Birmingham City: Football finance expert delivers warning amid on and off-field developments | OneFootball

Football finance expert and Professor of Economics at Sheffield Business School Dr Rob Wilson has issued a warning to Birmingham City following their relegation.

It was a tumultuous campaign for the Blues as they suffered a drop into League One on the final day.

A 1-0 win over Norwich City in their last fixture was not enough to overcome the gap to their rivals, as they all also earned victory in their respective games.

The Midlands outfit will now be preparing for life in the third tier, where they have not competed since 1995.

New owner Tom Wagner will be keen to ensure the club fights for promotion straight back to the Championship next season.

Football finance expert issues warning to Birmingham City

Dr Wilson has warned Birmingham that the longer it takes to gain promotion, the worse it will be for their financial situation.

He believes the team needs to compete well in order to attract a higher attendance, which will help both justify and pay for any plans to build a new stadium.

“If Birmingham City don’t bounce back from relegation at the first attempt then there will be an exponential amount of damage done to their plans,” Dr Wilson told Football League World via OLBG.

“If they bounce back then the damage is limited.

“Their revenues will of course be reduced but the drop off from the Championship into League One is only in the region of five or six million.

“Having said that, if they've got plans to build a new stadium, they need to be generating bums on seats which are generated by good sporting performances.

“When you're in the kind of sporting situation that they're in currently, that's not a recipe for bums on seats.

“What they need to do is hit the ground running in League One and be winning comprehensively between September and Christmas.

“If that happens, you will see a surge in spectators at the football club, then a promotion will put them on an even better trajectory.”

Birmingham City's difficult Championship campaign

Birmingham were sixth in the Championship table when John Eustace was sacked as manager in October.

A disastrous appointment of Wayne Rooney was the beginning of the club’s slide down the standings.

Tony Mowbray replaced Rooney in January, but took a leave of absence due to illness in February, which led to Gary Rowett’s return to the dugout.

Rowett was unable to steer the Blues clear of the bottom three, with Birmingham suffering relegation alongside Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town.

A crucial summer ahead for Birmingham

Birmingham will need to be proactive in the transfer market this summer as they have to build a team capable of going straight back up.

It’s been a horrendous first year for the new owners, whose inexperience in working in football has been a real issue.

Wagner needs to learn from his mistakes and put the right people in place to make the key decisions behind the scenes.

It’s clear that the US investor has ambitions for the club, but a number of poor decisions has proven quite costly, and relegation could now set them back a few years unless they can earn promotion at the first attempt.