The 2007–08 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 105th season in the English football league system since their admission to the Football League in 1892, their fifth season in the Premier League, and their 55th season in the top tier of English football. Birmingham finished 19th in the 20-team league, so were relegated back to the Championship after just one season at the higher level.
After Steve Bruce resigned as manager in November, Alex McLeish resigned his post as Scotland national team manager to take over.
Pre-season After successfully returning to the Premier League at the first attempt, manager Steve Bruce started to look to add depth to his team ahead of the new season. On loan midfielder Fabrice Muamba became the first player to join the Blues, as he moved from Arsenal to the second city for an undisclosed fee. June saw the arrivals of Stuart Parnaby who signed on a free transfer from Middlesbrough, Scottish striker Garry O'Connor who signed for £2.7 million from Lokomotiv Moscow, and French midfielder Olivier Kapo who was signed from Juventus for £3m. July saw even more players arrive at St Andrew's: midfielder Daniël de Ridder signed on a free transfer from Celta Vigo, Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson also on a free transfer, from Antalyaspor, and Brazilian defender Rafael Schmitz on loan from Lille.
The Blues were also ready to spend £3m on Tottenham Hotspur and Egypt midfielder Hossam Ghaly, but the deal was cancelled only days into his Blues career due to a training ground incident that resulted in Bruce sending him back to the London side before a work permit had been granted.
Four players were allowed to leave the club: defender Bruno Ngotty left on a free transfer to sign for Leicester City, midfielder Julian Gray also left on a free transfer for Coventry City, midfielder Stephen Clemence joined Leicester City for £1m, and striker DJ Campbell also joining Leicester City for £2.1m.
July also saw the Blues become the latest English club to be involved in a take over bid by a foreign millionaire. Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung brought a 29.9% stake from the club's directors for a reported £15m. The Gold brothers (David and Ralph) and David Sullivan each sold 14.81% of the club's shares.
Pre-season friendlies DateOpponentsVenueResultScoreF–AScorersAttendanceReport16 July 2007Hollenbach/Hohenlohe AuswahlAW2–0Forssell, Danns 87' pen.2,00018 July 20071. FC HeidenheimAW2–0Forssell 29'23 July 2007FC Schweinfurt 05AW5–2Forssell (2) 10', 34' pen., McSheffrey 13', Jerome 42', 52'28 July 2007WalsallAW2–0Forssell 4', Jerome 33'31 July 2007Peterborough UnitedAW3–0Kapo 50', Jerome, 54' Larsson 57'4 August 2007Sheffield WednesdayAW3–0Ridgewell 3', O'Connor 66'5,689
Season review
August The new season started with a tough away trip to Stamford Bridge to play last season's runners-up Chelsea. But it was the Blues that struck first with former Chelsea forward Mikael Forssell scoring a header from a Gary McSheffrey free kick just 15 minutes in. Chelsea fought back: goals from Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda gave them a 2–1 lead before new signing Olivier Kapo struck an unstoppable shot past Petr Čech to leave the scores level at half time. The only goal of the second half, from Michael Essien, gave Chelsea all three points. The Blues' first home game of the season was against Sunderland who had beaten the Blues to the Championship title the previous season. An own goal from Paul McShane was enough to give the Blues the lead at half time, but Sunderland fought back with a goal from Michael Chopra before a Garry O'Connor goal seemed to have given Blues their first win of the season. However, a late Stern John goal was enough to earn Sunderland a point. West Ham United were the next team to visit St Andrew's, where a Mark Noble penalty was the only goal of the game that gave the London club all three points. The last league game of the month saw the side visit Pride Park where two Cameron Jerome goals were enough to defeat Derby who scored a goal of their own from Matt Oakley.
August also saw the close of the transfer window. Before the season had begun, Steve Bruce continued to strengthen his side with the signings of defender Franck Queudrue for £2m from Fulham, centre back Liam Ridgewell for £2m from local rivals Aston Villa, and Swiss defender Johan Djourou on loan from Arsenal. The final day of the transfer window also saw some activity as Spanish midfielder Borja Oubiña joined on loan from Celta Vigo and highly rated Honduras midfielder Wilson Palacios also joined on loan from Deportivo Olimpia.
September On 1 September Birmingham travelled to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough. Two first half goals from David Wheater and Stewart Downing were enough to see off the Blues, who rarely threatened the Middlesbrough goal. The next game saw Bolton Wanderers visit St Andrew's. A free kick from Queudrue was flicked on for Kapo to secure his second goal of the season, and more importantly, Blues' first three points at home. A difficult trip to Liverpool followed, where the Blues were able to secure a valuable point in a 0–0 draw. The downside to the game was a 13th-minute injury to Borja Oubiña that would see him injured until the end of the season. The final game of the month saw the side take on Manchester United. Although the Blues bossed large parts of the game, it was the Manchester side that finished with the points. Bad play from the Blues defence allowed Manchester United to score the only goal of the game from Cristiano Ronaldo.
October Blues' first game in October saw them return to Ewood Park for the second time in eleven days. Goals from David Bentley and Benni McCarthy saw Blackburn take a two-goal lead, before Cameron Jerome struck to give the Blues a lifeline, but there was to be no comeback. It ended in a 2–1 win for Blackburn Rovers, leaving Birmingham 13th in the league table after nine games played. Thirteen days later a trip to Manchester City was next on the agenda for the Blues, where a 37th-minute goal from Elano saw the points stay in Manchester. The last game of the month was a crucial bottom of the table clash with Wigan Athletic at St Andrew's. A Marcus Bent goal in the 23rd minute was cancelled out three minutes later when Kapo scored from a penalty. After half time, Bent was able to recover Wigan's lead before they were pegged back again, this time by a goal scored by Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell. The game could have gone either way before Kapo struck again, this time in the 81st minute leaving Wigan no chance to come back. It was Birmingham's third win of the season, and at the end of the month they were in 13th position with 11 points.
November November started with an away game at Goodison Park against Everton. An early Yakubu goal was cancelled out in the 80th minute by Kapo, only for two injury-time goals from Lee Carsley and James Vaughan saw Everton snatch all three points. Next up was the Second City derby against Aston Villa at St Andrew's. An early Ridgewell own goal gave Villa a first-half lead. Forssell tied the game early in the second half, but Gabriel Agbonlahor gave Villa all three points. The Villa game was to be the last game in charge of the Blues for Steve Bruce, who left the club to join Wigan Athletic on 20 November 2007. This left Bruce's assistant Eric Black in charge for the game against Portsmouth at St Andrew's. Debutant goalkeeper Richard Kingson was at fault for Portsmouth's first goal as Sulley Muntari's shot rolled under the arms of the keeper. Niko Kranjčar added a late second as Portsmouth strolled to victory. Black's short reign as Blues manager ended on 26 November as he left to join Bruce at Wigan. The following day, former Scotland manager Alex McLeish was appointed manager of the club. McLeish had quit Scotland the day before to take over at the midlands club, and brought his two Scottish assistants, Andy Watson and former Villa caretaker manager Roy Aitken.
December McLeish's first game in charge was a tricky visit to Tottenham Hotspur. Gary McSheffrey was able to give the Blues a first-half lead from a penalty given away by Younès Kaboul. It all changed in the early stages of the second half, as Robbie Keane scored twice, the first from another penalty that was won by Dimitar Berbatov, the second due to bad defending from a corner. The game changed again as Phil Dowd sent Keane off and Jerome scored an equaliser. In the final minutes, Sebastian Larsson scored a screamer that secured McLeish his first victory. Next up was a trip to St James' Park to play Newcastle United. Jerome gave the Blues an early lead, but a controversial penalty was put away by Obafemi Martins, and a late Habib Beye goal gave Newcastle the three points. McLeish's first home game in charge was against Reading. A fourth-minute goal from Mikael Forssell was cancelled out again by another penalty, this time scored by Stephen Hunt. An away trip to Bolton Wanderers failed to gain any points for the Blues, as a goal from El Hadji Diouf and two from Nicolas Anelka gave Bolton an easy 3–0 win. Boxing Day saw Middlesbrough visit St Andrew's. An own goal by Stewart Downing and a Forssell goal gave the Blues a 2–0 lead at half time, and McSheffrey converted a penalty to finish off Middlesbrough's resistance. The last game of 2007 saw Fulham entertained at St Andrew's. An early Carlos Bocanegra goal was not enough to give Fulham a win as a 55th-minute Larsson goal shared the points.
December also saw the collapse of Carson Yeung's attempted takeover of the club. The board decided to terminate talks, as Yeung had failed to come up with the reported £35m to buy the remaining 70.1% shares of the club. David Gold also confirmed that there would be no chance of another takeover bid until summer 2008.
January January would see the Blues play three of the "big four" in English football. First up was a trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United. Carlos Tevez struck the only goal of the game for the Manchester side 25 minutes in. Next up in the league for the Blues was their first ever trip to the Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal. A penalty from Emmanuel Adebayor had given Arsenal a first half lead, but the Blues fought back to earn a point just after half time through O'Connor's header from a Larsson corner. The third of the "big four" were Chelsea, who visited St Andrew's. It took a late goal from Claudio Pizarro to beat Blues, as Chelsea took all three points from the encounter. The last game of the month was a must-win tie in the north east as the Blues took on Sunderland. But it was not to be as Sunderland won a one sided encounter with goals from Daryl Murphy and Rade Prica.
January also saw the opening of the transfer window. McLeish was able to strengthen his side with the signings of left back David Murphy for £1.5m from Hibernian, striker James McFadden for £5m from Everton and the loan signing of striker Mauro Zárate from Qatari side Al-Sadd. McLeish also allowed some fringe players to leave the club: Neil Kilkenny joining Leeds United for £150,000, Rowan Vine joined Queens Park Rangers for £1n, Neil Danns joined Crystal Palace for £600,000, and Mat Sadler joined Watford for £750,000. Defender Olivier Tébily was also allowed to leave the club after not featuring in the side since the start of the previous season.
February