2009–10 Birmingham City F.C. season
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The 2009–10 season was
Birmingham City Football Club Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first tea ...
's sixth season in the Premier League and their 56th in the first tier of English football. The side was managed by former Scotland manager Alex McLeish, who successfully guided the side to promotion from the Championship the previous season.


Review


Carson Yeung takeover

Following his unsuccessful attempt to purchase the club during the 2007–08 season,
Carson Yeung Carson Yeung Ka Sing (; born 27 February 1960) is a Hong Kong businessman who, until February 2014, was the president of English football club Birmingham City F.C., and chairman and an executive director of Birmingham International Holdings ( ...
returned to complete a deal to purchase Birmingham City. On 20 August, Carson Yeung's
Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...
-listed Grandtop International placed a deposit of £3 million ahead of a new proposed takeover bid. This was quickly followed by Yeung's decision to donate £5 million to the club for the purchase of Middlesbrough's Tuncay, but such a gift would have broken HKSE rules, and the player signed for
Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
instead. The takeover date was put back from October to mid-November, because of a delay to the EGM required to approve the issue of an additional 50% shares, following his capture of a £57m bridging loan to cover the purchase of the club. Formal documents outlining Yeung's £1-per-share offer were sent out to club shareholders in mid-September. By 24 September, he had acceptances on 81.7% of the shares, including the holdings of former owners David Sullivan, David Gold and Ralph Gold, and by the closing date of 6 October, the takeover was complete, with acceptances in respect of 94% of the shares, a level allowing a compulsory purchase of the remainder. At a press conference on 15 October, the board and executive was named as: Yeung himself, president; Michael Wiseman, vice-president;
Vico Hui Vico Hui Ho Luek (born ) is a Hong Kong-based businessman. Until June/July 2012 he was the chairman of the English football club Birmingham City F.C. and chief executive officer of Birmingham International Holdings Birmingham Sports Holdings ...
, chairman; Peter Pannu and Sammy Yu, vice chairmen; and
Michael Dunford Michael John Dunford is a football administrator, who is currently Chief Executive at Plymouth Argyle Football Club. Career His first role in football came as General Manager of Derby County, a role he was at from July 1992 until 5 November 19 ...
, chief executive. The name of the holding company was changed from Grandtop International to
Birmingham International Holdings Birmingham Sports Holdings () is an investment holding company owned by Chinese businessman Paul Suen through his investment company Trillion Trophy Asia. History Registered in the Cayman Islands, Grandtop International Holdings Limited (GIH), th ...
.


Chronological list of events

The following is a list of all significant events to occur during the 2009–10 season. This list does not include transfers, which are listed in the transfer section, or results, which are listed in the matches section. *7 July: The club broke its transfer record by signing Christian Benítez from Mexican side
Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...
for a fee that will rise to $12.5 million (around £7.75m). *7 August: Co-owner David Sullivan and managing director Karren Brady were told that no further action would be taken against them after a two-year investigation into corruption in football. *14 August: Vice-chairman Jack Wiseman died at the age of 92. *17 November: Former Aberdeen player Malky Thomson is appointed as reserve team manager. *8 January: Alex McLeish was awarded the manager of the month award for December. *3 February: Former Birmingham goalkeeper and manager
Gil Merrick Gilbert Harold Merrick (26 January 1922 – 3 February 2010) was an English footballer and football manager. Considered one of the best goalkeepers in the UK during the mid-1950s, Merrick was one in a long line of great Birmingham City keepers ...
died at the age of 88.


Pre-season


Premier League


Match details

:General sources (match reports):
Individual match reports are linked from this page.
Match content not verifiable from these sources is referenced individually.


League table


Results summary


FA Cup


League Cup

Birmingham entered the 2009–10 League Cup in the second round. The draw saw them travel down to the south coast to play League One team Southampton for the second time in consecutive seasons. Goals from midfielders
Lee Carsley Lee Kevin Carsley (born 28 February 1974) is a former professional footballer who is head coach of England U21. In a playing career lasting 17 years, he is best remembered for his spells as a midfielder in the Premier League and Football Leagu ...
and Lee Bowyer cancelled out Adam Lallana's strike to see Birmingham progress to the next round 2–1. In the third round, Birmingham visited fellow Premier League side
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
. An early goal from Jordan Henderson and a strike by
Fraizer Campbell Fraizer Lee Campbell (born 13 September 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for Huddersfield Town. He has also played for Manchester United, Royal Antwerp, Hull City, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, ...
midway through the first half was enough to see Birmingham knocked out of the cup 2–0.


Appearances and goals

:Source: :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. :a. Soccerbase's stats exclude Birmingham's opening goal against Burnley on 1 May, originally credited as a Brian Jensen own goal but awarded to Jerome by the Dubious Goals Panel.


Transfers

Before the start of the season,
Stephen Carr Stephen Carr (born 29 August 1976) is an Irish former professional footballer who played for and captained Birmingham City from 2009 to 2013. He previously played for Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur and, for a shorter spell, Newcastle U ...
was given a new two-year contract and Cameron Jerome signed a five-year deal. Youngsters Jacob Rowe and Shaun Timmins were given their first professional one-year contracts and Jared Wilson received a one-year extension.


In

: Brackets round club names indicate the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Birmingham.


Out

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


Loan in


Loan out


Transfer notes

* It is believed that the fee paid for Scott Dann is in the region of £3.5 million. * Birmingham City did not mention an official cost for Giovanny Espinoza. Newspaper reports suggest that the fee was lower than €600,000 (£375,000). * A fee and personal terms for Benítez were agreed on 3 June 2009, but were later renegotiated after a problem with Benítez's knee was discovered during his medical. Benítez officially joined the club on 7 July 2009. The fee for Benítez is thought to be $2 million (about £1.2 million) rising to $12.5 million (about £7.75 million) with add-ons, and also includes a 'get out' clause that will see him return to Mexico at the end of the season if his knee problem becomes serious. * It was announced on 15 May 2009 that Artur Krysiak would be released from the club when his contract expired on 30 June 2009. It was later announced that the side had re-signed the Polish goalkeeper. * Radhi Jaïdi, Stephen Kelly and Mehdi Nafti all left the club when their contracts expired. Kelly joined Fulham, while Nafti joined Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. Jaïdi signed for Southampton on 2 September 2009. * Robin Shroot was originally loaned out to Burton Albion for the season, but was later cancelled, with the player returning to Birmingham on 1 January. * Artur Krysiak's loan deal with Burton Albion was originally a one-month loan deal. This was extended until January on 1 September. The deal was further extended on 24 December to cover the remainder of the season. * Jordon Mutch's loan deal to Hereford United, and later to Doncaster Rovers, were both Football League Youth Loans. This meant he would still be eligible for Birmingham City reserve and academy fixtures, but Hereford/Doncaster fixtures would take priority if on the same day.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Birmingham City F.C. Season Birmingham City F.C. seasons Birmingham City