History of Birmingham City F.C. (1965–present)

Successor Freddie Goodwin produced a team playing skilful, aggressive football that won promotion to the First Division as well as reaching an FA Cup semi-final.

Jim Smith took Birmingham back to the top tier, but a poor start to the 1981–82 season saw him replaced by Ron Saunders of league champions Aston Villa.

The last home game of the 1984–85 promotion season was marred by rioting and the death of a boy when a wall collapsed; the events formed part of the remit of the Popplewell inquiry into safety at sports grounds.

Saunders quit after FA Cup defeat to non-League team Altrincham, staff were laid off, the training ground was sold, and by 1989 Birmingham were in the Third Division for the first time in their history.

A rapid turnover of managers, the absence of promised investment, and a threatened mass refusal of players to renew contracts was relieved only by a victorious trip to Wembley in the Associate Members Cup.

Barry Fry's first full season brought promotion as champions and victory in the Football League Trophy, beating Carlisle United via Paul Tait's golden goal.

His successor, Scotland national team manager Alex McLeish, was unable to stave off relegation, but achieved promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, and a ninth-place finish, their best for 51 years, the following season.

With the club in financial turmoil after Yeung's arrest on charges of money laundering, Chris Hughton's team narrowly failed to reach the knockout rounds of the Europa League and the playoff final before he too quit.

Needing additional sources of finance to fund Birmingham's bid for immediate promotion back to the Football League First Division, the board approached Clifford Coombs, founder of home credit company S&U, for a loan.

[13] Goodwin had converted the attractive but inconsistent football of Cullis's teams to a skilful, aggressive game capable of drawing crowds – average home league attendance rose to over 32,000 – and maintaining top-flight status.

"[14] Seven wins and a draw in the last eight matches took Birmingham to a mid-table finish in 1972–73, but by February 1974, the team lay 20th, the club needed to raise money, and Latchford was sold to Everton in a part-exchange deal: £80,000 cash plus players Howard Kendall and Archie Styles, valued at a British record fee of £350,000.

[16] In September 1975, Keith Coombs, who had recently succeeded his father as chairman, sacked Goodwin and appointed his long-time first-team coach Willie Bell as manager.

[27] The appointment of Jim Smith, who as Blackburn Rovers manager had earned a reputation for playing attacking football, and the team's subsequent top-half finish went some way towards deflecting the criticism.

With relegation a certainty – the first league win came nearly three months into the season[30] – Coombs finally accepted that the only way to clear the club's £500,000 overdraft was to sell Francis,[23] who had scored 133 goals in 329 appearances over his nine years at Birmingham.

After just two seasons back among the elite, Birmingham were battling against relegation and Smith was dismissed in a February 1982, to be replaced by Ron Saunders who had just resigned from league champions Aston Villa.

This was on the same day as an even greater football tragedy - the Bradford fire - and the events at St Andrew's formed part of the remit of the Popplewell inquiry into safety at sports grounds.

[38] In January 1986, with Birmingham battling against a third relegation in eight seasons,[39] and defeat to non league, Altrincham in the FA Cup, Saunders quit, claiming the club was "committing total suicide".

[48] He installed the 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director, allowed Cooper money for signings, and later that year sold some of his holding to David and Ralph Gold, owners of the Ann Summers chain.

To add experience to a youthful squad expected to challenge for promotion, he signed five Premier League players, including the club's first £1m purchase, Chelsea's Paul Furlong, and Manchester United captain Steve Bruce.

[63] In March 1998, David Gold had to talk Francis into withdrawing his resignation after the inclusion of the players' lounge in a matchday corporate package, and abuse of his wife and son by people using that area, brought his poor relationship with Brady to a head.

[67] Bruce strengthened the team significantly, adding Kenny Cunningham, Clinton Morrison, Senegal World Cup captain Aliou Cissé and the combative Robbie Savage.

[68] Further reinforcement in the January transfer window, buying Matthew Upson, Stephen Clemence and Jamie Clapham and signing the inspirational Christophe Dugarry on loan, resulted in a comfortable finish in 13th place, above local rivals Aston Villa whom they had beaten home and away.

In 2004 a proposal was put forward to build a 55,000-capacity City of Birmingham Stadium on the site of the nearby Wheels Park banger racing and karting circuits, to be funded partly by the sale of St Andrew's.

[78] A new recruitment strategy was adopted, combining young "hungry" players – Cameron Jerome, Gary McSheffrey – with loan signings – the Arsenal trio Nicklas Bendtner, Fabrice Muamba and Sebastian Larsson – and free-transfer experience – Radhi Jaïdi, Bruno Ngotty.

An up-and-down season had calls for the manager's head in October, topping the table and beating Newcastle United 5–1 on their own ground in January,[79] no league games for a month due to freak postponements, culminating in automatic promotion.

[81] The protracted and eventually aborted takeover process destabilised the club,[82] and Bruce, concerned for his prospects under possible new owners, left in mid-season to become manager of Premier League rivals Wigan Athletic.

[89] The following season, they beat favourites Arsenal 2–1 in the League Cup final with goals from Nikola Žigić and Obafemi Martins to win their second major trophy.

The League Managers Association supported McLeish's claims that lack of communication with the board and failure to consult over player transfers could constitute constructive dismissal.

[104] The only departure was England goalkeeper Jack Butland, who joined Stoke City for a fee considerably less than had been rejected the previous summer, but Birmingham were able to loan him back for the remainder of the season.

Their statement stressed that no winding-up petition had been issued and the company was not in liquidation,[112] and the receivers assured the League that the club was not in an "insolvency event" of the type that could trigger a ten-point deduction.