England’s two lowest Football League divisions.

For supporters of League One’s other 23 clubs – even Wrexham – Birmingham City’s summer has them crying foul about financial

doping, wondering how on earth a club can commit in the region of £30m on transfer fees at this level. Much of that will come laced with implicit jealousy – which is our right as fans – but you see their point.

That was aided by the allowances of amortisation – Stansfield has signed a seven-year contract – but also by further departures.

Jordan James – £4m rising to a potential £8m – was another pure profit sale. Junior Bacuna, Siriki Dembele and Koji Miyoshi left for

fees. Scott Hogan, Ivan Sunjic, Alex Pritchard, John Ruddy, Gary Gardner and others, all on Championship wages, left after the expiry

of their contracts. With 16 players out and 18 in, Birmingham overhauled their entire first-team squad.

Relegation, albeit evidently unplanned, made that process easier. If that sounds counterintuitive, understand that the Profitability and

Sustainability Rules (PSR) that apply in the Championship are different in League One. There, Salary Cost Management Protocols

(SMCP) mean that a club can only spend 60 per cent of its revenue on player wages, plus prize money, broadcasting fees and net

transfer profits. They also allow equity from owners to be included.

Whether Birmingham City can stay on the right side of the line if and when they return to the Championship – and thus fall under the

PSR umbrella once more – remains to be seen. But then that plays into the additional elements of the grand revamp.

PR is vital to new football club owners (and seems particularly important to American investors). One way of providing a different narrative to “we just did what nobody else managed and took you down” is to promote a vision of relegation being a mere blip in the bigger project.

“After years of fear and uncertainty about the direction the club is going it’s like a weight being lifted off of us – and now it’s fun to go to the football again. As more and more people realise this, it’s only going to get better. I remarked to my friend after the game that it felt like one of the Europa League nights. I only hope it continues.”

There is inherent risk in every expansion project. There is evident danger in spending big in search of progress in an environment with so many factors beyond your own control and it is a trap that other American owners have fallen into. Birmingham City plan on being in League One for a good time, not a long time. For this all to work, a certain set of circumstances have to be met in an accelerated timeframe.

It feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders after years of worry and uncertainty about the club’s destiny; now, it’s enjoyable to attend football games. It will only become better as more and more people come to recognise this. After the game, I told my companion that it felt a lot like a Europa League night. All I can do is hope it keeps going.

Every expansion project has some level of inherent risk. Spending a lot of money in an atmosphere where so many things are out of your control is obviously risky, and numerous American business entrepreneurs have fallen victim to this trap. Birmingham City intends to play in League One for the short term.

Here, they’ve witnessed it all: a six-year prison sentence for an owner, a seven-year sentence for 11 managers, points deductions, closed stands because of grave safety concerns, and Trillion Trophy Asia, an investment vehicle registered in the British Virgin Islands that delivered a trillion trophies less than their name implied. Anger and terror were the catalysts for some protests that seemed to never end.

Birmingham City is once again gaining attention. Those at St Andrews will accept it if it means being scrutinised for the financial commitment and receiving derision from others who disagree. Much better than the overwhelming compassion that started to choke them with love. What good is it to focus on what might not be when you can’t do this if it can go wrong?

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