While his contribution failed to prevent their relegation, it clearly attracted favourable attention, because the following March, Steve Bruce signed him for English club Sheffield United for a fee of £200,000.

His return from his country's unsuccessful campaign was delayed when the squad was detained in a military camp in the Ivory Coast, described by the authorities as a necessary move to ensure the players' safety in light of the public reaction to their failure to reach the knockout stage of the competition.

He saw Tébily's major attributes as his size, strength and pace;[3] a quality which soon became apparent was his whole-hearted commitment to the cause, as exemplified by his performance in the play-off semifinal against Millwall.

Playing in an unaccustomed central midfield position, he man-marked Tim Cahill, later of Everton and Australia, out of the game, and won the ball from Stuart Nethercott with a full-blooded tackle having earlier lost his boot.

Tébily played regularly in Birmingham's first Premier League season until 21 December, when he damaged his medial knee ligaments in the first 20 minutes of the match against Charlton Athletic.

Returning fit at the start of the 2003–04 Premier League season, Tébily found himself no longer first choice, though his versatility made him the manager's preferred defensive substitute.

[17] Restored to the starting lineup as a replacement for Mario Melchiot, his determination and enthusiasm, typified in a man-of-the-match performance against Chelsea,[18] did much to lift the team and supporters during their ultimately unsuccessful fight against relegation.

[19] He began the 2006–07 season in the starting eleven, but Radhi Jaïdi, Bruno Ngotty, Martin Taylor and Stephen Kelly were all preferred, and Tébily made his final first-team appearance for Birmingham in October 2006.

[25] After retirement, Tébily decided to spend this second life to realize his long time dream to become the first African wine grower and to produce his own cognac Source deux vie as a tribute to his country.