Does the Premier League of 2009-10 seem like a long time ago? Do you recall Portsmouth being there, Avram Grant as manager? What about Chelsea as champions under Carlo Ancelotti? Or Tottenham beating Wigan 9-1?
These questions are asked because of Birmingham — and not solely the club called City.
In May 2010, which does and doesn’t feel long ago, Aston Villa ended the season sixth in the league while neighbours Birmingham City came ninth. “England’s second city” had two top-10 Premier League clubs.
It is noteworthy as it has not happened since — City were relegated the next season and have not been back up. It had happened recently – in 2003-04 Villa were sixth under David O’Leary and City were 10th under Steve Bruce. But it could hardly be described as a regular occurrence — the previous time Birmingham, the city, had two top-flight top-10 clubs was 1931-32.
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There had been near misses, in 1977-78 for example Villa were eighth, City 11th, but the point is made.
This is why there was scepticism in the reaction to a phrase used by City’s new chief executive Garry Cook to Blues supporters three weeks ago. Birmingham City, Cook said, this club which has never won England’s league title or the FA Cup, who sit 14th in the Championship, are to be transformed into “a football powerhouse”.
The term was employed to help justify the new US ownership’s decision to dismiss manager John Eustace in favour of Wayne Rooney. As Eustace was popular with Blues fans and had just overseen two victories, while Rooney’s first three matches have been three defeats, the scepticism was and remains understandable.
It could grow today, given second-placed Ipswich Town are the visitors to St Andrew’s, with their impressive young coach from Fermanagh, Kieran McKenna.
Rooney, 38 last week, shares a Manchester United connection with McKenna (37) as the latter was a youth coach as Rooney finished playing there. But the two are separate — Rooney inhabits a different plateau when it comes to concepts such as fame and pedigree. He is still one of the biggest names on planet football.
And whether we like it or not, that matters. McKenna was selected for his coaching; Rooney was chosen for his global profile. One was a football decision, the other a sports-business decision.
At the moment, the former looks the smarter move, but that does not mean the US investors in Birmingham City are wrong overall. Results may be hit-and-miss under Rooney and it may turn out to be a short-term appointment, but it will have served a purpose — publicity.
“Fame as a springboard,” were the words of Tom Wagner in July, shortly after his Knighthead Capital fund bought Birmingham. Wagner was explaining to Bloomberg why NFL legend Tom Brady is on the board in a minority ownership capacity.
Legacy fans have to lump it, but we live in a football era of celebrity commerce. Money in the pocket is required, but profile can open doors. We see it with David Beckham attracting Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, we see it with Wrexham.
Brady’s arrival at aging St Andrew’s, a ground first played on in 1906, dragged a level of attention towards Birmingham City not seen for many years and raising awareness of the club is deemed essential alongside investment in the stadium and training ground. In the modern world, it’s all infrastructure, it all has a material benefit.
And fame, attention, noise, it adds to the expansion of interest in soccer in the US. It will hit a fresh peak in 2026 with the staging of the World Cup and if that is successful, it will grow again. Wagner insists he is in Birmingham “for the long-haul” and, crucially, his financial opinion is that “sports franchises have proven to be pretty consistently appreciating assets over time … we don’t think that changes in the near or intermediate term … we believe there’s a tailwind.”
The language of franchise will make many wince but those winds led Wagner’s Knighthead group to geographic opportunity. Knighthead did not just acquire a club, it bought a small slice of England.
In that Bloomberg interview, Wagner mentioned Birmingham’s “second-city” status, the youth of a growing population, plans for urban renewal as well as “the named team in the city that had been underinvested in.” He added: “One of the things we love is Birmingham sits in the middle of the country,” before estimating — generously — that “80 per cent of the English population” will be within “a one-hour train ride” once the HS2 railway was finished.
That led in September to Wagner writing to British prime minister Rishi Sunak to press for the project’s completion, just as Sunak was about to abandon it. The irony of a US hedge fund being more concerned about UK infrastructure than the UK government was not lost on the streets of Birmingham, where at the same time the City council was declaring itself bankrupt. That financial situation could possibly lead to other structural “opportunities”, such as in Manchester with Abu Dhabi.
Sceptical questions came late there. They may come earlier in Birmingham as a result and Wagner’s vision of the club, the city and the region may be optimistic. But at least there is one.
Across Birmingham, US and Egyptian billionaires, Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, continue to drill money into Villa. The club has just been given permission to enlarge the North Stand by 7,500 to take Villa Park’s capacity past 50,000 and they have opened an inner-city Academy, among other investments. Villa feel like a coming club.
It has not happened immediately under Edens and Sawiris — their appointment of Steven Gerrard had a whiff of Rooney about it. But while rebuilding Villa physically, they appear to have realised that traditionally European clubs have been driven from the pitch — hence signing Unai Emery and backing him in the transfer market. As the team rises under Emery, so will the stands around them.
It is, again, a vision, and although the two clubs are city rivals, Villa’s increasing prominence can only help Birmingham’s, the club and the place. Geography counts: 40 years of Thatcherism focused on London means locals elsewhere in England will happily accept foreign investment, particularly if competent.
It will take a few years for Birmingham to realise its football potential in Premier League top-10 terms — if ever — and Birmingham City fans are entitled to retain Saturday afternoon reservations regarding Rooney. But allied to Villa’s progress, City’s reconstruction makes England’s second city intriguing.
