With the dust slowly settling upon another EFL season, it is hard not to look at Birmingham City’s plight and wonder what exactly was going on at the club in the last few months.
With the much heralded takeover of the club (albeit, on slightly strange ownership percentages), Shelby Companies Ltd acquired a controlling stake and set about ‘returning the club to where they belong’.
Company co-founder Tom Wagner was installed as Chairman and The Blues looked as though they had finally found owners who understood the club and its’ supporter base, but more crucially, would bring a steady, professional culture and erase memories of recent owners who, to be frank, had almost run the club into non-existence. In addition, a huge media storm was created by the inclusion of NFL superstar Tom Brady as a minority owner and the club looked as though they were on a very positive path and could look forward to a bright future.
Information from within the club suggested that the new owners were very serious people and had begun to make significant off-field changes which all pointed to the re-birth of, lets be honest, one of the few remaining ‘sleeping giants of football’ – They had also appointed ex-Manchester City MD Garry Cook as CEO, another sign of the clubs ambition.
No mistakes seemed to have been made in those early days, and then.....
With the club sitting in a play-off position in the Championship, inexplicably, they sacked first team coach John Eustace and replaced him with ex-Manchester United and England star, Wayne Rooney.
Nothing in Rooney’s short coaching career to-date suggested he should be offered the role at a club the size of Birmingham City and fans cries of displeasure were dismissed by CEO Cook (interestingly, the best friend of Rooney’s agent) with ‘style of play’ being cited as the reason for a change.
It seemed the new owners may have made their first mistake, and subsequent months in which the side were truly appalling, along with rumours of dressing room unrest simply confirmed that a serious error had been made.
Rooney was dismissed, with experienced Championship coach Tony Mowbray brought in to try and arrest an alarming slide towards the relegation zone and positive results were achieved.
However, Mowbray announced he was stepping down for health reasons (and all football fans wish him well and hope his absence is temporary), with the club forced to re-hire ex-coach Gary Rowett in a desperate attempt to avoid relegation.
Ultimately, Rowett failed to save ‘The Blues’ and they were relegated on the last day of the season – a cautionary tale for those owners looking to make Hollywood-appointments!
Ultimately, Birmingham’s owners may indeed be the best thing to have ever happened to the club, but they have certainly made their path to glory significantly more difficult as they contemplate life in League 1.
Image Credits: CarlBaker via commons.wikimedia.org
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