Sat 15 Jul - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 2mins
Derby County crank up their preparations this afternoon when they take on Macclesfield Town in their latest pre-season outing at Moss Rose.
There are just three weeks to go until the new Sky Bet Championship season and in our countdown to the 2017/18 campaign, dcfc.co.uk has been previewing all of the opponents Gary Rowett’s side will come up against.
After taking a look at Aston Villa and Barnsley, Birmingham City are next up…
Birmingham City
Manager: Harry Redknapp
Nickname: The Blues
Stadium Capacity: 30,016
Finishing Position Last Season: 19th (53 Points)
Last Season’s Top Scorer: Lukas Jutkiewicz (10 Goals)
Promotion Odds (According to Coral): 8/1
Home – Saturday 23rd September 2017
Away – Saturday 13th January 2018
Derby County 1-0 Birmingham City
Birmingham City 1-2 Derby County
An optimistic 2016/17 season awaited Birmingham City after two previous campaigns of progress under the reigns of Gary Rowett.
Looking to build on their 10th place finish in the season before, Birmingham made a bright start and, if their early form was anything to go by, looked set to challenge for the play-off places.
However, after a change of ownership, just five losses in 19 games was not enough to secure Rowett’s position and he was sacked in mid-December to be replaced by former Watford boss and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola.
Former Italy international Zola had to wait nine games before he claimed his first win as Blues boss.
Over the remainder of the season, City’s aspirations of a top-half finish began to evaporate and after a run of nine games without a win towards the end of the season, Zola resigned with Birmingham just three points outside the relegation places.
Less than a week later, the experienced Harry Redknapp was announced as Zola’s successor and his three games as manager saw him guide the Blue to two crucial wins to sustain their status in the Championship.
Following the end of the season, Redknapp was announced as Birmingham’s permanent manager ahead of the 2017/18 campaign and is gearing up for his first season back in the Championship since leading Queens Park Rangers to the Premier League in 2014.
After showing early intent in the transfer market by signing promotion-winning goalkeeper David Stockdale from Brighton & Hove Albion, highly-rated centre back Marc Roberts from Barnsley and Angers midfielder Cheikh Ndoye, it is hard to envisage that the Blues will be battling against relegation for a second season running.
