THE VITALS:

Team: Birmingham City

Brand: Lonsdale

Era: 2006-07 (Used for the 2006-07 Coca Cola Football League Championship Season)

Name/Number: #3

CONDITION: GOOD

While there are many things to shout about regarding this shirt, the condition however, is no doubt compromised by the wear to the sponsor, which has now mostly come away.  

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 24 inches

Shirt Length: 29 inches 

Made by Lonsdale in their final season of their brief stint as a kit supplier for some of England’s clubs; the dimensions of this shirt suggest that this would be a baggier fit than the extra-large shirts of today.

DESCRIPTION:

Following Birmingham City’s relegation to the Championship; Lonsdale were retained as their kit-supplier as the club earnt an instant return to the Premier League in 2006-07! In this St. Andrew’s centenary celebration home shirt; the collar was now implemented as a thick white v-neck, whilst the right hand side of the shirt was given a thick white strip; altogether creating a completely different home shirt to their debut offering in 2005-06. For the 4^th and final season; Flybe.com was used as the club’s main shirt sponsor and this would also be the last season that Lonsdale were used as kit-suppliers. This shirt will remain iconic for fans of ‘The Blues’ as it was the shirt worn as the club achieved instant promotion back to the Premier League, joining Sunderland at the expense of Derby County in the 3-horse race for the 2 automatic promotion spots!

THE SEASON:

After 4 seasons’ in the English top-flight; Birmingham City would endure the ignominy of a relegation in 2005-06 after a very disappointing season. While Steve Bruce stayed on as manager, there would be the departures of two of the high-profile players: Emile Heskey and Jermaine Pennant as they naturally sought pastures anew following the drop to the second tier, meanwhile, the loans of: Jiri Jarosik and Nicky Butt were neither made permanent either.      

There would be plenty of arrivals however as: Cameron Jerome, Neil Danns, Stephen Kelly, Bruno N’Gotty, Radhi Jaidi, Gary McSheffrey came on permanent transfers, while: Fabrice Muamba, Nicklas Bendtner and Sebastian Larsson all joined from Arsenal on loan deals.

A run of 3 wins and a draw in their opening 4 outings saw ‘The Blues’ reach the summit of the Championship and would return back there following the 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on September 12^th 2006. They wouldn’t get back to the top of the table again until December, falling as low as 9^th before their incredible accumulation of 11 wins in 14 games enabled them to end 2006 at the top of the league!

While the 2007 portion of the season lacked the overall consistency of the 2006 sector of the season; they always kept pace in the 3-horse race that also included themselves, Sunderland and Derby County. They only missed on being crowned as the 2006-07 Football League Championship winners on the final day of the season, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End; thus allowing Sunderland to win the title by 2 points. Still, their 2^nd place finish earnt the wider goal of getting back to the Premier League in the first attempt!

The notable players that season were: 

Nicklas Bendtner, Rowan Vine, Gary McSheffrey, DJ Campbell, Cameron Jerome, Mikael Forssell, Andrew Cole, Sebastien Larsson, David Dunn, Stephen Clemence, Damien Johnson, Neil Danns, Mehdi Nafti, Julian Gray, Stephen Kelly, Mat Sadler, Martin Taylor, Mathew Upson, Olivier Tebily, Radhi Jaidi, Fabrice Muamba, Maik Taylor, Colin Doyle