Birmingham city

The Early Years (late 19th century)

In 1875, cricketers at the city church decided to found the Football Club, which they called the Small Heath Alliance . The first stadium where the team began performing since 1877 was Muntz Street, which also became an arena of rivalry with another club from Birmingham - Aston Villa . In 1885, the team received professional status and changed its name, and since 1888 the club became known as the “ Small Hit ”. But seventeen years later, in 1905, the team changed its name again; the club became known as Birmingham .

First Half of the 20th Century

A year after the name was changed, the club, in 1906, moved to the new St Andrews Stadium. The first match in the new arena was the game against Middlesbrough , in which the teams drew 0-0. During the First World War, the stadium field was used to train the British Army (the country's championship was temporarily suspended due to the mobilization of many football players from all over the country). In 1925, Birmingham began its European history, playing for the first time against a foreign team. The team played a friendly match against Real Madrid , convincingly defeating the Spaniards 3-0. In 1931, Birmingham first reached the FA Cup final, but lost 1–2 to West Brom . From the 20s to the 30s, the club had the greatest scorer in the history of the team, Joe Bradford , who accounted for 267 goals in 445 matches. During World War II, the club had to temporarily relocate to Villa Park , the home stadium of its historic rivals, as St. Andrews was badly damaged by the bombing. In 1943, the club added the word “City” to its name and became officially called “ Birmingham City ”. After the war, the club made a steady rise, and in 1946 the “blue” reached the semifinals of the FA Cup.

Second Half of the 20th Century

In the 1955/56 season, Birmingham received the right to play in the first division (the highest division of English football at that time) and for the second time reached the final of the FA Cup. In the season, the team showed the best result, in their history, performances in the elite division, taking 6th place, but in the final of the FA Cup the “blue” again faced defeat (this time won “ Manchester City ” with a score of 3: 1). On May 15, 1956, Birmingham City became the first English club to play in Europe : a match in the Fairs Cup against the Italian International , which ended in a 0-0 draw. In 1960, the “blue” reached the final of the Fairs Cup, where they lost to the Spanish “Barcelona” in the sum of two meetings with a score of 1: 4. This success is the club’s highest achievement in European competition. In 1963, Birmingham City won the League Cup , defeating Aston Villa 3-1 in the final in the final two matches. In the 70s, the club was a relatively stable middle peasant, playing for seven consecutive seasons in the first division of the English championship. In 1978, the first world football champion, Argentine Alberto Tarantini , appeared in Birmingham City, and the English specialist Sir Alf Ramsay was the head coach in those years. In 1979, the team flew into the second division . The 80s were as stable as the 70s (the club would either return to the first division or fly back). But by the end of the 80s there was a recession, as a result of which in 1989 Birmingham was in the third division for the first time in its history. By the beginning of the 90s, the club managed to normalize the game and in 1992 returned to the top first division, although getting into the elite was due to the reorganization of the divisions of the English championship. In the same year, the “blue” leadership changed, with which financial stability came to the team. In the 1993/94 season, there was a recession in the game, which led to a relegation to the second division . Although his stay was short-lived, on May 6, 1995 Birmingham City won the Second Division, defeating Huddersfield Town at the end of the season, and rose to the First . In the late 1990s, the club played pretty attractive football, having in its composition such as Peter Ndlovu and Dele Adebola . In the seasons 1999/00 and 2000/01, Birmingham City twice ranked fifth in the First Division. This gave the club the right to break into the Premier League through the playoffs, but both attempts were unsuccessful.

Beginning of the 21st Century

On February 25, 2001, the team lost to Liverpool in the penalty shootout of the Football League Cup final. But in the same season of 2001/02, Birmingham, the third time, still managed to break into the Premier League, once again being fifth in the first division, but this time winning the series of playoffs. In the Premier League, the team played under the guidance of English specialist Steve Bruce and was considered a strong middle peasant. At that time, the club was played by a large number of good players, such as Christophe Dugarry , Matthew Upson , Emil Heskey , Mikael Forssell and many others. The game “Birmingham” in the 2005/06 season did not work out and, despite the good roster, the club flew out of the Premier League. But, despite the failure, Steve Bruce was left as head coach, attributing the relegation to numerous injuries of the team leaders. As a result, in the 2006/07 season, Birmingham City returned to the Premier League. However, the start of the 2007/08 season turned out to be a failure and Steve Bruce left the club, joining Wigan Athletic . A specialist from the Scottish Rangers , Alex McLeish, was invited to the post of head coach. Under his leadership, Birmingham City left the Premier League again. According to the results of the 2008/09 season, the club again received the right to act in the elite. In the 2009/10 season, the club changed its leadership, as a result of which the Hong Kong businessman Carson Young became the new owner of the club, and the club itself took 9th place in the standings.

The 2010/11 season for the club was successful under the leadership of Alex McLeish : the Birmingham club won the League Cup, defeating London's Arsenal in the final. Smeared this victory relegation from the Premier League.

Despite the relegation, the club quite adequately performed in the next UEFA Europa League draw, having won three victories in its group, tied once and suffered two defeats, but could not go any further ^[2] .

In the 2013/14 season, the team heroically managed to maintain a residence permit in the Championship, scoring two goals for Bolton at Reebok Stadium and equalizing the score at the end of the match. Nicolas игigić and Paul Caddis scored goals in the 79th and 90th minutes ^[3] .

As of January 18, 2018 ^{[4] [5]}

Birmingham City Achievement List ^{[6] [7]}

National

• English Football League Second Division / Championship
  • Champion (4): 1892/93 , 1920/21 , 1947/48 , 1954/55
  • Vice Champion (7): 1893/94 , 1900/01 , 1902/03 , 1971/72 , 1984/85 , 2006/07 , 2008/09
  • Playoffs Winner (1): 2001/02

• Third Division / First Football League
  • Champion: 1994/95
  • Vice Champion: 1991/92

• FA Cup
  • Finalist (2): 1931 , 1956

• League Cup
  • Owner (2): 1963 , 2011
  • Finalist: 2001

• Football League Trophy
  • Owner (2): 1991, 1995

• Birmingham Grand Cup
  • Owner: 1905

International

• Fairs Cup
  • Finalist (2): 1958/60 , 1960/61

According to one legend, at the site of the construction of the Birmingham Stadium “Andrews” in 1906 there was a gypsy camp, and the club management drove the gypsies from the site for construction. The angry gypsies allegedly sent a curse on the Birmingham people, saying that in the next hundred years they won’t achieve any significant victory at the stadium. According to the most common version, the gypsies threatened that Birmingham would not win a single FA Cup ^[8] . During the next hundred years of the club's existence, Birmingham won only once in 1963 the English League Cup. By the 1980s, there was an opinion among players, coaches and fans that the gypsies did send some kind of damage to the team. The coaches made various attempts to rectify the situation: Roy Sanders turned to the priest for help and even painted the soles of the players' boots in red, and Barry Fry even peed at every corner flag.

In 2006, 100 years have passed since the opening of the arena and the so-called “gypsy curse”, but the situation has not changed. At Christmas 2007, fans unexpectedly received booklets from the club, in which they unexpectedly found a list of trophies that Birmingham had never won in its history. As it turned out, someone mistakenly confused the booklets of Birmingham and Aston Villas and printed the wrong information ^[9] . In the same year, “Birmingham” entered the Premier League, from where he flew out at the end of the season. In 2011, Birmingham won the League Cup for the first time in many years, and some of the fans said that the curse of the Gypsies was removed ^[10] .

• Club official website