Barry Fry drops Birmingham City prediction involving Ipswich Town | OneFootball

Fry has tipped his former club to have an exciting period after promotion back to the Championship

Ex-Birmingham City manager Barry Fry has tipped his former side to achieve back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League after the first major step of the club's rebuild was completed in midweek.

Ironically, that was achieved against Fry's current employers, with the 80-year-old still overseeing matters at Peterborough United as the club's Director of Football, with a previous stint as manager taking his association with the Cambridgeshire outfit to just shy of 30 years.

Regarded as one of the EFL's biggest characters, Fry was the last man in the dugout to kickstart a rebuilding job at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, which would eventually see the club end a 17-year exile from the top flight in May 2002, seven years after the former Southend United boss achieved a double-winning season in League One and the EFL Trophy.

Chris Davies' current Blues side will emulate those achievements if they can see off Posh for the second time in five days under the Wembley arch on Sunday afternoon. And, after a record-breaking season for the runaway league leaders, who are now within touching distance of wrapping up the third tier title, he believes they can emulate Ipswich Town's recent success and return to English football's elite in double-quick time.

There have been plenty of comparisons drawn up between Davies' current outfit and Fry's side of 1994/95, who are still remembered as heroes by those of a certain generation in B9.

However, the current crop of players which includes star performers such as Ryan Allsop, Christoph Klarer, Paik-Seung Ho, Keshi Anderson and club-record signing Jay Stansfield among many others, have smashed plenty of records which were set under the current Posh figure's guidance, such a club-record points haul which currently stands at 95 with six games still to play.

The likes of Tom Wagner and Tom Brady in the boardroom only heightened their desire to return to the Premier League after last season's final-day relegation from the Championship after Birmingham accrued 50 points, with a 60,000-seater stadium and Sports Quarter complex in the works despite giving St Andrew's £15m worth of further renovations in the off-season, and seeing average attendances eclipse the 26,000 mark.

Fry knows just what it's like when everyone associated with the club is singing from the same hymn sheet, and he has tipped the West Midlands club to go from strength to strength after promotion was secured in front of 4,000 Bluenoses against Posh on Tuesday courtesy of goals from Alfie May and Taylor Gardner-Hickman.

"Birmingham City are the best team in the division by a mile," Fry told BBC Radio WM.

"They're the richest club, they've got a fanbase that everybody would die for, and they have an owner that gives them financial stability now.

"The recruitment they've done, especially with their manager Chris Davies, is absolutely top drawer.

"I tip them to go again, back-to-back promotions, that's how ambitious they are," he stated.

"The stadium at St Andrew's isn't big enough to get all the Bluenoses in - that's why the owner is building a new one.

He added: "I'm so happy for the Bluenoses, because they've been in turmoil for so, so long, not knowing who the owner is, or where their club is going, but they've 'kept right on', as the song says. Brilliant fans," Fry concluded.

Birmingham City will have their sights set on strong Championship return

Whilst the financial resources of yesteryear and the present day are also incomparable, Fry's promotion-winning squad of 30 years ago finished 15th in the second tier during his final season in charge, as well as reaching the EFL Cup semi-finals, where they were defeated by Leeds United.

Those currently at the club are likely to have their sights set on a much stronger finish despite being newly promoted, as the squad that has been assembled with 20 new recruits across two transfer windows had to be "Championship-ready", as stated by the board at the time of Davies' recruitment.

It remains to be seen if Birmingham can emulate Ipswich's back-to-back promotions between 2022/23 and 2023/24, with the Tractor Boys the only side to have achieved such a feat since 2012.

Kieran McKenna was able to mould the core of his squad together in League One before added investment after promotion enabled the Suffolk side to compete with Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton - all of whom had the highest-valued squads the division saw for many years.

Many outsiders have at least tipped Blues to have a shot at the play-offs next season, which will depend on how they add to the already recruited Phil Neumann, who has excelled for Hannover 96 in the 2.Bundesliga and will officially sign for the club on July 1st.