For the first time in 30 years, Birmingham City are in the third tier of English football following a tumultuous 2023-24 campaign, in which a side who were led by all of John Eustace, Wayne Rooney, Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett failed to avoid the second-tier trapdoor.
A mixture of regrettable managerial appointments, unfortunate illnesses and woeful away form combined to create a perfect storm of relegation for those who have been cursing Blues’ ability to evade trouble in recent years, but there is still considerable reason for optimism in the Second City ahead of the new term.
With financial restrictions in League One less prominent, Birmingham’s highly-ambitious ownership have commenced an expensive remoulding of the playing staff, with last season’s third-tier Golden Boot winner Alfie May joining, whilst the arrivals of Willum Willumsson and Christoph Klarer saw Blues break the division’s transfer record twice in the space of 24 hours.
Stepping out of Ange Postecoglou‘s shadow at Tottenham Hotspur to take a managerial position for the first time in his coaching career, Chris Davies is the man tasked with fitting all of Birmingham’s exciting pieces into a League One juggernaut, with anything other than automatic promotion likely to be viewed as a failure.
During 3-0 and 2-0 wins over Solihull Moors and Shrewsbury Town respectively so far in pre-season, it was clear to see that the 39-year-old boss has started the process of imprinting his front-footed, high-intensity philosophy onto a talented crop of players, although Wednesday’s visitors represent a major step up in quality of opposition.
Looking to end the three-year reign of arch rivals Celtic at the summit of the Scottish Premiership, Rangers have tested themselves in a pair of high-profile pre-season fixtures so far, with matches against Eredivisie giants Ajax and English heavyweights Manchester United both ending in defeat.
Erik ten Hag‘s Red Devils were the visitors to a sold-out Ibrox on Saturday afternoon, when goals either side of the half-time interval from a pair of United’s academy graduates – former Gers loanee Amad Diallo and Joe Hugill – sealed a 2-0 friendly success for the Premier League challengers.
After being parachuted into the job during October 2023 following the dismissal of Michael Beale, Philippe Clement is preparing for his first full campaign in charge of Rangers, who have only lost six of 43 competitive matches under the reign of the 50-year-old Belgian.
Due to their second-placed finish in the Premiership last term, the Gers will enter this season’s Champions League at the third round of qualifying, where the Scottish giants will meet either Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv or Partizan Belgrade of Serbia for a place in the playoff stage.
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After watching from the stands at Shrewsbury on Saturday, Austrian defender Klarer could make his debut for Birmingham on Wednesday, when he could partner either Dion Sanderson or Krystian Bielik at centre-back.
Davies is likely to field his full-strength XI, who will benefit massively from pitting their wits against Rangers, so expect the likes of Willumsson, Emil Hansson and Koji Miyoshi all to start.
Lee Buchanan missed Saturday’s trip to Shropshire due to a slight injury concern, meaning that new signing Alex Cochrane should begin at left-back once again.
