2008–09 Birmingham City F.C. season
Date Opponents Venue Result Score F-A Scorers
15 July 2008 Kirchberg A W 7-0 McSheffrey ( 2 ) 30 ' pen . , 39 ' , Ridgewell 45+1 ' , O'Connor 53 ' , Kevin Phillips ( 2 ) 57 ' , 73 , Murphy 67 '
17 July 2008 Viktoria Plzeň N W 3-1 O'Connor 13 ' , McSheffrey 15 ' , Nafti 78 '
20 July 2008 Nürnberg N W 2-1 O'Connor 1 ' , McFadden 17 '
26 July 2008 Gillingham A W 2-0 Jerome 14 ' , Martin Taylor 20 '
27 July 2008 Forest Green Rovers A W 1-0 O'Connor 88 '
29 July 2008 Leicester City A W 3-2 Larsson 27 ' , Phillips ( 2 ) 78 ' , 90 '
2 August 2008 Fulham H D 1-1 Larsson 78 '
Pre-season
The kits were again manufactured by Umbro and bore the name of sponsors F & C Investments . The home shirt was royal blue with white sleeve trim , shorts were royal blue and socks were white . The away shirt was in a `` penguin '' style , white with a broad red central front panel , and was worn with white shorts and red socks . [ 3 ] McLeish appointed former Celtic head physiotherapist Tim Williamson , Norwich City physio Peter Shaw , and British Olympic Association sports scientist Ben Rosenblatt to his backroom staff . [ 4 ] With club captain Damien Johnson awaiting surgery on a back problem expected to keep him out for at least two months , Lee Carsley , who joined Birmingham when his contract at Everton expired , was appointed team captain in his absence . [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The first team 's relegation from the Premier League made the reserve team ineligible for the Premier Reserve League , and the club decided not to enter any other reserve league . [ 7 ] When the players returned for pre-season training , Franck Queudrue and Olivier Kapo failed to arrive . Queudrue claimed that he had mistaken the date , and Kapo was still in France receiving treatment on a hand injury . [ 8 ] The club later announced that Queudrue could leave on a free transfer , and Kapo was fined . After a delay caused by Birmingham 's insistence that he could only leave once the fine was paid , Kapo completed a move back to the Premier League with Wigan Athletic , where he was reunited with former Birmingham manager Steve Bruce . [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Young goalkeeper Artur Krysiak joined York City on loan for a month . [ 11 ] On 9 July , Kevin Phillips signed a two-year contract with the club . Phillips had scored 24 goals for West Bromwich Albion the previous season , helping his club to promotion to the Premier League , but turned down their offer of a one-year deal in favour of a two-year contract in the Championship . [ 12 ] Forward Marcus Bent joined from Charlton Athletic for a fee reportedly in excess of £1 million ; he was on the verge of signing for Cardiff City , but changed his mind at the last minute . [ 13 ] Birmingham also made two loan signings . AZ Alkmaar 's Netherlands under-21 international midfielder Kemy Agustien joined for the season , and Ghana senior international and former Arsenal winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie signed from Spartak Moscow , initially until January 2009 . In each case there was a possibility of making the loan permanent . [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Attempts to sign Celtic defender Bobo Baldé fell through because of the player 's wage demands , [ 16 ] and after Derby County midfielder Stephen Pearson 's medical revealed a groin problem , he refused Birmingham 's offer of a loan deal instead . [ 17 ] On the field , a different eleven played each half of a 2–2 draw with Hereford United in a behind-closed-doors training match , [ 18 ] before Birmingham embarked on a three-match tour of Austria . They began with a 7–0 defeat of local team Kirchberg , with two goals each from Gary McSheffrey and Phillips and one from Liam Ridgewell , Garry O'Connor , and David Murphy , who converted a corner taken by the 16-year-old Jordon Mutch . [ 19 ] O'Connor , McSheffrey and Mehdi Nafti scored as a Birmingham team including trialists Zola Matumona and Yamoudou Camara beat Czech side Viktoria Plzeň 3–1 in the second tour match . The 16-year-old Jordon Mutch played the full 90 minutes and was involved in the build-up to the first two goals . [ 20 ] O'Connor 's goalscoring form continued , and James McFadden 's alert reaction to a goalkeeping error gave Birmingham a third win out of three against Nürnberg , newly relegated from the Bundesliga . [ 21 ] Back in England , first-half goals from Cameron Jerome and Martin Taylor saw off the challenge of the lengthy trip to League Two side Gillingham with the aid of Maik Taylor 's goalkeeping , and the next day , yet another O'Connor goal gave the other half of Birmingham 's squad a 1–0 win at Forest Green Rovers of the Conference . [ 22 ] [ 23 ] A late Kevin Phillips goal secured a 3–2 win at Leicester City , [ 24 ] before the only pre-season game at St Andrew 's , against Fulham , was the only one that Birmingham failed to win . After the kickoff was delayed because of crowd congestion , Simon Davies gave the visitors a first-half lead , equalised by Sebastian Larsson after 77 minutes . [ 25 ] A hamstring injury sustained by Radhi Jaïdi proved less serious than first appeared . [ 26 ]
The 2008-09 season was Birmingham City Football Club's 106th in the English football league system and their 47th in the second tier of English football. The team finished in second place in the Football League Championship to win promotion to the Premier League for the 2009-10 season.