2020–21 Birmingham City F.C. season

The 2020–21 season is Birmingham City Football Club's 118th season in the English football league system and 10th consecutive season in the second-tier Championship.[5] As with all English Football League clubs, the first team competed in the EFL Cup, in which they lost to Cambridge United in the first round, and in the FA Cup, in which they lost to Manchester City in the third round.

Birmingham City F.C.

2020–21 season
Owner	Birmingham Sports Holdings[1]
Head coach[2]	Aitor Karanka[3]
Stadium	St Andrew's
Championship	22nd[4]
FA Cup	Third round (eliminated by Manchester City)
EFL Cup	First round (eliminated by Cambridge United)
Top goalscorer	League: Scott Hogan (5) All: Scott Hogan (5)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
All statistics correct as of matches played 6 February 2021.

The season covers the period from July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

Background and pre-season

With nine matches of the 2019–20 season still to play and Birmingham lying 16th in the table, football was interrupted for three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 June – 12 days before the Championship resumed behind closed doors – the club confirmed that head coach Pep Clotet would leave at the end of the season to "explore other coaching opportunities";[6][7] after a series of poor results, he left by mutual consent on 8 July.[8] Steve Spooner and Craig Gardner acted as caretakers for the last four matches. Birmingham accrued just three points after the resumption, extending a winless run to 14 league matches, and finished 20th, avoiding relegation on the final day thanks to favourable results elsewhere and a 12-point deduction because of Wigan Athletic's entering administration. On 31 July, former Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka was appointed as head coach on a three-year contract.[3]

Of the senior players, goalkeeper David Stockdale, defenders Jonathan Grounds and Cheick Keita, and wingers Jacques Maghoma and Kerim Mrabti were released at the end of their contracts;[9] Lee Camp extended his contract to cover the last nine games of the season, and then left;[10] and midfielder Craig Gardner retired to concentrate on coaching.[11] Forward Álvaro Giménez' loan at Cádiz was converted to a permanent move after that club were promoted.[12] Jude Bellingham, who became Birmingham's youngest first-team debutant at the age of 16 years 38 days[13] and youngest goalscorer 25 days later,[14] set more records, for transfer fee received by the club and as the world's most expensive 17-year-old, when he joined Borussia Dortmund for a fee reported as an initial £25 million.[13]

Karanka's first signing was defender George Friend, who rejected a contract extension at Middlesbrough in favour of rejoining his former manager.[15] He was followed by midfielder Jon Toral, who was Birmingham's Player of the Season when on loan from Arsenal in 2015–16,[16] wingers Iván Sánchez, fresh from helping Elche gain promotion to the Spanish top flight,[17] and West Bromwich Albion's Jonathan Leko, the first signing for whom a fee – reported as £1 million – was paid,[18] goalkeepers Andrés Prieto[19] and Neil Etheridge,[20] and another former Middlesbrough player, midfielder Adam Clayton.[21] After a loan spell in 2019–20 during which he scored seven goals in eight league games before lockdown but none after, Scott Hogan arrived from Aston Villa on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee,[22] and Mikel San José, a Spanish international midfielder or defender released after eleven years with Athletic Bilbao, signed for two years.[23]

In June 2020, the club announced a four-year partnership with Nike as supplier of kits, which carry the logo of the club's principal sponsor, Irish bookmaker BoyleSports.[24] The home kit consists of a blue shirt with white collar, sleeves and trim, white shorts and blue socks.[25]

Birmingham played four pre-season friendlies: at home to Charlton Athletic, Leicester City and Walsall, and away to Tottenham Hotspur.[26]

Pre-season friendly match details

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Ref.
22 August 2020	Charlton Athletic	H	D	1–1	Boyd-Munce 45'	[27]
26 August 2020	Leicester City	H	L	0–2		[28]
29 August 2020	Tottenham Hotspur	A	L	0–1		[29]
1 September 2020	Walsall	H	W	3–0	Medina 44', Miller 56', Bailey 87'	[30]

EFL Championship

September

After 16 winless matches in all competitions, Birmingham City's Championship campaign began at home to Brentford on 12 September.[31] Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, no fans were present.[32] The team lined up in new head coach Aitor Karanka's preferred 4–2–3–1 formation.[33][34] In goal, making his Football League debut, was the 19-year-old Zach Jeacock, selected in place of the injured Andrés Prieto and ahead of the newly arrived Neil Etheridge. Captain Harlee Dean partnered George Friend in central defence, with Maxime Colin and Kristian Pedersen at full back. Ivan Šunjić and newcomer Adam Clayton occupied central midfield, with Jérémie Bela wide left and Iván Sánchez, making his first appearance in English football, wide right. Jon Toral played behind last season's Player of the Season and top scorer Lukas Jutkiewicz, who had been injured throughout pre-season.[35][36] Although the visitors hit the woodwork twice and might well have been awarded a penalty when Pedersen appeared to pull down Pontus Jansson, Birmingham's organisation and apparent team spirit were much improved from the 2019–20 version, and the only goal came after 37 minutes when Sánchez whipped in a corner and Bela, unmarked in the six-yard box, glanced a header past the goalkeeper at his near post.[31][34] Neil Etheridge made his debut in a solid defensive performance in a goalless draw at Swansea City,[37] marred by Swansea coach Alan Tate "raising his arm to the neck area of Toral before shoving him to the ground" at half-time, for which the Football Association gave him a four-match touchline ban and a fine.[38] At home to Rotherham United, Birmingham switched to a 4–4–2 formation to accommodate the debut of Scott Hogan. Neither side were effective in attack, and after 87 minutes, Bela's clumsy tackle gave away a penalty from which the visitors scored. Minutes later, Toral won a penalty, and Bela showed what Karanka called "personality" to fulfil his role as designated taker and secure the draw.[39]

Match results

EFL Championship match details

Date	League position[4]	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
12 September 2020	5th	Brentford	H	W	1–0	Bela 37'	0	[34]
19 September 2020	5th	Swansea City	A	D	0–0		0	[37]
26 September 2020	7th	Rotherham United	H	D	1–1	Bela 90' pen.	0	[39]
4 October 2020	8th	Stoke City	A	D	1–1	Dean 65'	0	[40]
17 October 2020	15th	Sheffield Wednesday	H	L	0–1		0	[41]
20 October 2020	15th	Norwich City	A	L	0–1		0	[42]
24 October 2020	17th	Queens Park Rangers	A	D	0–0		0	[43]
28 October 2020	15th	Huddersfield Town	H	W	2–1	Gardner 27', Jutkiewicz 90'	0	[44]
31 October 2020	11th	Preston North End	A	W	2–1	McGree 2', Gardner 85'	0	[45]
4 November 2020	14th	Wycombe Wanderers	H	L	1–2	Roberts 40'	0	[46]
7 November 2020	17th	AFC Bournemouth	H	L	1–3	Hogan 55'	0	[47]
20 November 2020	14th	Coventry City	A	D	0–0		0	[48]
24 November 2020	17th	Luton Town	A	D	1–1	Jutkiewicz 23' pen.	0	[49]
28 November 2020	17th	Millwall	H	D	0–0		0	[50]
1 December 2020	16th	Barnsley	H	L	1–2	Hogan 56'	0	[51]
5 December 2020	16th	Bristol City	A	W	1–0	Dean 80'	0	[52]
9 December 2020	15th	Reading	A	W	2–1	Toral (2) 29', 37'	0	[53]
12 December 2020	16th	Watford	H	L	0–1		0	[54]
16 December 2020	17th	Cardiff City	A	L	2–3	Roberts 31', Sánchez 57'	0	[55]
19 December 2020	17th	Middlesbrough	H	L	1–4	Colin 15'	0	[56]
26 December 2020	17th	Nottingham Forest	A	D	0–0		0	[57]
29 December 2020	18th	Derby County	H	L	0–4		0	[58]
2 January 2021	18th	Blackburn Rovers	H	L	0–2		0	[59]
16 January 2021	18th	Middlesbrough	A	W	1–0	Hogan 26'	0	[60]
20 January 2021	19th	Preston North End	H	L	0–1		0	[61]
30 January 2021	20th	Coventry City	H	D	1–1	Bela 18' pen	0	[62]
2 February 2021	21st	Wycombe Wanderers	A	D	0–0		0	[63]
6 February 2021	22nd	AFC Bournemouth	A	L	2–3	Hogan (2) 27', 68'	0	[64]

League table (part)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
20	Rotherham United	27	8	5	14	33	38	−5	29
21	Sheffield Wednesday	28	9	7	12	21	30	−9	28[lower-alpha 1]
22	Derby County	27	7	7	13	17	28	−11	28	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Birmingham City	28	6	10	12	21	34	−13	28
24	Wycombe Wanderers	27	3	7	17	18	47	−29	16

Updated to match(es) played on 9 February 2021. Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending off offences[67]
Notes:

1. Sheffield Wednesday received a 12 point deduction for breaching the League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules. This was later reduced to 6 points by an Independent League Arbitration panel.[65][66]

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
28	6	10	12	21	34	−13	28	2	3	9	9	23	−14	4	7	3	12	11	+1

Last updated: 6 February 2021.
Source: [4]

FA Cup

As with all teams in the top two divisions, Birmingham entered the competition in the third round, in which they were drawn to play away to Premier League club Manchester City.[68][69]

FA Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Refs
Third round	10 January 2021	Manchester City	A	L	0–3		0	[70]

EFL Cup

Birmingham were drawn to play at home to League Two club Cambridge United in the first round.[71] They went into the match with an 18-year-old debutant, Adan George, as lone striker in the absence of the injured Lukas Jutkiewicz. They conceded after 18 minutes when debutant goalkeeper Andrés Prieto misjudged a set-piece, and came closest to an equaliser shortly afterwards when Jérémie Bela hit the crossbar with a shot from distance.[72][73] The team remained winless since February, and Karanka said that he and his staff needed to change what he perceived as a "losing mentality" after the previous season had ended with such a poor run of results.[74]

EFL Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Refs
First round	5 September 2020	Cambridge United	H	L	0–1		0	[72]

Transfers

For those players released or contract ended before the start of this season please see 2019–20 Birmingham City F.C. season.

In

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref.
15 August 2020	George Friend	(Middlesbrough)	Contract expired	[15]
25 August 2020	Jon Toral	(Hull City)	Contract expired	[16]
27 August 2020	Iván Sánchez	(Elche)	Contract expired	[17]
28 August 2020	Jonathan Leko	West Bromwich Albion	Undisclosed	[18]
28 August 2020	Andrés Prieto	(RCD Espanyol)	Contract expired	[19]
1 September 2020	Adam Clayton	(Middlesbrough)	Contract expired	[21]
11 September 2020	Neil Etheridge	Cardiff City	Undisclosed	[20]
16 September 2020	Scott Hogan	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	[22]
17 September 2020	Oriol Soldevila *	(Barcelona)	Contract expired	[75]
21 September 2020	Mikel San José	(Athletic Bilbao)	Contract expired	[23]
23 November 2020	Alen Halilović	(AC Milan)	Contract expired	[76]
26 January 2021	Leonardo Dos Reis *	(Barcelona)	Contract expired	[77]
31 January 2021	Sam Cosgrove	Aberdeen	Undisclosed	[78]
1 February 2021	Keyendrah Simmonds	Manchester City	Undisclosed	[79]

Brackets round a club's name indicate the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Birmingham.

* Signed primarily for the development squad

Loaned in

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref.
5 October 2020	Riley McGree	Charlotte FC	End of season	[80]
16 October 2020	Jake Clarke-Salter	Chelsea	End of season	[81]
21 January 2021	Rekeem Harper	West Bromwich Albion	End of season	[82]
1 February 2021	Yan Valery	Southampton	End of season	[79]

Out

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref
22 July 2020	Álvaro Giménez	Cádiz	Undisclosed	[12]
23 July 2020	Jude Bellingham	Borussia Dortmund	Undisclosed[lower-alpha 1]	[13]
3 August 2020	Lee Camp	(Coventry City)	Contract expired	[10][83]
20 August 2020	Wes Harding	Rotherham United	Undisclosed	[84]
14 January 2021	David Davis	(Shrewsbury Town)	Mutual consent	[85]
25 January 2021	Maikel Kieftenbeld	Millwall	Undisclosed	[86]
31 January 2021	Josh McEachran		Mutual consent	[78]

Brackets round a club's name denote the player joined that club after his Birmingham City contract expired.

1. The fee was officially undisclosed, but was understood by Sky Sports to be "a guaranteed £25m up front, with fees worth 'several millions more' potentially added on depending on appearances, achievements and milestones."[13]

Loaned out

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref.
4 August 2020	Connal Trueman	AFC Wimbledon	Recalled 8 January 2021	[87]
26 August 2020	Remeao Hutton	Stevenage	End of season	[88]
27 August 2020	Fran Villalba	Almería	End of season	[89]
1 September 2020	Iván Guzmán	UE Cornellà	30 June 2021	[90]
22 September 2020	Ryan Burke	Yeovil Town	17 January 2021	[91]
25 September 2020	Steve Seddon	AFC Wimbledon	Recalled 31 December 2020	[92]
2 October 2020	Agus Medina	UE Cornellà	30 June 2021	[93]
5 October 2020	Charlie Lakin	Ross County	30 June 2021	[94]
16 October 2020	Jayden Reid	Barrow	3 January 2021	[95]
16 October 2020	Odin Bailey	Forest Green Rovers	31 May 2021	[96]
16 October 2020	Adan George	Walsall	3 January 2021	[97]
8 January 2021	Mitchell Roberts	Harrogate Town	End of season	[98]
18 January 2021	Dan Crowley	Hull City	End of season	[99]
19 January 2021	Jayden Reid	Walsall	End of season	[100]
1 February 2021	Josh Andrews	Harrogate Town	End of season	[101]
1 February 2021	Miguel Fernández	CD Guijuelo	End of season	[79]

Appearances and goals

Sources:[102][103]

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with name and squad number struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		EFL Cup		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ESP	Andrés Prieto	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
2	DF	FRA	Maxime Colin	25 (3)	1	1	0	1	0	27 (3)	1	4	0
3	DF	DEN	Kristian Pedersen	18	0	0	0	1	0	19	0	2	1
4	DF	ENG	Marc Roberts	17 (4)	2	0 (1)	0	0	0	17 (5)	2	0	1
5	DF	ENG	George Friend	18 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	20 (2)	0	3	0
6	MF	NED	Maikel Kieftenbeld	8 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	10 (2)	0	1	0
6	DF	FRA	Yan Valery *	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
7	MF	IRL	Dan Crowley	1 (2)	0	0	0	1	0	2 (2)	0	0	0
8	MF	ENG	Adam Clayton	10 (4)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	10 (6)	0	4	1
9	FW	IRL	Scott Hogan	17 (3)	5	1	0	0	0	18 (3)	5	1	0
10	FW	ENG	Lukas Jutkiewicz	14 (12)	2	0 (1)	0	0	0	14 (13)	2	1	0
11	FW	FRA	Jérémie Bela	17 (7)	3	0 (1)	0	1	0	18 (8)	3	2	0
12	DF	ENG	Harlee Dean	26	2	0	0	1	0	27	2	5	1
14	MF	ENG	Jonathan Leko	9 (9)	0	1	0	0	0	10 (9)	0	3	0
15	DF	ENG	Jake Clarke-Salter *	5 (1)	0	1	0	0	0	6 (1)	0	1	0
16	FW	ENG	Sam Cosgrove	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
17	MF	ESP	Iván Sánchez	24 (3)	1	1	0	0	0	25 (3)	1	1	0
18	MF	AUS	Riley McGree *	5 (3)	2	0	0	0	0	5 (3)	2	0	0
19	MF	ESP	Mikel San José	17 (3)	0	1	0	0	0	18 (3)	0	3	0
20	MF	ENG	Gary Gardner	10 (9)	2	0	0	0	0	10 (9)	2	2	0
21	MF	ESP	Agus Medina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	MF	ESP	Jon Toral	10 (4)	2	1	0	0 (1)	0	11 (5)	2	3	0
24	MF	ENG	Rekeem Harper *	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0	0	0
25	DF	ENG	Josh Dacres-Cogley	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
26	MF	ENG	David Davis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	GK	ENG	Connal Trueman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	GK	PHI	Neil Etheridge	27	0	0	0	0	0	27	0	1	0
31	MF	ENG	Charlie Lakin	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
34	MF	CRO	Ivan Šunjić	23 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	25 (2)	0	9	0
35	MF	CRO	Alen Halilović	1 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (4)	0	0	0
37	MF	ENG	Odin Bailey	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
38	GK	ENG	Zach Jeacock	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
40	FW	ENG	Adan George	0 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	1 (1)	0	0	0
42	DF	ENG	Steve Seddon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	MF	NIR	Caolan Boyd-Munce	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
53	MF	ENG	Tate Campbell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Players not included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name
16	MF	ENG	Josh McEachran
28	FW	ESP	Miguel Fernández
39	GK	ENG	Aaron Clayton
41	MF	ENG	Amari Miller
43	DF	ALB	Geraldo Bajrami
45	DF	IRL	Ryan Burke
46	DF	IRL	Joe Redmond
47	MF	WAL	Ryan Stirk
48	MF	ENG	Jack Concannon
49	FW	ENG	Jayden Reid
50	DF	ENG	Nico Gordon
51	MF	ENG	Kyle Hurst

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External links

• Official website