Birmingham City have three previous promotion campaigns to look back on for inspiration in their quest to return to the Premier League. Steve Bruce presided over two promotion-winning seasons in 2001/02 and 2006/07, with Alex McLeish masterminding the club’s third journey to the Premier League in 2008/09.
What Blues Need for a Successful 2026/27 Campaign
A fourth promotion to the Premier League is undoubtedly Blues’ aim going into what will be a stacked Championship in 2026/27. Relegated trio West Ham, Burnley and Wolves will all rate their chances, Southampton and Middlesbrough are still around, Norwich City are a force under Philippe Clement and there are plenty more who will fancy a crack at the top-eight. Let’s not forget that the teams in seventh and eighth will also contest the play-offs at the end of next season for the first time ever.
A Good Defence Is Essential
It goes without saying that you need to be relatively good defensively to get promoted. There are exceptions to this rule – Hull City will play in the Premier League next season after conceding 66 goals. Only three teams conceded more goals in the Championship last season than the Tigers but, crucially, they kept clean sheets in their three play-off matches to defeat Millwall over two legs and Middlesbrough at Wembley. In 01/02 Blues conceded 47 goals, in 06/07 they shipped 42 and they only conceded a very impressive 37 in 08/09. Blues’ previous success in the Championship has been built on a miserly defence and their record wasn’t bad last season. Only four teams conceded fewer than Blues’ 56 goals against, which bodes well for the upcoming campaign. If Blues can improve on their 10 clean sheets, they have a good foundation to build from.
Strikers Are Key
“You’re only as good as your strikers,” was what the two-time promotion winning boss Bruce used to tell everyone at Blues and why he never left himself short up front. Stern John, Geoff Horsfield, Marcelo, Tommy Mooney and Andy Johnson ensured Blues had enough firepower in Bruce’s first promotion-winning season, Cameron Jerome, DJ Campbell, Nicklas Bendtner and Gary McSheffrey scored the bulk of the goals in his second. Bruce even had Mikael Forssell, Andy Cole and Rowan Vine to see Blues over the line in 2007. There was a similar depth to McLeish’s attacking arsenal in 08/09. Jerome was still around, Kevin Phillips top scored, Garry O'Connor and James McFadden contributed and Marcus Bent could do a job. Blues don’t have that depth currently. Jay Stansfield has 23 Championship goals to his name and August Priske was a project signing in January. Marvin Ducksch contributed 11 goals in all competitions last season but there are doubts over his future and the same can be said for Kyogo Furuhashi who netted once in 28 league games. The striking department needs reinforcing this summer and Blues have to find players capable of scoring goals in the Championship.
Experience Matters
The fact that last season’s three promoted teams, Coventry, Ipswich and Hull, were among the most experienced in the Championship wasn’t lost on Chris Davies when we were discussing why Blues hadn’t been able to mount a serious promotion challenge. Blues had no shortage of experience themselves, but as they’ve now discovered, experience of the Championship was the missing ingredient. Coventry’s squad averaged 125 Championship appearances per player, Hull 109 and Ipswich 105, whereas Blues’ squad averaged 65 appearances per player. In terms of matches played in the Championship, no squad was less experienced. Both Bruce and McLeish ensured that their Championship promotion-chasing squads were packed with experience and a British core – players who understood the league and its demands. The signing of Phillips on a free transfer from West Bromwich Albion, whom he had just fired to promotion, proved a masterstroke from McLeish. Phillips top scored with 14 league goals for Blues to secure the third of five promotions to the Premier League in his career. He is in no doubt about what Blues need for next season. Speaking to BirminghamLive, via Best Betting Sites, Phillips said: “I think I've said it numerous times this season when teams get into the Premier League or come out of the Premier League, you need that experience. If you want to mount a campaign for promotion, you do need some experience in the squad without a shadow of a doubt. Whether that means someone's playing week in and week out or they're just in the squad giving valuable information, helping younger players. We had that when we got promoted. We had Lee Carsley sitting in the midfield. We had McFadden up top as well. We had some really experienced players, but good players as well. Of course, you need good players. So I think a bit of experience is what Birmingham would need. We all expect them to be up there at the end of next season in the play-offs. I don't see them challenging for the top two, but certainly the play-offs. I think they need some experience in that squad.”
The Wildcard Factor
There is always room for a wildcard. Bendtner joined Blues as an 18-year-old in 2006 and played a crucial role in Bruce’s second promotion-winning team. He could best be described as a wildcard, someone who Championship defences wouldn’t have known much about and that worked to his and Blues’ advantage. Bruce acted on intuition and a relationship with then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to sign Bendtner but data-driven recruitment specialists across the Championship are always trying to unearth similar players. Norwich managed it in January with the explosive striker Mohamed Toure, a £2.6m signing from Danish club Randers who netted nine goals in 11 Championship matches in the second half of last season. If Blues can unearth one or two like Bendtner or Toure then that will help them along their way because, while you have to be experienced and efficient to do well in the Championship, you will sometimes need the element of unpredictability too.
