BIRMINGHAM CITY - COME ON DOWN!
Sunday 6th July 2008
by Simon Skinner

We're half way through our round up of Rangers' six new league opponents. Later in the week we'll look at the teams promoted from League One but today it's the turn of the last of the relegated sides, Birmingham City.

Last season: Last season was a season of change for Blues with the departure of Steve Bruce to Wigan and the appointment of the man that had made Scotland greatish again, Alex McLeish. The whole Bruce to Wigan saga seemed to take an age to resolve and when the Bernard Cribbins impersonator did finally leave there was a continuing wrangle over his image rights! Steve Bruce’s image right! Madness! Their problems were away from home, they won more than they lost at St Andrews but on their travels they were woeful, they only won twice and one of them was at Derby so that doesn’t really count!

Transfers: There has been a fair amount of action transfer wise already but the majority of it has been in the wrong direction for City. McLeish has already waved goodbye to England U21 international Fabrice Muamba who has gone to Bolton for £5m and the loan of influential Argentine Mauro Zarate also ended at the close of the last campaign. Mikael Forssell has gone to Germany, Lee Carsley has come into bolster the ranks in midfield but Daniel De Ridder has left to join his old boss at Wigan. Bruce is also trying to sign Kapo apparently with Ryan Taylor potentially a makeweight in the deal for the Frenchman, there are also strong rumours that Kevin Phillips is about to sign on, Rangers were chasing him but the fact that he won’t have to move if he goes there is probably a big pull.

The Manager: Alex McLeish achieved managerial success north of the border managing to lead Motherwell to second place in the league, Hibs to success in both cups and then winning two league titles, the Scottish FA Cup twice and the Scottish League Cup three times with Rangers. Big Eck then went on to manage Scotland for ten games and that stint was enough to persuade Blues to take a punt on him.

The Ground: Three sides of St Andrews are very nice indeed; the other side looks as though it might fall over in a stiff wind and is ripe for redeveloping should the mood take. The Blues fans can also make a hell of a row and it can make for a pretty intimidating atmosphere both inside and out.

Last Time We Met: The last game between these sides was a Boxing Day encounter in 2006 at St Andrews when the home side came out on top. A Lee Cook stunner was sandwiched by goals from Upson and Jerome in a 2-1 reverse.

QPR Connections: There are plenty of players that have turned out for both sides and their numbers include Rowan Vine, Dennis Bailey (hallelujah, hallelujah), Barry Bridges, small eared legend Paul Furlong, Don Givens, square it Tom(my) Williams and of course Spunky himself, David Seaman.