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History
The club was formed in 1875 by a group of cricketers from Holy Church in Bordesley Green and they came under the name Small Heath Alliance. Two years later they moved to their first ground, Muntz Street.
In 1905 they changed their name to Birmingham City and, due to massive growth at the club, moved to St Andrew's – the first game played there was against Middlesbrough in front of 32,000 people and ended 0-0.
The first real period of success came in the early 60s when they made it to the Fairs Cup (UEFA Cup) final twice, losing to Barcelona and Roma, while they also won the League Cup – their only major honour to date.
By 1989 however they were playing third division football and couldn't reach the top flight despite Trevor Francis guiding the club to three play-off defeats.
Steve Bruce arrived then however, and managed what Francis couldn't when he guided the Blues into the Premiership with a penalty shoot-out victory over Norwich in 2002.
Bruce kept them in the Premiership for four seasons with a best finish of tenth before they were relegated back into the second tier in 2006.
Bruce remained at the helm despite many supporters calling for his sacking and Birmingham benefited from that continuity with an immediate return to the Premier League.
However, after an indifferent start to the season Alex McLeish was brought in in place of Steve Bruce, who went to Wigan.
Major Honours
League Cup Winners:
1963
