‘As soon as that decision on Wayne Rooney was made, they set themselves up for disaster!’ Where did it all go wrong for Birmingham City this season?

National World - LocalTV

A look at Birmingham City’s relegation from the Championship after an incredibly disappointing end to their season. A look at the timeline of factors that contributed to the blues being a team playing in the their tier of English football next season.

Transcript

00:00 Charlie, starting with Birmingham City now obviously incredibly relegated to League One,

00:07 something that they didn't see coming at the start of the season.

00:10 If we go through it chronologically of what went wrong,

00:14 obviously it's an incredibly poor result to end up as a League One side for next season.

00:21 But are there any standout moments for you of why it sort of happened

00:27 when the sort of cracks started to show this season at Birmingham City?

00:31 I think the moment that even the rumours of Wayne Rooney coming in started to arrive,

00:36 I think that is the moment. It's a pretty obvious one to be honest.

00:40 But I think a lot of Blues fans were concerned because of what happened many years ago

00:45 when Gary Rowett left and Jaron Francozola came in.

00:48 Rowett was doing such a good job, it was slightly different circumstances

00:50 because he was linked with the move away anyway.

00:53 But the fact they were up and in the playoffs and fighting for that

00:56 and then Zola comes in and hardly any wins over multiple months.

01:00 There was a lot of concern that could happen again and that's exactly what happened under Wayne Rooney.

01:04 In the end though, Rooney didn't even last as long as Zola did.

01:08 He was booted out at the start of January after a loss away at Leeds United.

01:12 And then just a lot more uncertainty as to who was going to come in.

01:15 Mowbray in the end I think was a fantastic appointment.

01:19 So much experience, the likes of West Brom, Blackburn, Sunderland.

01:23 I think he was the man who could probably get them back into top half contention.

01:27 But unfortunately, something we couldn't have expected.

01:30 Medical issues for Tony Mowbray meant that he had to take a step aside.

01:33 Then Mark Thienes' assistant, as much as he trusts him and he's worked with him a lot in the past,

01:38 he's not a manager, he's an assistant and he just wasn't the right man.

01:42 In the end when they brought in Gary Rowett for the last eight matches,

01:44 I think it was a little bit too late maybe.

01:47 But you can't really blame Blues for that situation because there was so much uncertainty.

01:51 Was Mowbray going to come back soon? What was going to happen there?

01:53 No one really knew. He loved the fans, he loved the club.

01:56 Of course, being from Birmingham himself, as soon as that decision was made to get in Wayne Rooney,

02:01 they set themselves up for disaster.

02:04 Just quickly, what do you think they need to ensure that they're coming back up?

02:07 Because looking over social media, the fans are still quite happy with the Aerons despite a relegation.

02:13 It seems like the future is bright and they are selling it to the fans.

02:18 There's definitely a lot of positivity with Tom Wagner and Nighthead and the promises of improved facilities

02:23 and a new stadium over the next few years, buying the site at the old Wheels site in Borsley Green.

02:28 So there's plenty of positives. Obviously, the relegations are a massive negative.

02:33 But there's hope that they can bounce back pretty immediately, that the future of the club can be strong.

02:37 They just need some stability and a new manager coming in if Mowbray isn't going to be around.

02:42 We need answers really on Mowbray. It's a difficult one, it's a sensitive situation.

02:46 All the best, of course, to Mowbray, whether he needs to recover away from football, whether he can come back.

02:51 It awaits to be seen. But I think Blues fans, the players, everyone associated with the club,

02:56 needs a bit of clarity. So hopefully we can get that over the next few weeks.

02:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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