2007–08 Birmingham City F.C. season

Birmingham City F.C.

2007–08 season
Chairman	David Gold
Manager	Steve Bruce to November 2007 Alex McLeish
Ground	St Andrew's
Premier League	19th (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round (eliminated by Huddersfield Town)
League Cup	Third round (eliminated by Blackburn Rovers)
Top goalscorer	League: Mikael Forssell (9) All: Mikael Forssell (9)
Highest home attendance	29,252 vs Liverpool, 26 April 2008
Lowest home attendance	10,185 vs Hereford United, League Cup 2nd round, 28 August 2007
Average home league attendance	26,181[1]
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 105th season in the English football league system since their admission to the Football League in 1892, their fifth season in the Premier League, and their 55th season in the top tier of English football. Birmingham finished 19th in the 20-team league, so were relegated back to the Championship after just one season at the higher level.

After Steve Bruce resigned as manager in November, Alex McLeish resigned his post as Scotland national team manager to take over.

Pre-season

After successfully returning to the Premier League at the first attempt, manager Steve Bruce started to look to add depth to his team ahead of the new season. On loan midfielder Fabrice Muamba became the first player to join the Blues, as he moved from Arsenal to the second city for an undisclosed fee. June saw the arrivals of Stuart Parnaby who signed on a free transfer from Middlesbrough, Scottish striker Garry O'Connor who signed for £2,700,000 from Lokomotiv Moscow, French midfielder Olivier Kapo who was signed from Juventus for £3,000,000. July saw even more players arrive at St Andrew's, with midfielder Daniël de Ridder signing on a free transfer from Celta Vigo, Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson also on a free transfer, from Antalyaspor, and Brazilian defender Rafael Schmitz on loan from Lille.

The Blues were also ready to spend £3,000,000 on Tottenham Hotspur and Egypt midfielder Hossam Ghaly, but the deal was cancelled only days into his Blues career due to a training ground incident that resulted in Bruce sending him back to the London side before a work permit had been granted.^[2]

Four players were allowed to leave the club, with defender Bruno N'Gotty leaving the club on a free transfer to sign for Leicester City, midfielder Julian Gray also leaving on a free transfer to join Coventry City, midfielder Stephen Clemence joined Leicester City for £1,000,000, and striker DJ Campbell also joining Leicester City for £2,100,000.

July also saw the Blues become the latest English club to be involved in a take over bid by a foreign millionaire. Hong Kong business man Carson Yeung brought a 29.9% stake from the club's directors for a reported £15,000,000. The Gold brothers and David Sullivan each sold 14.81% of the club's shares.^[3]

Pre-season friendlies

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
16 July 2007	Hollenbach/Hohenlohe Auswahl	A	W	2–0	Forssell, Danns 87' pen.	2,000	[4]
18 July 2007	1. FC Heidenheim	A	W	2–0	Forssell 29'		[5]
23 July 2007	FC Schweinfurt 05	A	W	5–2	Forssell (2) 10', 34' pen., McSheffrey 13', Jerome 42', 52'		[6]
28 July 2007	Walsall	A	W	2–0	Forssell 4', Jerome 33'		[7]
31 July 2007	Peterborough United	A	W	3–0	Kapo 50', Jerome, 54' Larsson 57'		[8]
4 August 2007	Sheffield Wednesday	A	W	3–0	Ridgewell 3', O'Connor 66'	5,689	[9]

Season review

August

The new season started with a tough away trip to Stamford Bridge to play last season's runners-up Chelsea. But it was the Blues that struck first with former Chelsea forward Mikael Forssell scoring a header from a McSheffrey free kick just 15 minutes in. Chelsea fought back however, and goals from Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda gave Chelsea a 2–1 lead before new signing Olivier Kapo struck an unstoppable shot past Petr Čech to leave the scores level at half time. The only goal of the second half went to Chelsea, as a Michael Essien goal gave Chelsea all three points. The Blues' first home game of the season was against Sunderland who had beaten the Blues to the Championship title the previous season. An own goal from Paul McShane was enough to give the Blues the lead at half time, but Sunderland fought back with a goal from Michael Chopra before a Garry O'Connor goal seemed to have given Blues their first win of the season. However, a late Stern John goal was enough to earn Sunderland a point. West Ham United were the next team to visit St Andrew's, where a Mark Noble penalty was the only goal of the game that gave the London club all three points. The last league game of the month saw the side visit Pride Park where two Cameron Jerome goals were enough to defeat Derby who scored a goal of their own from Matt Oakley.

August also saw the close of the transfer window. Before the season had begun, Steve Bruce continued to strengthen his side with the signings of defender Franck Queudrue for £2,000,000 from Fulham, centre back Liam Ridgewell for £2,000,000 from local rivals Aston Villa, and Swiss defender Johan Djourou on loan from Arsenal. The final day of the transfer window also saw some activity as Spanish midfielder Borja Oubiña joined on loan from Celta Vigo and highly rated Honduras midfielder Wilson Palacios also joined on loan from Deportivo Olimpia.

September

On 1 September Birmingham travelled to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough. Two first half goals from David Wheater and Stewart Downing were enough to see off the Blues, who rarely threatened the Middlesbrough goal. The next game saw Bolton Wanderers visit St Andrew's. A free kick from Queudrue was flicked on for Olivier Kapo to secure his second goal of the season, and more importantly, Blues' first three points at home. A difficult trip to Liverpool followed, where the Blues were able to secure a valuable point in a 0–0 draw. The downside to the game was a 13th-minute injury to Borja Oubiña that would see him injured until the end of the season. The final game of the month saw the side take on Manchester United. Although the Blues bossed large parts of the game, it was the Manchester side that finished with the points. Bad play from the Blues defence allowed Manchester United to score the only goal of the game from Cristiano Ronaldo.

October

Blues' first game in October saw them return to Ewood Park for the second time in eleven days. Goals from David Bentley and Benni McCarthy saw Blackburn take a two-goal lead, before Cameron Jerome struck to give the Blues a lifeline, but there was to be no comeback. It ended in a 2–1 win for Blackburn Rovers, leaving Birmingham 13th in the league table after nine games played. Thirteen days later a trip to Manchester City was next on the agenda for the Blues, where a 37th-minute goal from Elano saw the points stay in Manchester. The last game of the month was a crucial bottom of the table clash with Wigan Athletic at St Andrew's. A Marcus Bent goal in the 23rd minute was cancelled out three minutes later when Olivier Kapo scored from a penalty. After half time, Bent was able to recover Wigan's lead before they were pegged back again, this time by a goal scored by Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell. The game could have gone either way before Kapo struck again, this time in the 81st minute leaving Wigan no chance to come back. It was Birmingham's third win of the season, and at the end of the month they were in 13th position with 11 points.

November

November started with an away game at Goodison Park against Everton. An early Yakubu goal was cancelled out in the 80th minute by Olivier Kapo, only for two injury time goals from Lee Carsley and James Vaughan saw Everton snatch all three points. Next up was the Second City derby against Aston Villa at St Andrew's. An early Liam Ridgewell own goal gave the Villa a first half lead. Mikael Forssell tied the game early in the second half however, but it was not to be as Gabriel Agbonlahor gave the Villa all three points. The Villa game was to be the last game in charge of the Blues for Steve Bruce, who left the club to join Wigan Athletic on 20 November 2007.^[10] This left Bruce's assistant Eric Black in charge for the game against Portsmouth at St Andrew's. Debutant goalkeeper Richard Kingson was at fault for Portsmouth's first goal as Sulley Muntari's shot rolled under the arms of the keeper. Niko Kranjčar added a late second as Portsmouth strolled to victory. Black's short reign as Blues manager ended on 26 November as he left to join Bruce at Wigan. The following day, former Scotland manager Alex McLeish was appointed manager of the club.^[11] McLeish had quit Scotland the day before to take over at the midlands club, and brought his two Scottish assistants, Andy Watson and former Villa caretaker manager Roy Aitken.

December

McLeish's first game in charge was a tricky visit to Tottenham Hotspur. Gary McSheffrey was able to give the Blues a first half lead from a penalty given away by Younes Kaboul. It all changed in the early stages of the second half however as Robbie Keane scored two, the first from another penalty that was won by Dimitar Berbatov, the second due to bad defending from a corner. The game changed again as Phil Dowd sent off Robbie Keane, and the Blues scored the equaliser thanks to Cameron Jerome. Then in the last minutes of the game, Sebastian Larsson scored a 35-yard (32 m) screamer that secured McLeish his first victory. Next up was a trip to St James' Park to play Newcastle United. Cameron Jerome gave the Blues an early lead, but a controversial penalty was put away by Obafemi Martins, and a late Habib Beye goal gave Newcastle the three points. McLeish's first home game in charge was against Reading. A fourth-minute goal from Mikael Forssell was cancelled out again by another penalty, this time scored by Stephen Hunt. A away trip to Bolton Wanderers failed to gain any points for the Blues, as a goal from El Hadji Diouf and two from Nicolas Anelka gave Bolton an easy 3–0 win. Boxing Day saw Middlesbrough visit St Andrews. An own goal by Stewart Downing and a Mikael Forssell goal gave the Blues a 2–0 lead at half time, and Gary McSheffrey converted a penalty to finish off Middlesbrough's resistance. The last game of 2007 saw Fulham entertained at St Andrew's. An early Carlos Bocanegra goal was not enough to give Fulham the lead as a 55th-minute Sebastian Larsson goal shared the points.

December also saw the collapse of Carson Yeung's attempted takeover of the club. The Blues board decided to terminate talks as the Hong Kong businessman had failed to come up with the reported £35 million to buy the remaining 70.1% shares of the club. David Gold also confirmed that there would be no chance of another takeover bid until summer 2008.^[12]

January

January would see the Blues play three of the "big four" in English football. First up was a trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United. Carlos Tevez struck the only goal of the game for the Manchester side 25 minutes in. It was enough to see off the Blues. Next up in the league for the Blues was their first ever trip to the Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal. A penalty from Emmanuel Adebayor had given Arsenal a first half lead, but the Blues fought back to earn a point just after half time through a Garry O'Connor header from a Sebastian Larsson corner. The third team of the 'big four' to play Blues in January were Chelsea who visited St Andrews. It took a late goal from Claudio Pizarro to beat Blues, as Chelsea took all three points from the encounter. The last game of the month was a must win tie in the north east as the Blues took on Sunderland. But it was not to be as Sunderland won a one sided encounter with goals from Daryl Murphy and Rade Prica.

January also saw the opening of the transfer window. Alex McLeish was able to strengthen his side with the signings of left back David Murphy for £1,500,000 from Hibernian, striker James McFadden for £5,000,000 from Everton, and the loan signing of striker Mauro Zárate from Qatar side Al-Sadd. McLeish also allowed some fringe players to leave the club, with Neil Kilkenny joining Leeds United for £150,000, Rowan Vine joining Queens Park Rangers for £1,000,000, Neil Danns joining Crystal Palace for £600,000 and Mat Sadler joining Watford for £750,000. Defender Olivier Tébily was also allowed to leave the club after not featuring in the side since the start of the previous season.

February

February featured three Premier League encounters for the Blues. Derby County were in real trouble in the Premier League, occupying 20th position, with 19th-place Fulham well out of reach for the East Midlands club. Their visit to St Andrew's also saw the return of Robbie Savage who left the Blues back in 2005. A Sebastian Larsson goal looked like it had secured a valuable three points for the Blues before an 89th-minute Emanuel Villa goal secured a point for Derby. A trip to West Ham United was next up for the Blues. Fredrik Ljungberg scored in the opening encounters for the Hammers, but a penalty from new boy James McFadden made sure that the Blues would at least leave with a point. The last game of the month was a home match between the Blues and Arsenal. A 28th-minute free kick from McFadden opened the scoring, before two Theo Walcott goals within five minutes looked to have given the points to Arsenal, before an injury time McFadden penalty stole a point for the Blues. However, the game became highly controversial as within minutes of the kick off, a badly timed challenge by centre back Martin Taylor broke the leg of Eduardo da Silva. No one could complain about the automatic red card that Mike Dean the referee showed Taylor, but comments after the game by Arsène Wenger campaigned for a much longer ban than the traditional three match ban.^[13] Although Wenger later retracted his comments,^[14] his idea gained support with Sepp Blatter in particular, who campaigned for Taylor to be punished with a season long ban.^[15] The defender also received several death threats from supporters of Croatia,^[16] as Eduardo would miss Euro 2008 in the summer.

March

March started with the newly crowned League Cup-winners visiting St Andrew's. It was not to be Tottenham's day however as the Blues emphatically won 4–1. A Mikael Forssell hat-trick, and a free kick from Sebastian Larsson saw the Blues lead 4–0 before a late Jermaine Jenas goal in second half injury time saw Maik Taylor fail to get his clean sheet. Next up for the Blues was a tricky away tie to another team going well in a domestic cup. Portsmouth, who had just qualified for the semi-final of the FA Cup, went into an early two goal lead thanks to Jermain Defoe, before goals from Fabrice Muamba and another Sebastian Larsson free kick saw Blues complete a first half comeback. Second half goals from Hermann Hreiðarsson and Nwankwo Kanu saw the Blues fail to get anything from the south coast. The next two Blues games would see the team go head to head with other Premier League teams in trouble at the foot of the table. Newcastle United was first up at St Andrew's, where a James McFadden goal in the first half was cancelled out by an early goal in the second half by Michael Owen. Then it was a trip to the Madejski Stadium where Reading were able to capitalise on poor defending from set plays to earn a 2–1 victory, leaving the Blues only a point from 18th placed Bolton, and in real trouble. The only highlight of the game was a goal for Mauro Zárate. The last game of the month saw Manchester City visit St Andrew's. Two Mauro Zárate goals and a penalty by Gary McSheffrey were enough to overcome the Manchester team, who scored with a penalty of their own from Elano.

April

The first game in April came on the 5th, with an away trip to Wigan Athletic. Former Birmingham boss Steve Bruce managed his side to a 2–0 win over Birmingham, with Ryan Taylor scoring both the goals. Also in that match, club captain Damien Johnson was sent off for two-footed foul on Kevin Kilbane. A week later, Birmingham were at Home against Everton. Mauro Zárate rescued a point for the Blues with a 25-yard (23 m) free kick on the 83rd minute, after Everton defender Joleon Lescott put them in front. The game ended in a 1–1 draw. At this time Birmingham were 17th in the Premier League table. The Birmingham Derby took place eight days later as Birmingham were beaten 5–1 by local rivals Aston Villa away at Villa Park. Ashley Young and John Carew each scored twice. Mikael Forssell got a consolation goal for Blues, then Gabriel Agbonlahor finished it off for Aston Villa. With other teams results around them not going their way, Blues dropped to 18th in the league table. Birmingham's final game of April came on the 26th against Liverpool at St Andrew's. Birmingham went into this game with a decent record against them, drawing four and winning two of their last six meetings against Liverpool in the Premier League. Birmingham opened the scoring through Mikael Forssell on the 34th minute. Birmingham were looking comfortable throughout most of the game, and Sebastian Larsson scored a 30-yard free kick to make it 2–0. Birmingham however let their lead slip, after Peter Crouch and Yossi Benayoun both scored for Liverpool to share the points. Birmingham remained in 18th position in the league table.

May

At the end of season awards ceremony, held at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham, Sebastian Larsson swept the board of player-of-the-season honours, and also won the goal-of-the-season and "magic moment" awads for his stoppage-time goal at Tottenham Hotspur in December. Jordon Mutch was Academy player of the season, and Stephen Kelly received an outstanding achievement award for playing every minute of the Premier League season.^[17]

A must-win game for Birmingham against relegation rivals Fulham, described by manager Alex McLeish as 'the most important game of the season'.^[18] The first half ended goalless, but Fulham took the lead through Brian McBride to put them 1–0 up. Erik Nevland then doubled Fulham's tally in the 87th minute, and the game ended 2–0. It took Fulham out of the relegation zone, while Birmingham were left to fall down to 19th. Birmingham's final game of the season saw them score four goals against Blackburn Rovers. A first half goal from David Murphy was cancelled out by Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen early in the second half. After a miss from close range by Cameron Jerome, the striker responded by scoring two goals, with Fabrice Muamba getting a late goal. It turned out not to be enough however, as both Fulham and Reading secured wins, which left Birmingham to be relegated back to the Championship in 19th place. In Birmingham's last game in the 2007–08 Premier League season they beat Blackburn Rovers by four goals to one. The game saw the Birmingham fans calling for the board to resign after the club was relegated.^[19]

Post-season

Birmingham issued a statement confirming that CCTV footage of the pitch invasion had been given to the police and recommended the courts impose banning orders on anyone found guilty.^[20] They announced a profit of about £32.6 million, which was up from £14.3m the previous 12 months.^[21] Sammy Yu, speaking on behalf of major shareholder Carson Yeung, released a statement saying that Yeung still wanted to buy the club.^[22]

David Sullivan blamed former manager Steve Bruce for the club's relegation, accusing him of buying poorly the previous summer, and singled out Franck Queudrue and Richard Kingson as particularly poor, calling Kingson a "waste of space".^[23] Queudrue hit back, saying that he had not played enough to be judged so harshly.^[24] Sullivan apologised to Queudrue for his outburst,^[25] but not to Kingson, who expressed his sadness at the incident, which he described as a "slap in the face".^[26] Kingson was released: McLeish said "It's about opinions and we have other plans, so for the sake of his first-team future, we have let Richard move on."^[27]

Birmingham also decided to release youth players Asa Hall, David Howland, Adam Legzdins and Stefan Milojevic,^[28] McLeish chose not to pursue the purchase of loanee Rafael Schmitz,^[29] and Daniël de Ridder's contract was cancelled by mutual consent at the end of June; he joined Wigan Athletic the following day.^[30] The club were unable to agree a new contract with top scorer Mikael Forssell, and chose not to take up their two-year option, so he left for Hannover 96 on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling.^[31][32] Fabrice Muamba, the club's Young Player of the Year in 2006–07, signed for Bolton Wanderers for an initial £5m fee, with an extra £750,000 potentially payable in add-ons.^[33]

Two members of the backroom staff also left the club: fitness coach Dan Harris joined West Bromwich Albion, and physiotherapist Neil McDiarmid ended a 14-year connection with the club to concentrate on private practice.^[34]

McLeish said that he would not rush into signing new players, but that he would take time to make sure he buys quality players to help the club achieve promotion back to the Premier league at the first time of asking.^[35] He urged fans to be patient, as most signings would happen during July.^[36] He was aiming for a minimum squad size of 23,^[37] and expected to retain Larsson^[38] and McFadden.^[39] The club decided to activate the one-year option on Tunisian midfielder Mehdi Nafti's contract, which had been due to expire in June.^[40] McLeish told Maik Taylor he would remain as first-choice goalkeeper if he agreed a new contract;^[41] Taylor signed a two-year deal a few weeks later.^[42] It was confirmed that Everton midfielder Lee Carsley would join Birmingham on a free transfer when his contract expired.^[43]

Aberdeen University announced the award of an honorary degree to Alex McLeish in recognition of his distinguished service to football.^[44]

Premier League

Match details

General sources (match reports):^[45] Match content not verifiable from these sources is referenced individually.

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Refs
12 August 2007	13th	Chelsea	A	L	2–3	Forssell 15', Kapo 36'	41,590
15 August 2007	13th	Sunderland	H	D	2–2	Paul McShane 28', o.g., O'Connor 82'	24,898
18 August 2007	18th	West Ham United	H	L	0–1		24,961
25 August 2007	11th	Derby County	A	W	2–1	Jerome (2) 1', 63'	31,117
1 September 2007	16th	Middlesbrough	A	L	0–2		22,920
15 September 2007	12th	Bolton Wanderers	H	W	1–0	Kapo 37'	28,124
22 September 2007	12th	Liverpool	A	D	0–0		44,215
29 September 2007	14th	Manchester United	H	L	0–1		26,526
7 October 2007	13th	Blackburn Rovers	A	L	1–2	Jerome 68'	19,316
20 October 2007	14th	Manchester City	A	L	0–1		45,688
27 October 2007	13th	Wigan Athletic	H	W	3–2	Kapo (2) 26' pen., 81', Liam Ridgewell 67'	27,661
3 November 2007	14th	Everton	A	L	1–3	Kapo 80'	35,155
11 November 2007	15th	Aston Villa	H	L	1–2	Forssell 62'	26,539
24 November 2007	16th	Portsmouth	H	L	0–2		22,089
2 December 2007	12th	Tottenham Hotspur	A	W	3–2	McSheffrey 24' pen., Jerome 62', Larsson 90+2'	35,635
8 December 2007	13th	Newcastle United	A	L	1–2	Jerome 9'	49,948
15 December 2007	15th	Reading	H	D	1–1	Forssell 4'	27,300
22 December 2007	16th	Bolton Wanderers	A	L	0–3		19,111
26 December 2007	14th	Middlesbrough	H	W	3–0	Downing 22' o.g., Forssell 45', McSheffrey 90' pen.	24,094
29 December 2007	15th	Fulham	H	D	1–1	Forssell 55'	28,293
1 January 2008	15th	Manchester United	A	L	0–1		75,459
12 January 2008	16th	Arsenal	A	D	1–1	O'Connor 48'	60,037
19 January 2008	16th	Chelsea	H	L	0–1		26,567
29 January 2008	17th	Sunderland	A	L	0–2		37,674
2 February 2008	18th	Derby County	H	D	1–1	Larsson 68'	25,924
9 February 2008	17th	West Ham United	A	D	1–1	McFadden 16' pen.	34,884
23 February 2008	17th	Arsenal	H	D	2–2	McFadden (2) 28', 90+5' pen.	27,195
1 March 2008	16th	Tottenham Hotspur	H	W	4–1	Forssell (3) 7', 59', 81', Larsson 55'	26,055
12 March 2008	17th	Portsmouth	A	L	2–4	Muamba 10', Larsson 40'	20,138
17 March 2008	16th	Newcastle United	H	D	1–1	McFadden 33'	25,777
22 March 2008	17th	Reading	A	L	1–2	Zárate 64'	24,085
29 March 2008	17th	Manchester City	H	W	3–1	Zárate (2) 40', 54', McSheffrey 77' pen.	22,962
5 April 2008	17th	Wigan Athletic	A	L	0–2		17,926
12 April 2008	17th	Everton	H	D	1–1	Zárate 83'	25,923
20 April 2008	18th	Aston Villa	A	L	1–5	Forssell 67'	42,584
25 April 2008	18th	Liverpool	H	D	2–2	Forssell 34', Larsson 55'	29,252
3 May 2008	19th	Fulham	A	L	0–2		25,308
11 May 2008	19th	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	4–0	Murphy 31', Jerome (2) 73', 89', Muamba 90+3'	26,668

League table (part)

Final Premier League table (part)

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
16th	Bolton Wanderers	38	9	10	19	36	54	−18	37
17th	Fulham	38	8	12	18	38	60	−22	36
18th	Reading	38	10	6	22	41	66	−25	36
19th	Birmingham City	38	8	11	19	46	62	−16	35
20th	Derby County	38	1	8	29	20	89	−69	11
Key	Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Source	[46]

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	8	11	19	46	62	−16	35	6	8	5	30	23	+7	2	3	14	16	39	−23

Source: ^[46]

FA Cup

Birmingham's third round encounter pitted them against League One opponents Huddersfield Town at the Galpharm Stadium. Huddersfield took an early lead thanks to Luke Beckett, but the Blues struck back with Garry O'Connor on target to take the game into half time at 1–1. But it was to be Huddersfield's day as a late goal from Chris Brandon saw them advance into the fourth round.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Third round	5 January 2008	Huddersfield Town	A	L	1–2	O'Connor 19'	13,410	[45]

Football League Cup

The last game in August saw League Two Hereford United visit St Andrew's in the second round of the League Cup. Two first half goals from Garry O'Connor and Gary McSheffrey saw Blues lead at half time, only for Hereford to fight back in the second half to score through Theo Robinson. But it was too little too late from the Herefordshire side as Blues dumped them out of the cup. Blues' exploits in the League Cup came to an undramatic end as they bowed out to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. Goals from David Bentley, Matt Derbyshire and Roque Santa Cruz were enough to see off a much weakened Blues team.

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Report
Second round	28 August 2007	Hereford United	H	W	2–1	O'Connor 27', McSheffrey 38'	10,185	[45]
Third round	24 October 2006	Blackburn Rovers	A	L	0–3		9,205	[45]

Transfers

In

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref
11 May 2007	Fabrice Muamba	Arsenal	Undisclosed	[47]
28 June 2007	Garry O'Connor	Lokomotiv Moscow	£2.7m	[48]
29 June 2007	Olivier Kapo	Juventus	Free	[49]
1 July 2007	Stuart Parnaby	(Middlesbrough)	Free	[50]
3 July 2007	Daniël de Ridder	(Celta Vigo)	Free	[51]
4 July 2007	Richard Kingson	Antalyaspor	Undisclosed	[52]
3 August 2007	Franck Queudrue	Fulham	£2.5m	[53]
3 August 2007	Liam Ridgewell	Aston Villa	£2m	[53]
16 January 2008	David Murphy	Hibernian	£1.5m	[54]
18 January 2008	James McFadden	Everton	£4.75m	[54]

Brackets round club names denote the player's contract with that club expired before he joined Birmingham City.

Out

Date	Player	Fee	Joined	Ref
1 July 2007	Bruno N'Gotty	Free	(Leicester City)	[55]
10 July 2007	Julian Gray	Free	(Coventry City)	[56]
13 July 2007	Stephen Clemence	£1m	Leicester City	[57]
20 July 2007	DJ Campbell	£2.1m	Leicester City	[58]
7 January 2008	Neil Kilkenny	Undisclosed	Leeds United	[59]
8 January 2008	Sam Oji	Free	(Leyton Orient)	[60]
8 January 2008	Rowan Vine	£1m	Queens Park Rangers	[61]
14 January 2008	Olivier Tébily	Released	(Toronto)	[62]
22 January 2008	Neil Danns	£600,000	Crystal Palace	[63]
24 January 2008	Mat Sadler	£750,000	Watford	[64]
16 May 2008	Richard Kingson	Released	(Wigan Athletic)	[27]
16 June 2008	Fabrice Muamba	£5m	Bolton Wanderers	[33]
30 June 2008	Daniël de Ridder	Released	(Wigan Athletic)	[30]
30 June 2008	Mikael Forssell	Released	(Hannover 96)	[32]
30 June 2008	Asa Hall	Released	(Luton Town)	[28]
30 June 2008	David Howland	Released	(Port Vale)	[28]
30 June 2008	Adam Legzdins	Released	(Crewe Alexandra)	[28]
30 June 2008	Stefan Milojevic	Released	(CS Chênois)	[28][65]

Brackets round club names denote the player joined that club after his Birmingham City contract expired.

Loan in

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref
6 July 2007	Rafael Schmitz	Lille	End of season	[66]
10 August 2007	Johan Djourou	Arsenal	January 2008	[67]
31 August 2007	Borja Oubiña	Celta Vigo	11 February 2008	[68]
31 August 2007	Wilson Palacios	Deportivo Olimpia	2 January 2008	[69]
21 January 2008	Mauro Zárate	Al-Sadd	End of season	[70]

Loan out

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref
10 August 2007	Neil Kilkenny	Oldham Athletic	1 January 2008	[71]
28 August 2007	Sam Oji	Leyton Orient	Three months	[72]
31 August 2007	Sone Aluko	Aberdeen	End of season	[73]
1 October 2007	Adam Legzdins	Halifax Town	End of season	[74]
2 October 2007	Rowan Vine	Queens Park Rangers	January 2008	[75]
1 November 2007	Martin Taylor	Sheffield United	8 December 2007	[76]
8 November 2007	Krystian Pearce	Notts County	Two months	[77]
16 January 2008	Asa Hall	Shrewsbury Town	End of season	[78]
23 January 2008	David Howland	Port Vale	End of season	[79]
31 January 2008	Artur Krysiak	Gretna	End of season	[80]
31 January 2008	Krystian Pearce	Port Vale	Three months	[81]

Appearances and goals

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with squad numbers struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players included in matchday squads

No.[82]	Pos	Nat	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals!
1	GK	NIR	Maik Taylor	34	0	1	0	0	0	35	0	1	0
2	DF	IRE	Stephen Kelly	38	0	1	0	1	0	40	0	2	0
3	DF	ENG	Mat Sadler	3 (2)	0	0	0	2	0	5 (2)	0	0	0
4	DF	ENG	Martin Taylor	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	0	0	1
5	DF	BRA	Rafael Schmitz*	12 (3)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	12 (4)	0	2	0
6	DF	ENG	Liam Ridgewell	35	1	1	0	1	0	37	1	11	0
7	MF	SWE	Sebastian Larsson	32 (3)	6	1	0	1	0	34 (3)	6	5	0
8	FW	SCO	Garry O'Connor	5 (18)	2	1	1	2	1	8 (18)	4	0	0
9	FW	FIN	Mikael Forssell	21 (9)	9	1	0	1	0	23 (9)	9	0	0
10	FW	ENG	Cameron Jerome	21 (12)	7	0 (1)	0	0	0	21 (13)	7	3	0
11	MF	ENG	Gary McSheffrey	24 (8)	3	1	0	1	1	26 (8)	4	4	0
12	MF	TUN	Mehdi Nafti	19 (7)	0	0	0	1	0	20 (7)	0	8	0
13	GK	IRE	Colin Doyle	3	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	3 (2)	0	1	0
14	DF	ENG	David Murphy	14	1	0	0	0	0	14	1	2	0
15	DF	FRA	Franck Queudrue	14 (2)	0	1	0	0	0	15 (2)	0	4	1
16	DF	SUI	Johan Djourou*	13	0	0	0	0	0	13	0	0	0
16	FW	SCO	James McFadden	10 (2)	4	0	0	0	0	10 (2)	4	2	0
17	MF	ENG	Neil Danns	0 (2)	0	0	0	2	0	2 (2)	0	0	0
18	GK	GHA	Richard Kingson	1	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	0	0
19	FW	ENG	Rowan Vine	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
19	FW	ARG	Mauro Zárate*	6 (8)	4	0	0	0	0	6 (8)	4	1	0
20	MF	NED	Daniël de Ridder	6 (4)	0	1	0	1	0	8 (4)	0	1	0
21	DF	ENG	Stuart Parnaby	4 (9)	0	0	0	2	0	6 (9)	0	2	0
22	MF	NIR	Damien Johnson	17	0	0	0	1	0	18	0	5	1
23	FW	FRA	Olivier Kapo	22 (4)	5	0	0	0	0	22 (4)	5	5	0
24	DF	TUN	Radhi Jaïdi	18	0	1	0	1	0	20	0	6	0
25	MF	ENG	Sone Aluko	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
26	MF	ENG	Fabrice Muamba	37	2	1	0	0	0	38	2	5	0
28	MF	HON	Wilson Palacios*	4 (3)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	4 (4)	0	2	0
29	MF	ESP	Borja Oubiña*	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	0
30	DF	ENG	Krystian Pearce	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	MF	ENG	Jordon Mutch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	MF	NIR	David Howland[lower-alpha 1]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

1. Birmingham had originally selected the 15-year-old Jordon Mutch for the League Cup fourth round tie against Blackburn Rovers in September 2007, having obtained confirmation from the Premier League that it was within the rules for a boy of that age to play, but were informed less than two hours before kick-off that under the Football Association's child protection policy Mutch would not be eligible. Special dispensation was granted for Howland, who had not been allocated a squad number, to take his place on the bench wearing a numberless shirt.^[83]

Players not included in matchday squads

No.[82]	Pos	Nat	Name
14	MF	AUS	Neil Kilkenny
27	MF	CIV	Olivier Tébily

References

General

• Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
• Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
• Source for match dates, league positions and results: "Birmingham City 2007–2008: Results". Statto Organisation. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
• Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 450–51.
• Source for goal times: "Birmingham Results 2007/08". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
• Source for transfers: "Birmingham Transfers 2007/08". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 July 2013.

Specific

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