Opposition Lowdown: Promotion Favourites Birmingham City

Reading kick off their 2024/25 campaign with an away game against recently relegated Birmingham City. Join us as we take a look at the opposition.

Form

Birmingham City were relegated from the Championship on the final day of last season, despite beating playoff-bound Norwich City, finishing 22nd in the league, one point behind Plymouth Argyle. Relegation ended City’s 13-year stay in the Championship, having played in the second tier since their relegation from the Premier League in 2011.

They had a relatively successful preseason, winning five out of their seven games, and come into this weekend’s game off the back of a 4-1 home win over local rivals West Bromwich Albion, with new signings Alfie May, Christoph Klarer and Willum Willumsson all scoring against the Baggies.

The two sides last faced each other during the 2022/23 season when Birmingham beat the Royals in a 3-2 thriller at St Andrews before playing out a 1-1 draw at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

The boss

Chris Davies: Davies took the hot seat in Birmingham this summer, following a season that saw John Eustace, Wayne Rooney, Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett all take charge of the Blues. He joins from Tottenham Hotspur where he spent a season as a coach under popular Aussie Ange Postecoglou.

Davies started his playing career in the Reading academy, however he was forced to retire at the age of 19 due to a foot injury. After a number of youth coach roles, he joined Brendan Rodgers’ coaching staff at Swansea City in 2010. He followed Rodgers to Liverpool and had a short spell as a coach at Reading before then linking up with Rodgers for a third and fourth time at Celtic and Leicester City.

After spending a season at Spurs, Davies now has his first managerial role, having been linked to the Reading job last summer. The 39-year-old Welshman is highly rated in the coaching world and is known for his strong tactical understanding and development of youth players.

Squad

It’s been a very busy summer at St Andrews, where Birmingham are believed to have spent over £10m, bringing in nine new players.

The Blues have boosted their defensive options with the permanent signings of goalkeepers Ryan Allsop (Hull City) and Bailey Peacock-Farrell (Burnley) and defenders Alex Cochrane (Hearts) and Christoph Klarer (Darmstadt).

They also completed the permanent signings of midfielders Willum Willumsson (Go Ahead Eagles) and Marc Leonard (Brighton & Hove Albion), winger Emil Hansson (Heracles Almelo) and striker Alfie May (Charlton Athletic). Midfielder Luke Harris has also joined from Fulham on a season-long loan.

Six players left the club on free transfers over the summer, including goalkeepers Neil Etheridge and Jon Ruddy, defender Marc Roberts, midfielders Ivan Sunjic and Gary Gardner and striker Scott Hogan.

Birmingham will have two absentees for this Saturday’s game with Lee Buchanan and Alfie Chang both out through injury.

Predicted lineup

Peacock-Farrell, Laird, Bielik, Klarer, Cochrane, Seung-Ho, Leonard, Miyoshi, Willumsson, Dembele, May

Key player

Alfie May: Striker May joined Birmingham this summer, signing from League One rivals Charlton for an undisclosed fee. He started his career in the youth setup at Millwall, however his senior career started in non-league where he represented the likes of Chatham Town, Erith & Belvedere and Hythe Town.

He made the jump to the Football League in 2017, when he signed for Doncaster Rovers, where he stayed three years. A move to Cheltenham Town followed and this is where May found his goalscoring form, scoring 66 goals for the club.

Photo by Tom West/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Maye went on to join Charlton Athletic in July 2023 and finished as the club’s and the league’s top scorer in his first season, racking up another 27 goals, while also being named in the League One Team of the Season.

The 30-year-old signed a three year contract with Birmingham in July and will wear the number nine shirt for the Blues. May is a natural goalscorer, who scored five goals for Birmingham in preseason.

One to watch

Ethan Laird: Defender Laird joined Birmingham last June, signing from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee. He is a product of the United youth system, having joined the club at the age of 10 and made his debut for the Red Devils in a Europa League match against Astana in 2019.

A number of loan spells followed with Laird spending time at MK Dons, Swansea City, Bournemouth and QPR, where he scored his first professional goal. The 23-year-old signed for Birmingham last summer and made 26 appearances for the Blues last season.

The Basingstoke-born defender has also represented England at under-17, under-18 and under-19 level. Laird is a right-back who likes to get forward and is a counter-attacking threat.