[4] After four months, during which the team won just twice and dropped to 20th place, three points outside the relegation zone with three matches remaining, Zola resigned, to be replaced by Harry Redknapp, initially to the end of the season.

[20] Birmingham City opened their 2017–18 EFL Championship season away to Ipswich Town, without injured striker Lukas Jutkiewicz, unsettled centre-back Ryan Shotton, and club captain Paul Robinson, who was serving the final instalment of a three-match ban.

[28] Birmingham had the better of the first half, but early in the second, Ipswich were "perhaps fortunate" that Jordan Spence was not sent off for a professional foul on Donaldson and promptly broke forward for Joe Garner to score the only goal of the match.

Davis, who was suffering from a virus, and the injured Grounds were replaced at half-time by Maikel Kieftenbeld and Robinson; 15 minutes later, Adams' hamstring injury gave winger David Cotterill a first league appearance for Birmingham since January.

[31] A goalless draw with Bolton Wanderers at St Andrew's was marked by the inclusion of Ryan Shotton, despite a reportedly imminent transfer to Middlesbrough, first in the matchday squad and then on the field after Morrison suffered a facial injury, and a "quiet" debut for former Luton Town striker Isaac Vassell.

[36] Wearing a mask to protect his broken nose and damaged cheekbone, Morrison started the televised visit to Burton Albion and Shotton, whose wife had recently given birth, was left out entirely.

"[39] Before the next fixture, three loanees arrived from Premier League clubs: inexperienced full-back Cohen Bramall and England international defender Carl Jenkinson, both from Arsenal, and Southampton striker Sam Gallagher.

[42] In permanent departures, Shotton completed his move to Middlesbrough,[45] Donaldson joined Sheffield United,[42] and, after bids for midfield partner Davis were rejected,[46] Kieftenbeld was reported to have signed for Derby County.

[51] Just hours after the match, the board issued a statement: Redknapp said that, despite the frustrations of the amount of injuries and by the failure to sign some of his primary transfer targets, he was enjoying his work, believed he would have brought success to the club, and was disappointed that he was given no more than a week with the new players to prove it.

[58] He watched Carsley oversee Hull City end a five-match winless run by beating Birmingham 6–1 – Gallagher's stoppage-time goal was his first for the club[59] – before formally taking charge on 2 October.

[60] He made several changes to the team, recalling Kieftenbeld – for the first time since his transfer to Derby fell through – Grounds, Roberts and Adams, and naming Vassell as a lone striker in a 4–2–3–1 formation with Ndoye in the middle of the three.

The resulting controversy, which included Daily Mail columnist Martin Samuel advocating closure of the ground,[64][65] overshadowed an entertaining but goalless draw in which both teams had chances – Jota shot over the bar when clean through with only the goalkeeper to beat[66] – and both sets of fans united in applause in support of the victims of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.

[71][72] Cotterill received a vote of confidence from the directors before the visit to Sunderland, in which Gallagher opened the scoring and was then sent off for two yellow cards, and Birmingham's determined defending with ten men earned them a draw.

Maghoma opened the scoring, continuing a run of form that the local paper was to describe as "the best football of his Blues career",[77] and Gallagher's fourth goal for the club gave Birmingham a 2–0 win.

[83] He went into the transfer window "close to landing two new additions",[84] but three weeks later, after releasing David Cotterill and selling Nsue to APOEL FC, he was discussing more outgoings and the implications of Financial Fair Play.

With a midfield weakened by the absence of Kieftenbeld, serving a two-match ban for accumulated yellow cards, and Davis injured, Birmingham lost the next three matches, conceding eight goals and scoring none.

[94] The Daily Telegraph reported that "Birmingham's transfer activity was allegedly disrupted by an ongoing row between two key figures in the boardroom, leaving Cotterill unable to make any additions", that chief executive Xuandong Ren's position was in doubt, and that agent Darren Dein, who held a consultancy role with the owners, had been "marginalised".

[95] Channel 5's Football on 5 pundit Chris Iwelumo commented on the adverse effects of lack of communication between the club's ownership and its other stakeholders, and felt that a new manager might face the same problems as his predecessors if the infrastructure remained unchanged.

[96] The Birmingham Mail's Brian Dick recognised that "Cotterill had a little more than half a season to effect the positive change Blues are so desperate to see but unfortunately for him it proved too difficult", but noted that "many of the problems and strategic issues that have blighted three previous managers remain.

Monk gave academy product Wes Harding a league debut at right back, chosen ahead of more experienced players because his pace and tenacity would better counteract the threat from Hull's wingers.

BBC Sport remarked that "The most noticeable difference since Monk's appointment has been the greater influence of Spanish forward Jota, who struggled for goals following his club-record move from Brentford in August, but has been pivotal in Blues' successive wins either side of the international break.

[131] For the fourth-round tie, both Birmingham and their hosts, Premier League club Huddersfield Town, made seven changes, Cotterill also switching to three at the back with Cohen Bramall and Carl Jenkinson, recently returned to fitness, at wing-back.

[132] With a televised home tie against Manchester United and associated £247,000 broadcast fee at stake for the winners,[133] Huddersfield fielded a stronger side for the replay,[134] while Birmingham again made seven changes, playing three at the back and omitting David Davis and Maikel Kieftenbeld[135] – both one yellow card short of a suspension[136] – from the midfield ahead of the weekend's Second City derby.

[135] Che Adams opened the scoring for Birmingham after 52 minutes, but the visitors equalised after Tom Ince's shot was parried and Marc Roberts put the ball into his own net while trying to clear.

[139] They had little difficulty beating a Crawley side with nine changes from their preceding league match: Che Adams scored his first senior hat-trick, and goals from David Davis and Robert Tesche gave Birmingham a 5–1 win.

[140] In the second round, at home to Premier League club AFC Bournemouth, Birmingham lined up in a 3–5–2 formation and gave a debut to loanee Cohen Bramall at left wing-back and a first start to Isaac Vassell.