Birmingham City star who earned over £60k-a-week will always be a divisive figure | OneFootball

Nikola Zigic's time at Blues was extremely mixed

The recent history of Birmingham City has been eventful, to say the least.

After numerous years in which Blues established themselves as a regular Premier League and high-end Championship club, their sliding-doors season of 2010/11 seems a very long time ago.

Since then, the club have only come close on one occasion to ending what is now a 13-year streak without top flight football, which was compounded in May 2023 with relegation back to League One for the first time since 1995, despite the well-publicised ambition of Knighthead Capital Management.

Of course, the landscape of the club has changed drastically in recent times after years of uncertainty stretching from Carson Yeung's time in the boardroom, to the more-recent toxicity which surrounded the club during the BSHL era.

Whilst Tom Wagner currently holds aims of ending Birmingham's baron run outside the Premier League, supporters at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park are left to reminisce about the great players and moments they have witnessed following the Blues.

And, it's fair to say that whilst Serbian forward Nikola Zigic definitely provided an array of defining moments, the 6"7 man's time in B9 will continue to divide opinion.

Nikola Zigic's mixed first season at St Andrew's

Zigic was acquired by Alex McLeish in the summer of 2010 for a fee of £6m, with the hope that Birmingham could build on a ninth-place finish the previous season.

However, the man signed from Valencia would see a number of his performances come under scrutiny, particularly in the Premier League, as the side struggled to match their previous consistency levels and were relegated on the final day of the season after a 4-2 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

It took the Serb seven appearances to notch the first of his five Premier League goals against Arsenal, before also finding the net against Blackpool, Manchester City, West Ham and Stoke City.

However, Blues fans will be eternally grateful to Zigic for two defining moments in their EFL Cup-winning run in the same campaign.

The first of those saw him bag the winner against Second City rivals Aston Villa on a freezing cold night in B9, with his effort deflecting over Brad Friedel in front of the Tilton to see McLeish's men into the semi-finals.

Birmingham were then mass underdogs against Arsenal at Wembley after progressing to the final, but that didn't stop Zigic from giving Blues a deserved lead on 28 minutes by turning home Roger Johnson's flick-on past Wojciech Szczesny.

Thankfully for the tall striker, his personal efforts on the day were eventually rewarded through Obafemi Martins' 89th-minute winner, which secured a first major trophy since 1963 for the club.

Nikola Zigic continued to divide opinion after Birmingham City's Championship return

The 2011/12 season saw Birmingham return to the Championship and Chris Hughton take charge after McLeish's surprise move to Villa Park.

However, it would prove to be the most fruitful of Zigic's campaigns in B9, with the 56-time international scoring 11 times in the regular season, which included all four goals in a 4-1 rout away to Leeds United in January 2012.

Such form wasn't replicated in the UEFA Europa League though, with the striker missing a penalty against SC Braga as Blues crashed out of the competition despite accumulating 10 points, falling one short behind the Portuguese outfit and group leaders, Club Brugge.

After losing in the play-off semi-finals against Blackpool, despite Zigic finding the net in the second leg, Hughton departed for Norwich City and was replaced by Lee Clark.

The forward netted in the opening two Championship matches against Charlton Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday, before failing to score again until December 2012, eventually ending the season with nine goals to his name.

However, at a time when it was revealed Zigic was earning over £60,000 per week after initially seeing figures of £50,000 per week after initially signing three years previously, Clark stated that the striker had “the worst training session I have ever come across”, and removed him from the squad for a 4-0 home defeat against Watford.

He would then miss the first seven games of the 2013/14 season through a back injury, but would net seven goals in 33 Championship games overall, with cult hero status once again epitomised by the dramatic events which unfolded in Blues' final day encounter at Bolton Wanderers.

After going 2-0 down thanks to goals from Lee Chung-Yong and eventual Blues icon, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Zigic would give Birmingham an avenue towards survival after turning home a sublime Mitch Hancox cross, before eventually seeing Paul Caddis come up with the season-defining 93rd-minute equaliser after his initial header was blocked on the line by Tim Ream.

Despite leaving the club in the off-season, Zigic would make a final six-month return to St Andrew's under Garry Rowett in December 2014, with a swansong of nine appearances - the last of those coming in a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town in March 2015.