The Birmingham Courier
Squad28 Jun 2027
The knee: Zaid Betteka out for 27 days
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Birmingham lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jun 2027
Birmingham sell Carlos Vicente for $44.6M
Carlos Vicente has left for Bayer Leverkusen in a $44.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Kristoffer Ajer
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Birmingham have done the hard part with Brentford, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match26 Jun 2027
Birmingham win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Blackburn Rovers will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match28 Jun 2027
Birmingham finish in position 6
79 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market28 Jun 2027
Henrique Devens has said yes to Mirassol
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Birmingham have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Birmingham sell a favourite for $44.6M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Carlos Vicente was one of the reasons people came, and $44.6M does not replace that by itself.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Alex Cochrane keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Birmingham may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Jun 2027
The Tranmere Rovers deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jonathan Panzo reports back to Birmingham with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
In brief
- Squad August Priske stays put
- Squad Real improvement from Alezandro Da Silva at Birmingham
- Squad A falling-out at Birmingham