Birmingham City Career

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Birmingham City Career

Post 1

Hi, I'm Mathew, and this is my first post on fm-base.

I have started a managerial career with the club I support, Birmingham City.

I chose Birmingham, not only because I support them, but for the financial challenge - as I'm sure most of you are aware, The Blues finances are shockingly bad!

Tactics

I used a 4-4-2 formation for the pre-season friendlies, then 4-5-1 for the league and Capital One Cup.

I then changed to a 4-4-2 diamond formation for the home game against Sheffield Wednesday and Capital One Cup game against Southampton.

Transfers


Only two players were signed, both free, Mark Howard (CB) and Vasilis Pliatsikas (DM).

Paul Robinson left for Charlton Athletic for ?20,000 and quite a few youngsters went out on loan.



Results


Sky Bet Championship


Capital One 3rd Round

A fantastic performance from The Blues against Premier League side Southampton - after a pulsating game ending in a 4-4 draw, we were finally defeated on penalties.


Parent Club

We have Liverpool as a Parent Club and will receive over ?114,000 per season from them and will host an annual friendly against them at St. Andrews.

Thanks for reading,

Matt
 
Great start mate.

It's cheating to pick Liverpool as your parent team, we've never won at St. Andrews before! :P
 
I was surprised by our record against Liverpool. I recommended them to the board purely because they paid more money to us than Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
 
Birmingham City Career

Post 2

Hi again, this is post 2 of my Birmingham City career.

Parent Club

Here's the Parent Club agreement with Liverpool - nearly ?115,000 per season will be received from them.

Fixtures and Results

After the Capital One Cup 3rd Round defeat to Southampton we picked up 1 point in three matches, but with a change in formation, we then won 3 matches in a row.


Tactics

The tactics were changed, resulting in 3 wins in a row, to a 5-3-2 formation, using wing backs and attacking midfielders (left and right).


Leeds United 1 - 4 Birmingham City

Best result so far of my Sky Bet Championship campaign - a brilliant 1 - 4 away victory at Leeds United. Statistically, it was a close game, however, we showed Leeds how to finish!



Sky Bet Championship


He's signed!

Chris Burke is the first Blues player to have signed a new contract with the club up until 2016 worth ?13.75k per week - his average is currently 7.40 and is one of the top performers for The Blues.



Thanks again for reading,

Matt
 
well done so far...shame you beat my team leeds lol but keep up the great work
 
We beat them using the 5-3-2 formation - big surprise for us, but a vital win.
 
Birmingham City Career

Post 3

Hi all,

Welcome to my third post of my managerial career with Birmingham City.

Finances

To show you just how poor Blues finances are, we are projected / estimated to be ?30 million in debt within a couple of seasons.

Results and Fixtures

We've become 'draw specialists', drawing 4 out of the last 5 Sky Bet Championship games - if we lose to Brighton I will look into a new formation to use. We were unlucky to lose at home to Premier League side Crystal Palace in the FA Cup 3rd Round - an even game throughout. :-(



Sky Bet Championship

We currently occupy 13th position in the league - pity those 4 draws were not wins?



Transfers

We are hoping to sign Leon Clarke on loan from Coventry City, during the January transfer window, till the end of the season to help with the striking options. We will be signing 2 centre backs when their contracts expire with Motherwell and Rangers at the end of the current season (to replace Bartley and Burn when they return to their Parent Clubs).


View attachment 429272
Leon Clarke to hopefully be signed during the January transfer window on loan.

View attachment 429270
Shaun Hutchinson to sign for The Blues at the end of the season from Motherwell on a free transfer - rated 3 1/2 stars.

View attachment 429269
Luca Gasparotto to sign for The Blues at the end of the season from Rangers on a free transfer - rated 4 stars.

​
Thanks again for reading.

Matt
 
Birmingham City Career

Post 4

Hi again, and welcome to my Birmingham City managerial career.

33 matches have now been played in the Sky Bet Championship and here's the career so far.

Results and Fixtures

After the FA Cup 3rd Round defeat by Crystal Palace, we went on to lose only 3 out of the next 9 matches in the Sky Bet Championship, winning 5 of those games. :-)

This is due to yet another change in formation (4 defenders - 1 defensive midfielder - 3 attacking midfielders - 2 strikers) - I will show you a screenshot of the formation in my next post.


Charlton Athletic 1 - 4 Birmingham City

Another fantastic away victory for The Blues - despite going down to an early goal, and in part, thanks to their goalkeeper being sent off after only 14 minutes for handling the ball outside the 18-yard box.



Sky Bet Championship

We are currently 8th in the league - just 4 points off the playoff position - extremely pleased, considering we were predicted to finish 18th!



He's signing for The Blues

We have Ross Stewart (18 year old goalkeeper) from Motherwell signing for us on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season - rated a potential 3 stars.


A little help from you guys!

I have Koby Arthur, an 18 year old, potential 4 1/2 star, striker / attacking midfielder (winger) whose contract expires at the end of the season.



Several times now, I have offered him a new contract but his work permit is turned down. Koby has played several matches for The Blues plus several substitute appearances.

Is there anyway I can get him the work permit?

Thanks again for reading,

Matt
 
Birmingham City Career

Post 5

End of my 1st season

The 1st season of my managerial career with Birmingham City as come to an end and here's the overview.

Results

A shocking 6 defeats in a row, and only 1 goal scored, after 2 positive results against Sheffield Wednesday and Reading. However, we ended the season on a high winning our last 3 matches.

Sky Bet Championship

We finish the season in 10th position (predicted to finish 18th) - however, we were only 6 points from the playoffs - if only those 6 defeats were wins?


Manager overview

A 42% win percentage - not bad, I feel. :-)



Squad overview

Dan Burn was our best performer over the season with an average rating of 7.20.



Tactics

I am currently using a 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 formation - this was used in the last 3 fixtures of the season (resulting in 3 wins).



Thanks again for reading.

Matt
 
Cheers mate. I will soon be updating, with transfers, fixtures and our new owners.
 
Great signings from rangers and motherwell had them both on my rangers save. If played consistently they will develop well.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
I was pleased to get them on free transfers - plus, due to Blues poor finances at the time, and with Burn and Bartley returning to their parent clubs, they were too good not to sign.
 
Birmingham City Career

Post 6

Preparation for Season 2

First big news - Birmingham City have a new owner, Jeremy Wray.

Generous owners

We have just over ?125,000 available for wages and I was able to spend over ?7.5 million on transfers in preparation for my second season.


Transfers in and out

Paul Caddis (?160,000), Mark Howard (?40,000) and Blues loyal goalkeeper, Colin Doyle (?110,000) left the club along with many contract expired players.


The following players were signed:

Shane Lowry - defender (left, centre) from Wolverhampton Wanderers for ?825,000 - rated 3 1/2 stars.


Junior Stanislas - attacking midfielder (right, left) from Burnley for ?550,000 - rated 4 stars.


Leigh Griffiths - striker (centre) from Wolverhampton Wanderers for ?2 million - rated 4 stars.


Cristian Battocchio - midfielder (centre) from Watford for ?4.3 million - rated 4 1/2 stars.


Sebastian Coates - defender (centre) from Liverpool on loan (no loan fee or wage contribution) - rated 4 1/2 stars.


I have also offered a contract to free agent, Nacer Barazite - attacking midfielder (centre), and I'm waiting for his response - rated 4 stars.


Fixture list

A very disappointing lost to our Under 21's - we host 3 German 'reserve' sides followed by our Parent Club, Liverpool. We open the Sky Bet Championship season at home against Derby County, followed by a home tie against Colchester United in the Capital One Cup 1st Round.


Thanks again for reading,

Matt
 
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