Awful Tom Wagner decision at Birmingham City feels a distant memory now | OneFootball

Birmingham City's decision to sack John Eustace in 2023 is now just a distant memory

Birmingham City owner Tom Wagner earned the ire of the supporters when he sacked John Eustace in October 2023, but that mistake is now just a matter of the past.

The Blues lost 3-1 to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night, but the result has not put any dampener on the mood at St. Andrew’s.

The Midlands outfit still hold a comfortable lead over third-placed Wrexham in the League One table, and promotion is all but certain barring a remarkable drop in form.

Chris Davies has proved himself a solid, exciting appointment as manager since arriving from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, and fans can start to get excited about their return to the Championship.

While a fight for promotion straight away will be difficult, it’s clear that the long-term ambition at Birmingham is to be in the mix as quickly as possible.

Birmingham have overcome Wayne Rooney appointment

The appointment of Wayne Rooney in place of Eustace was met with surprise and disappointment by supporters.

The 39-year-old was a disastrous hire, and their drop in form played a crucial part in their relegation to League One.

He lasted just 15 games in charge, but a total of only two wins saw them plummet from their sixth place position under Eustace to an eventual relegation.

This led to a lot of distrust in the new Birmingham owner, who tried to fix what wasn’t broken with Eustace in charge.

But that distrust has been worked on and now there is a lot more faith in Wagner’s plans for the club going forward.

The US businessman has done well to turn around that perception by investing in the team and learning from his mistakes.

He has been a very forthcoming owner, which has also made for a big change of pace compared to the lack of communication and transparency that supporters had become used to under the previous regime.

Birmingham’s upwards trajectory

Not only are Birmingham now looking certain for promotion back to the Championship, they are also doing so with an exciting brand of attacking football.

The club are also working on expanding their facilities, including a brand-new stadium and training ground complex.

These are ambitious plans, and signal to supporters that going back to the Championship is not their ceiling.

Birmingham have been outside the Premier League since 2011, and have not looked particularly close to getting back there since their play-off loss in 2012.

But there is now hope that the upwards trajectory the team is on can lead to a promotion push in the near future.

Signings like Jay Stansfield stand out for being wildly expensive by League One standards, but the £15 million spent to sign him shows that there is money to spend on the first team.

This summer will be interesting for Birmingham, as there is little doubt that this spending will suddenly stop now that they should be back in the second division.