‘They seem to be in a hurry to get back to the Premier League. They’re very business-like’ David Prutton rates Birmingham City’s back-to-back promotion prospects

Earlier this month, Birmingham City joined their fellow Championship new boys in the fly-on-the-wall documentary club, as they released an Amazon Prime documentary series charting the club’s new ownership.

As was the case with Wrexham, City were able to call on some stateside stardust to sparkle on proceedings, with NFL icon Tom Brady taking centre stage on the show which documents their 2023/24 Championship relegation and immediate, record-breaking return.

Again like Wrexham, Birmingham City’s promotion adds an intriguing subplot to the new second-tier campaign, not least because of the rivalry the ultra-competitive Brady seemed to be intent on stoking up in front of the cameras last season.

Prutton assesses Birmingham’s chances

It is clear that Brady and majority owner Tom Wagner want to see their club back in the top tier, but what does Sky Sports presenter David Prutton make of their chances?

“They seem to be in a hurry to get back to the Premier League,” the former England U21 skipper tells FourFourTwo. “They’re very business-like, their mindset is, ‘Yes, we f**ked up by getting relegated to League One, but we got ourselves out of it sharpish and now we’re looking to go again.’

It’s not completely out of the realms of possibility – they won League One at a canter, while playing some wonderfully expansive football.

“Outside of the teams with parachute payments, Birmingham and Wrexham have the biggest financial clout. I spoke to Blues manager Chris Davies at the end of last season – he’s very focused.

“They can use last season as a springboard.”

Last year’s season saw City storm to the League One title, winning 111 points, 19 more than Ryan Reynolds and company’s Wrexham.

This came after boss Davies was heavily backed in the transfer market, as the club brought in 17 new faces, spearheaded by the arrival of forward Jay Stansfield, who cost more than £10million plus add-ons from Fulham.

The club are yet to reach last summer’s spending levels, with the signing of £7.7m striker Kyogo Furuhashi their biggest deal so far, but the club have bought in some eye-catching names on free transfers, including Demari Gray, Phil Neuman and Bright Osayi-Samuel.

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.