Birmingham City links to Chelsea hero Diego Costa summed up turbulent time: View | OneFootball

Birmingham City endured off-field turbulence for much of BSHL's time at the helm, with some poor managerial decisions being made and no clear strategy at St Andrew's being implemented.

It could be argued that Blues are now in a better state off the pitch, with Tom Wagner being preferred to the previous ownership, but some poor decision-making has left the club in danger of being relegated at the end of this term.

The fact they have been in relegation danger, despite their recent win against Preston North End, is a travesty for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, they were able to start building for the long term because of the revenue they generated from transfers during the summer, and made some promising permanent and loan additions.

Not only this, but the Midlands club also made an excellent start to the season under John Eustace and messed it up by replacing him with Wayne Rooney.

Gary Rowett could get them out of the sticky situation they find themselves in, but they have been just as underwhelming on the pitch in terms of results as they have been in recent seasons, which is a big shame considering they would have wanted this campaign to be a real step forward.

Diego Costa's links to Birmingham City

Costa's links to Blues back in May 2022 provided the supporters with some excitement.

According to the Daily Mirror at the time, Maxi Lopez and Paul Richardson wanted to recruit him if they managed to get their takeover deal approved.

Lopez and Richardson were in negotiations to purchase Blues at the time, but a deal was never approved in the end and they dropped out of the race.

Eventually, a takeover happened the following summer and as for Richardson and Lopez, they were charged by the EFL in April last year for breaching regulations with the pair having a big influence over the club without approval.

Diego Costa's links to Birmingham City summed up a turbulent period

The spring and summer of 2022 was a strange time for Blues.

In terms of what happened on the field, they started the 2021/22 campaign brightly but declined later on in the season and were arguably lucky to remain afloat in the Championship.

If it wasn't for Reading's six-point deduction and Derby County's 21-point deduction, Blues would have only stayed up on goal difference in the end.

This poor form led to uncertainty regarding Lee Bowyer's future - but he wasn't relieved of his duties until July in the end - giving successor John Eustace just weeks to prepare for the 2022/23 campaign.

Things were a shambles off the pitch and takeover speculation probably didn't help, with another party involving Donald Muir also being linked around the period of spring and summer of 2022.

Thankfully for the club, good work was happening behind the scenes to bring some players in, although the fact six loanees were brought in during that summer window reinforced two things.

Firstly, the staff didn't have much money to work with and secondly, Blues weren't building for the long term.

Despite his previous success, Costa wouldn't have been an addition that made much sense - and he wouldn't have fitted into a specific strategy at St Andrew's.

In fairness, there didn't seem to be much of an inspiring transfer strategy at the club at that time. It was about getting through the short term and trying to survive in the second tier.

Eustace played a huge part in keeping them in this division up until this day - and did very well despite off-field speculation.

It's just a shame for him that off-field instability and the current regime's terrible decision to sack him meant his time at St Andrew's wasn't better.

In terms of where Birmingham are now, they are probably in a better off-field position despite some questionable decisions from the current ownership.

As for Costa, he is currently playing back in his country of birth, Brazil, with the 35-year-old plying his trade for Gremio.