[9] First-team players released at the end of the 2014–15 season included Callum Reilly, Nikola Žigić, Matt Green, Olly Lee, Gavin Gunning, youngsters Amari'i Bell and Will Packwood, and long-serving goalkeeper Colin Doyle.

[11] Free-transfer signings for 2015–16 included winger Jacques Maghoma, previously with Sheffield Wednesday, and two goalkeepers, Adam Legzdins, who started his career with Birmingham but never played for their first team, and former Polish international Tomasz Kuszczak.

[15] Out-of-contract players who signed new contracts included club captain Paul Robinson, experienced defender Jonathan Spector, and youngsters Nick Townsend, Charlee Adams, Koby Arthur and Viv Solomon-Otabor,[16][17] the club extended the contracts of defenders Jonathan Grounds and Paul Caddis, top scorer Clayton Donaldson, attacking midfielder Andy Shinnie,[15] and wingers David Cotterill[17] and the in-demand Demarai Gray.

[39][40] After five league matches with an unchanged starting eleven, Rowett brought in Maghoma for Gray for the visit of Nottingham Forest, who inflicted Birmingham's first defeat of the season and became the first team to prevent them scoring.

[42] On his first start of the season, Shinnie exploited a defensive error to play Cotterill in for the opening goal, which was equalised ten minutes later via a penalty awarded against Spector, a decision that divided opinion.

[9][44] September ended with the rearranged visit to Brentford; since the original date, the club had sold their 2014–15 top scorer Andre Gray,[45] sacked their manager, and appointed former Birmingham captain Lee Carsley in his place.

A 2–0 win via Morrison's header from a corner and Gleeson's long ball that Donaldson chipped over the goalkeeper left Birmingham in fifth place, six points behind leaders Brighton & Hove Albion.

What the BBC's reporter called "some desperate Blues defending", aided by the introduction of Spector as a sweeper to protect the back four, helped Birmingham hold their lead and go second in the table.

[61][62] With loanee James Vaughan leading the line, Birmingham played out a goalless draw at Middlesbrough in wet and windy conditions; according to the BBC's reporter, Morrison "should have won it when he headed wide late on".

[63] A penalty, awarded in first-half stoppage time for handball when the ball appeared to strike the "offender" in the face, was converted by substitute Caddis to secure Birmingham's first league win since 7 November.

Despite the absence of Gray – on the verge of completing a £3.5 million transfer to Premier League club Leicester City – and a first-half injury to Donaldson, Birmingham secured a 2–1 win at home to Brentford via Kieftenbeld's 89th-minute winner.

[79] A minute's applause in memory of former Birmingham manager Freddie Goodwin, who had led the team to promotion to the First Division in 1971–72 and twice reached the semifinals of the FA Cup, preceded the visit of struggling Bolton Wanderers.

Having averted an imminent winding-up order by agreeing a takeover deal, they lost 1–0 at Birmingham to a Donaldson goal set up by Diego Fabbrini, making his first start since signing a permanent contract with the club.

[84] A man-of-the-match performance from Davis, recalled to the starting eleven for the visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers, his former club, was spoilt only when Carl Ikeme made a "great save" to stop his powerful shot giving Birmingham a victory.

[85] Davis again nearly won the match at home to Fulham late on with a shot that hit the post, but another draw kept Birmingham in ninth, but now six points off the play-off places albeit with a game in hand.

The move was in both parties'interests: Rowett hoped to improve Birmingham's goalscoring and with it their chances of reaching the play-offs, and the player had hardly appeared for Norwich City, his parent club, and needed match fitness ahead of the upcoming European Championships.

Lafferty returned from international duty with a groin injury, and it was rumoured that he would miss the rest of the season,[88] but he was fit to start the home match against third-placed Brighton & Hove Albion on 5 April.

[92] They equalised though Maghoma's header after Toral's shot was parried, and Grounds headed against the crossbar, but towards the end of the game Championship Player of the Year-elect Andre Gray was left unmarked and touched home a cross.

"[96] Despite Huddersfield Town's statistical dominance, with 65% possession, 18 shots to 5 and 15 corners to 2, Birmingham again "squandered an advantage" given them by Cotterill's free kick to concede a late equaliser and come close to losing the match.

[97] Despite being rescheduled to a Friday night for live television, Birmingham's last home match of the season drew a season-high attendance of 21,380 – boosted by nearly 5,000 visiting supporters and encouraged by a newly formed "singing section" in the Tilton Road end of the ground – who saw an exciting 2–2 draw with Middlesbrough.

Gleeson's powerful shot from distance opened the scoring after half an hour, but a few minutes later, Legzdins – in the team because Kuszczak had had surgery on his broken nose – "fumbled the ball as if it was a bar of soap" and Jordan Rhodes tapped in.

In the second half, Albert Adomah gave the visitors the lead, Davis's well-placed shot from the edge of the penalty area – his first goal of the season – tied the scores, and a minute later, a Middlesbrough "winner" was disallowed for offside, apparently wrongly.

Maghoma hit the post when it should have been easier to score, other chances were missed, and with five minutes left, substitute Glenn Murray took advantage of a goalkeeping error to secure a win for Bournemouth.

[116] There were debuts for youth team product Adam Legzdins, who rejoined the club in the summer, nine years after his single appearance on the first-team bench, and for Jacques Maghoma, who opened the scoring after Wes Thomas intercepted an attempted back pass.

[119][120] Because of the history of trouble at recent fixtures against Aston Villa, Birmingham's allocation of tickets was set at 2,800, less than the 10% of capacity required under the rules of the competition, and far fewer than the 6,500 given to another local team, West Bromwich Albion, in the 2014–15 FA Cup.

[121] Rowett selected a full-strength team, and Sky Sports' reporter suggested that "Birmingham look set for a good season in the second tier on this evidence", as they were edged out by Villa's half-time additions of Jack Grealish and Jordan Ayew and a Rudy Gestede header.