The 2008–09 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 106th in the English football league system and their 47th in the second tier of English football. The team finished in second place in the Football League Championship to win promotion to the Premier League for the 2009–10 season.
Pre-season
The kits were again manufactured by Umbro and bore the name of sponsors F&C Investments. The home shirt was royal blue with white sleeve trim, shorts were royal blue and socks were white. The away shirt was in a "penguin" style, white with a broad red central front panel, and was worn with white shorts and red socks. McLeish appointed former Celtic head physiotherapist Tim Williamson, Norwich City physio Peter Shaw, and British Olympic Association sports scientist Ben Rosenblatt to his backroom staff. With club captain Damien Johnson awaiting surgery on a back problem expected to keep him out for at least two months, Lee Carsley, who joined Birmingham when his contract at Everton expired, was appointed team captain in his absence. The first team's relegation from the Premier League made the reserve team ineligible for the Premier Reserve League, and the club decided not to enter any other reserve league.
When the players returned for pre-season training, Franck Queudrue and Olivier Kapo failed to arrive. Queudrue claimed that he had mistaken the date, and Kapo was still in France receiving treatment on a hand injury. The club later announced that Queudrue could leave on a free transfer, and Kapo was fined. After a delay caused by Birmingham's insistence that he could only leave once the fine was paid, Kapo completed a move back to the Premier League with Wigan Athletic, where he was reunited with former Birmingham manager Steve Bruce. Young goalkeeper Artur Krysiak joined York City on loan for a month.
On 9 July, Kevin Phillips signed a two-year contract with the club. Phillips had scored 24 goals for West Bromwich Albion the previous season, helping his club to promotion to the Premier League, but turned down their offer of a one-year deal in favour of a two-year contract in the Championship. Forward Marcus Bent joined from Charlton Athletic for a fee reportedly in excess of £1 million; he was on the verge of signing for Cardiff City, but changed his mind at the last minute. Birmingham also made two loan signings. AZ Alkmaar's Netherlands under-21 international midfielder Kemy Agustien joined for the season, and Ghana senior international and former Arsenal winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie signed from Spartak Moscow, initially until January 2009. In each case there was a possibility of making the loan permanent. Attempts to sign Celtic defender Bobo Baldé fell through because of the player's wage demands, and after Derby County midfielder Stephen Pearson's medical revealed a groin problem, he refused Birmingham's offer of a loan deal instead.
On the field, a different eleven played each half of a 2–2 draw with Hereford United in a behind-closed-doors training match, before Birmingham embarked on a three-match tour of Austria. They began with a 7–0 defeat of local team Kirchberg, with two goals each from Gary McSheffrey and Phillips and one from Liam Ridgewell, Garry O'Connor, and David Murphy, who converted a corner taken by the 16-year-old Jordon Mutch. O'Connor, McSheffrey and Mehdi Nafti scored as a Birmingham team including trialists Zola Matumona and Yamoudou Camara beat Czech side Viktoria Plzeň 3–1 in the second tour match. The 16-year-old Jordon Mutch played the full 90 minutes and was involved in the build-up to the first two goals. O'Connor's goalscoring form continued, and James McFadden's alert reaction to a goalkeeping error gave Birmingham a third win out of three against Nürnberg, newly relegated from the Bundesliga.
Back in England, first-half goals from Cameron Jerome and Martin Taylor saw off the challenge of the lengthy trip to League Two side Gillingham with the aid of Maik Taylor's goalkeeping, and the next day, yet another O'Connor goal gave the other half of Birmingham's squad a 1–0 win at Forest Green Rovers of the Conference. A late Kevin Phillips goal secured a 3–2 win at Leicester City, before the only pre-season game at St Andrew's, against Fulham, was the only one that Birmingham failed to win. After the kickoff was delayed because of crowd congestion, Simon Davies gave the visitors a first-half lead, equalised by Sebastian Larsson after 77 minutes. A hamstring injury sustained by Radhi Jaïdi proved less serious than first appeared.
+Pre-season friendly match detailsDateOpponentsVenueResultScoreF–AScorersAttendanceReport15 July 2008KirchbergAW7–0McSheffrey (2) 30' pen., 39', Ridgewell 45+1', O'Connor 53', Kevin Phillips (2) 57', 73, Murphy 67'17 July 2008Viktoria PlzeňNW3–1O'Connor 13', McSheffrey 15', Nafti 78'20 July 2008NürnbergNW2–1O'Connor 1', McFadden 17'26 July 2008GillinghamAW2–0Jerome 14', Martin Taylor 20'1,74227 July 2008Forest Green RoversAW1–0O'Connor 88'93429 July 2008Leicester CityAW3–2Larsson 27', Phillips (2) 78', 90'6,3542 August 2008FulhamHD1–1Larsson 78'
The Championship
August–September
The new season opened on a wet and windy 9 August with the visit of Sheffield United. The game was heading for a goalless draw when substitute Kevin Phillips controlled O'Connor's headed pass, turned and scored into the bottom corner of the net in the third minute of stoppage time. It was Birmingham's first shot on target. Phillips repeated his late winner in less dramatic fashion away at former club Southampton. The home side took the lead just before the interval after defensive midfielder Nafti had gone off with a torn hamstring, but O'Connor equalised soon after the break, then, within a minute of coming off the bench, Phillips was first to react to Bent's header rebounding from the crossbar. O'Connor and Phillips – this time starting the game – gave Birmingham their third win in as many games, at home to Barnsley. The unbeaten start continued with a 1–1 draw at Norwich City. Larsson took the lead against the run of play – centre-half Martin Taylor was the pick of Birmingham's players in the first half – but Darel Russell equalised just after half-time, and both McSheffrey and Phillips missed late chances to steal all three points.
When the league resumed after the international break, Artur Krysiak was on the bench while regular reserve goalkeeper Colin Doyle recovered from a knee operation. Nafti was sent off after 24 minutes for a two-footed lunge on James Coppinger, and at half-time, McLeish replaced Phillips with Marcus Bent to play as a lone striker; 35 seconds later, Birmingham had the lead, after Liam Ridgewell's long free kick was headed on by Bent and Cameron Jerome volleyed past the goalkeeper. Maik Taylor produced a fine save near the end to turn Darren Byfield's powerful shot onto the post. At half-time, a clock was unveiled in memory of Birmingham and England full-back Jeff Hall, who died of polio in 1959 aged just 29, and whose death helped to kick-start widespread public acceptance in Britain of the need for vaccination. Hall's teammates Gil Merrick and Alex Govan performed the unveiling.
A Louis Carey own goal and Jerome's second goal in four days gave Birmingham another three points at Bristol City, but their unbeaten start to the Championship campaign finally ended on 20 September at home to Blackpool. After Gary Taylor-Fletcher's goal, Birmingham threw everyone forward but without success. Normal service resumed at Cardiff City, where first league goals of the season for James McFadden and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie secured the win, and Quincy's second league goal was nearly enough at Derby County, but Steve Davies tied the scores in the 87th minute.
McLeish had said he hoped to bring in loan signings, but would not bring in players "just to make up the numbers". He was unwilling to take trialist Nigel Quashie on loan until the player had proved his fitness, and although an agreement had been made with Tottenham Hotspur to take Kevin-Prince Boateng on loan, McLeish was unable to meet the player face-to-face to assess his interest in joining the club.
October–November
In stoppage time of a first half described in the Sunday People as "marginally more exciting than root-canal dental treatment", at home to Queens Park Rangers, Phillips tapped in an O'Connor cutback for a win that took Birmingham top of the table. Phillips made it clear afterwards that he wanted to be in the starting eleven: "I want to start games. I'm disappointed I haven't started as many as I wanted. All I can do is score and make it as hard as possible for him [McLeish] to leave me out." After the international break, Birmingham had much the worse of the visit to Burnley, but they managed to draw when McFadden's shot was parried to Jerome who scored from close range. Martin Taylor replaced Jaïdi at centre-back because of a thigh injury sustained on international duty, and Murphy injured a knee during the match, while both Damien Johnson and Kelly returned to training, and Quashie joined on loan for a month.
Franck Queudrue made his first start of the season at home to Crystal Palace. After twice hitting the woodwork, O'Connor scored the game's only goal when Julián Speroni parried Phillips' 94th-minute cross to his feet. In the midweek match, at home to Sheffield Wednesday, O'Connor scored twice and Wednesday's Etienne Esajas once in a four-minute spell before Phillips made the final score 3–1 from Queudrue's "inch-perfect" through ball. O'Connor was injured in the warm-up, and Stuart Parnaby went off after 10 minutes of the match against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, giving teenage right-back Jared Wilson what would be his only competitive first-team appearance for Birmingham. Mikele Leigertwood was sent off in the first half, but despite the numerical disadvantage, Samuel Di Carmine's shot in the 54th minute decided the match in QPR's favour – Birmingham's first away defeat in the league – after Phillips' stoppage-time "equaliser" was disallowed for offside. By the end of the match, the rain had turned to heavy wet snow.
Former Birmingham record signing Clinton Morrison gave Coventry City a 1–0 win at St Andrew's. Again, a late equaliser was denied when the assistant referee ruled that Keiren Westwood saved from Queudrue before the ball crossed the line. Martin Taylor replaced Queudrue in defence and loanee Nicky Hunt kept his place at right back as James McFadden's goal earned Birmingham a point at Nottingham Forest. Queudrue returned from illness to score the winning goal at home to Charlton Athletic; Quashie was sent off for two yellow cards. Second-half substitute Phillips scored twice at Swansea City to give Birmingham consecutive 3–2 wins, and, restored to the starting eleven in place of Quincy, scored again as Birmingham beat Ipswich Town. In an end-to-end match at league leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers in foggy conditions, McFadden had a goal disallowed for offside, the ball deflected off Ridgewell's shoulder against the post with Taylor beaten, Bent's lob was cleared off the line, and the left-footed midfielder Mehdi Nafti replaced the injured Hunt at right back, all before half-time. In the second half, goals from Jerome – only three minutes after coming on – and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and some last-ditch defending meant the points were shared.
December