All-Time Premier League Record
Played |
Won |
Drew |
Lost |
Scored |
Conceded |
Goal Difference |
Points |
No of Seasons |
266 |
73 |
82 |
111 |
273 |
360 |
-87 |
301 |
7 |
Most Premier League Appearances
Player |
Appearances Total |
Damien Johnson |
150 |
Maik Taylor |
142 |
Kenny Cunningham |
134 |
Matthew Upson |
104 |
Sebastian Larsson |
103 |
Liam Ridgewell |
102 |
Cameron Jerome |
99 |
Stan Lazaridis |
97 |
Mikael Forssell |
93 |
Stephen Clemence |
87 |
Most Premier League Goals
Player |
Goals Total |
Mikael Forssell |
29 |
Cameron Jerome |
20 |
Clinton Morrison |
14 |
Emile Heskey |
14 |
Sebastian Larsson |
14 |
Robbie Savage |
11 |
Stern John |
9 |
James McFadden |
9 |
Craig Gardner |
9 |
Lee Bowyer |
9 |
Biggest Premier League Victories
Match |
Date |
Season |
Birmingham City 5-0 Portsmouth |
21st January 2006 |
2005-2006 |
Birmingham City 4-0 West Bromwich Albion |
18th December 2004 |
2004-2005 |
Birmingham City 4-1 Leeds United |
27th March 2004 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 4-1 Tottenham Hotspur |
1st March 2008 |
2007-2008 |
Birmingham City 4-1 Blackburn Rovers |
11th May 2008 |
2007-2008 |
Birmingham City 3-0 Aston Villa |
16th September 2002 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 3-0 Middlesbrough |
26th April 2003 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 3-0 Everton |
11th February 2004 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 3-0 Middlesbrough |
26th December 2007 |
2007-2008 |
Birmingham City 3-1 Bolton Wanderers |
2nd November 2002 |
2002-2003 |
Worst Premier League Defeats
Match |
Date |
Season |
Manchester United 5-0 Birmingham City |
22nd January 2011 |
2010-2011 |
Liverpool FC 5-0 Birmingham City |
23rd April 2011 |
2010-2011 |
Aston Villa 5-1 Birmingham City |
20th April 2008 |
2007-2008 |
Manchester City 5-1 Birmingham City |
11th April 2010 |
2009-2010 |
Birmingham City 0-4 Arsenal |
12th January 2003 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 0-4 Blackburn Rovers |
6th December 2003 |
2003-2004 |
Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Birmingham City |
7th January 2004 |
2003-2004 |
Manchester City 4-1 Birmingham City |
17th December 2005 |
2005-2006 |
Chelsea 3-0 Birmingham City |
9th November 2002 |
2002-2003 |
Manchester United 3-0 Birmingham City |
4th October 2003 |
2003-2004 |
Managers
Manager |
No of Seasons managed |
Left the Club |
Steve Bruce |
5 |
23rd November 2007 |
Alex McLeish |
3 |
12th June 2011 |
Highest Home Attendances
Match |
Date |
Attendance Figure |
Season |
Birmingham City 0-3 Arsenal |
22nd November 2003 |
29,588 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 0-3 Liverpool FC |
8th May 2004 |
29,553 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 1-2 Manchester United |
10th April 2004 |
29,548 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 0-0 Aston Villa |
19th October 2003 |
29,546 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 2-1 Manchester City |
26th December 2003 |
29,520 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 1-1 Newcastle United |
31st January 2004 |
29,513 |
2003-2004 |
Birmingham City 3-0 Aston Villa |
16th September 2002 |
29,505 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur |
30th November 2002 |
29,505 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 1-1 Everton |
26th December 2002 |
29,505 |
2002-2003 |
Birmingham City 0-4 Arsenal |
12th January 2003 |
29,505 |
2002-2003 |
Intro
After several near-misses, Birmingham City finally made it to the Premier League in 2002. Steve Bruce guided the club to three successive mid-table finishes before an unexpected relegation in 2006. Two promotions and two relegations have followed for the Blues, who have enjoyed some famous top-flight victories over their Second City rivals, Aston Villa. Currently struggling near the foot of the Championship table after a host of recent unsuccessful managerial appointments, Birmingham supporters will hope to return to the elite one day.
2002-2003
Favourites to be relegated with many bookmakers before a ball had been kicked, Birmingham City’s debut Premier League season saw them finish in 13th position and achieve comfortable survival despite some bumps along the way.
The highlights of the season included home victories over Liverpool FC and Leeds United but for the supporters, the Second City Derby was the most important success. In September, Birmingham beat Aston Villa 3-0 at St. Andrew’s with a comical own goal by Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman the most iconic moment of the evening. In the return fixture at Villa Park in March, Dion Dublin’s crazy head-butt on Robbie Savage saw the Villans implode. Goals from Stan Lazaridis and Geoff Horsfield helped Birmingham to a 2-0 success and complete a famous league double over their rivals from across the city.
Manager Steve Bruce made the most of the January transfer window and his signings of Stephen Clemence and former French World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry were two of the best bits of business. Dugarry scored four goals in the run-in, whilst Clemence headed the opener against Liverpool and shored up the midfield. All in all, it was a very successful debut campaign in the Premier League for the Blues.
2003-2004
Birmingham signalled their intentions in the summer of 2003 by paying Blackburn Rovers £5.5 million to sign midfielder David Dunn. They stayed unbeaten until early October and were in the shake-up for the European positions throughout the season. Mikael Forssell sparkled in his debut campaign in the city. On-loan from Chelsea, the Finn scored 17 Premier League goals and was a threat throughout the season.
A 4-1 home victory over struggling Leeds United in late March took Birmingham into the top six and right onto the coattails of perennial top four challengers, Liverpool FC and Newcastle United. Unfortunately, their season tailed off with no wins from their last eight games but Birmingham still finished an excellent 10th in the final standings.
2004-2005
Emile Heskey, Jesper Gronkjaer, Mario Melchiot and Darren Anderton were among the summer acquisitions and many were tipping Birmingham to finish in the top 10 again and potentially launch an even stronger tilt at the European qualifying positions in pre-season. However, a catalogue of injuries and inconsistency saw their season never hit the heights of 2003-2004. This included a devastating knee injury to Forssell that saw his second successive loan stint abruptly cut short.
For the fans, another league double over Aston Villa was much appreciated and a four-game winning sequence in December did take Birmingham into 9th place at the end of 2004. However, that would be their highest position all season. A final day victory over Arsenal ensured a 12th place final result in a campaign that promised a lot before a ball was kicked but never quite fulfilled on the pre-season expectations.
2005-2006
The 2005-2006 campaign for Birmingham City was nothing short of disastrous. The lack of momentum throughout the closing months of the previous season carried on into the new campaign. The Blues managed just one victory in the first three months of the season (3-2 away to West Bromwich Albion) and also experienced the painful defeat for the first time in the Second City Derby, losing at home 1-0 to Aston Villa.
Home form was a problem all campaign. Birmingham didn’t win at home until a diving Nicky Butt header beat Fulham in mid-December. Just five further victories followed, although both Liverpool FC and eventual champions Chelsea were held to draws.
Birmingham did beat Portsmouth 5-0 in January to record their biggest Premier League victory but remained in the relegation positions for much of the season and Pompey’s end of season surge was the determining factor. A goalless draw with Newcastle United at the end of April saw Birmingham relegated to the Championship after four seasons at Premier League level.
2007-2008
After one season in the second-tier, Birmingham returned to the Premier League in 2007-2008 and this saw the first involvement in the club from the Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, who bought a 29.9% stake in the club’s shares. Steve Bruce stayed on as manager but quit in mid-November after an agonising 2-1 home defeat to local rivals Aston Villa. Bruce would take the vacant post at Wigan Athletic and his successor would be the former Scotland manager, Alex McLeish.
McLeish made a winning start with a Sebastian Larsson screamer in stoppage-time steering Birmingham to a 3-2 victory at White Hart Lane over Tottenham. When they beat the same opposition 4-1 in March thanks to a Mikael Forssell hat-trick, Birmingham looked more than likely to avoid a swift return to the Championship. However, despite some late season heroics from on-loan signing Mauro Zarate, just two more wins were achieved and a 4-1 final day victory over Blackburn Rovers was not enough to avoid relegation.
Yet again, Birmingham had been victims to a late revival from a relegation rival as Fulham’s run of three wins in a row at the end of the season kept the Cottagers in the Premier League at the expense of the Blues.
2009-2010
Despite the 2008 relegation, Alex McLeish remained as manager and guided Birmingham back to the Premier League at the first attempt. He broke the club’s transfer record to sign Ecuadorian forward Christian Benitez in July and also acquired promising goalie Joe Hart on a loan deal from Manchester City.
Results didn’t come early on, with just two victories in their first nine games but Carson Yeung completed his takeover of the club in mid-October and a 2-1 victory over Sunderland started the club’s best-ever top-flight run of 12 games undefeated. This included a stunning sequence of five straight victories which took Birmingham as high as sixth in the table and earned McLeish the Manager of the Month award for December.
Although they only scored 38 goals and achieved just one win in their last 10 games, Birmingham finished in a best-ever Premier League position of ninth with a best points tally too of 50 points.
2010-2011
For the first time since 1963, Birmingham City won a major competition when a Frenchman ran into a Pole and Obafemi Martins was gifted a winning goal against Arsenal in the League Cup final. A run to the FA Cup quarter-finals was another positive but Birmingham’s league campaign was another struggle.
Birmingham dropped into the bottom three in November and it was clear a relegation battle was on the cards, despite the high points of a 1-0 victory over champions Chelsea and a late equaliser at home to Manchester United with Lee Bowyer scoring on both occasions. In mid-April, a 2-0 victory over Sunderland did lift Birmingham into 14th place. However, they collected just a single point from their last six matches which including a 5-0 thumping at Anfield by Liverpool FC.
On the final day, Birmingham travelled to Tottenham needing a positive result and did level the game up through Craig Gardner’s long-distance effort. However, former transfer target Roman Pavlyuchenko’s double with his second in stoppage-time sealed a 2-1 win for Tottenham and condemned Birmingham to a third Premier League relegation. McLeish resigned a month later for Aston Villa and like current Championship sides Hull City and Sunderland; Birmingham could become another ex-Premier League side playing in League One in 2018-2019.