Birmingham City have Wolves in their sights as the new League One campaign handed a delicious twist

Birmingham City might be a League One club, but you wouldn’t know it at St Andrew’s or among the Blues’ excited fans. Ahead of the 2024/25 season, enthusiasm is brimming as a new manager and a new-look team prepare to get the club’s Premier League dream back on track.

Blues owners Knighthead arrived in the Second City promising to bring top-flight football back to the club, only to see their plans go badly awry.

In the end, their first achievement was relegation to the third tier for the first time in more than 30 years. But a bittersweet end to last season came with a promise, and now they are making good on that big time.

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In has come former Tottenham, Celtic and Leicester City assistant Chris Davies as manager, followed by an exciting line-up of new recruits.

Marc Leonard became their eighth summer signing of the transfer window earlier this week, following the likes of German defender Christoph Klarer and Icelandic attacking midfielder Willum Willumsson.

Alex Cochrane and Alfie May have also been signed, while there is also talk of breaking the League One transfer record by bringing striker Jay Stansfield back to St Andrew’s from Fulham on a permanent basis after his loan success last season, one of the few bright spots of a blighted campaign that saw six managers in charge of the club at different times.

It is no wonder the Blues are heavily backed to win the League One title at a canter, but it seems they could do so in record-breaking fashion too. According to online bookies bet365, Birmingham City are 5/1 to break Wolves League One points record, an achievement that will no doubt warm the heart of any self-respecting Blues supporter with it coming at the expense of a rival Midland club.

bet365’s Steve Freeth said: “Blues fans not only had to deal with relegation to League One last season, they also had the double whammy of second city rivals Aston Villa making it to the Champions League, rubbing further jump into the wound.

“However, there’s an air of confidence coming out of St Andrew’s right now with not only their fans, but the betting community thinking that an instant return to the Championship is very much on the cards.

“The purse strings have been loosened with noticeable transfer business being completed in B9, so much so that the requests are no longer centered on Blues winning the title, but rather how many points they will end up accumulating.”

And with that ambition in mind, Wolves remain the benchmark for dominant League One-winning campaigns, having acquired 103 points under Kenny Jackett in 2013/14 with a front three of Bakary Sako, Nouha Dicko and Leigh Griffiths.

For the record, Blues are also 2/1 with bet365 to win the League One title next term, 8/13 to be promoted back to the Championship, 10/11 to finish in the top two and 1/5 to finish in the top six play-off places.

Seldom can a team have been such clear favorites to go up straight after a relegation season – and if it is up to Tom Wagner, Tom Brady and Knighthead, it will be just the first step.

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