2012–13 Birmingham City F.C. season

Jack Butland made his Birmingham debut – three days after his first game for England – as Birmingham opened their League campaign at home to Charlton Athletic with a 1–1 draw via a 94th-minute equaliser from substitute Nikola Žigić. At Sheffield Wednesday, he let a cross go through his hands onto Réda Johnson's head to open the scoring. Half-time substitute Žigić made the score 2–1, but Wednesday scored on the break, and Marlon King's late penalty was little consolation.[11] Manager Lee Clark took responsibility for the defeat, blaming his use of a 4–3–3 starting formation.[12] Žigić started alongside King at Watford, and loanee Ben Gordon made his debut in place of the injured David Murphy, but Steven Caldwell gave away a penalty in the third minute, Birmingham conceded a second goal after 17, and a poor performance was only enlivened when Morgaro Gomis came into the game with 25 minutes left.[13]

With Curtis Davies, Žigić and Darren Ambrose added to the injury list, Birmingham went into the home match against pointless Peterborough United with five teenagers on the substitutes' bench. A farcical own goal by goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik, whose attempted punch of Wade Elliott's free kick went back over his head and bounced over a defender on the line, gave Birmingham their first league win of the season; the goal was later awarded to Elliott. Transfer deadline signing Paul Caddis, making his debut at right back, was named man of the match.[14] Birmingham's first away point of the season came at Nottingham Forest. Substitute Elliott set up King, whose shot was parried to Hayden Mullins who volleyed home from just inside the penalty area, and Nathan Redmond avoided two tackles to cross for King who doubled the lead after 71 minutes. Simon Cox controlled a long aerial ball with one touch and lobbed Butland with a second, and with four minutes remaining, man-of-the-match Pablo Ibáñez deflected the ball into his own net.[15]

Loanee Leroy Lita opened the scoring on his home debut in Birmingham's second league win, against Bolton Wanderers, but only days after Stephen Carr was sidelined for six months by knee surgery, Caddis dislocated a shoulder, leaving the team without a recognised right back.[16] The attendance, of 14,693, was their lowest home league crowd for 15 years; according to the Birmingham Mail, fans blamed high ticket prices and financial uncertainty surrounding the club's ownership.[17] Eight hundred fewer attended the visit of Barnsley, in which Murphy and Pablo went off injured, and Birmingham fan Craig Davies contributed four of the visitors' five goals in a 23-minute second-half spell to inflict Birmingham's worst home league defeat for 25 years.[18] Lee Clark issued a public apology for the "embarrassing performance".[19] Because Murphy's torn hamstring and Pablo's chipped bone in the foot were expected to keep them out for a month, reducing the club to two fit senior defenders, left-back Paul Robinson signed for a month as a free agent.[20] He made a strong debut as Birmingham successfully defended a 1–0 lead, via Chris Burke's first goal of the season, a 25-yard (23 m) volley, at league leaders Brighton & Hove Albion. The second half was delayed for 25 minutes by floodlight failure.[11]

October began with a 2–1 defeat at Cardiff City. Lita neatly touched Elliott's free kick home, but Cardiff's goals came from defensive errors: Packwood played them onside for the first, and failure to deal with a corner allowed Mark Hudson to score the winner. New loanee James Hurst made his debut as a second-half substitute.[21] Courtesy of half-price ticket offers,[22] more than 18,000 saw Birmingham lose 1–0 to Huddersfield Town; Žigić was sent off for a high tackle and Mitch Hancox made his competitive debut as substitute for the injured Davies. Clark accused the players of failing to take responsibility, making it clear that he was "not sitting in the dressing room telling them not to tackle, to pussyfoot around, telling them to mis-place passes. They can't just hide behind me all the time, they've got to come out fighting."[23] Butland produced what he described as the best performance of his career and Ravel Morrison, selected for the first time since August after problems with his attitude to training led Clark to consider terminating his loan, was influential as Birmingham narrowly failed to beat league leaders Leicester City.[24] Away to Millwall, Birmingham went 3–0 down in a seven-minute spell in the first half, two of the three scored by former loanee Chris Wood, before Marlon King scored the first hat-trick of his senior career to secure the draw.[25] On his 40th birthday, Lee Clark selected the same starting eleven away at Leeds United, where Lita scored the only goal of the game from 30 yards (27 m).[11]

After Redmond gave the ball away in midfield, former Birmingham striker DJ Campbell scored the only goal of a dull meeting with Ipswich Town. Žigić, returning from suspension as a second-half substitute, missed two clear chances, with a free header and when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.[11] Recalled to the starting eleven, Burke scored his second of the season three days later at home to Bristol City. Žigić made an assist for King, but his own profligacy continued, and he was clearly annoyed by Peter Løvenkrands' insistence on taking, and then missing, a stoppage-time penalty.[26] A slow start at Blackburn Rovers was punished by Ruben Rochina's penalty after he was fouled by Murphy, but King equalised after Žigić hit the post. Robinson, deputising at centre half for the injured Davies, cleared off the line from Jordan Rhodes.[11] For the third time this season, Birmingham went three goals behind, this time at home to Hull City where former Birmingham trainee Sone Aluko scored twice and took the corner that led to the third. Morrison's first goal for the club, a "spectacular volley" from Žigić's knockdown, began the attempted fightback, which continued immediately after the break when Žigić headed on Murphy's long ball to King who wrong-footed the goalkeeper to score his tenth of the season.[27] Terry McDermott said afterwards that "to concede three goals at home and in the manner in which we did it is not acceptable to anybody."[28]

The Birmingham Mail's Colin Tattum described the visit to Derby County as "a microcosm of what we've witnessed from Blues this campaign". An ineffective first half, in which they went one goal down, was followed by a lively second period, in which debutant loanee Rob Hall won a penalty, converted by King, and Løvenkrands headed a second goal, but the defence was unable to stop Derby regaining the lead.[29] Davies's second-half header from a corner earned Birmingham a point at Blackpool,[11] before November ended with the televised visit of third-placed Middlesbrough. Birmingham conceded after 15 minutes, but in first-half stoppage time, King was fouled by André Bikey for a penalty from which he equalised. Pablo's defensive hesitancy allowed Middlesbrough to regain the lead before Elliott chested down a defensive clearance on the edge of the penalty area and hit a dipping volley above the goalkeeper's hands. With ten minutes left, Løvenkrands picked up a loose ball in midfield and played a through ball that King ran onto and placed a "clinical finish" across the goalkeeper.[30]

King's 14th goal of the season came when he sliced a clearance into his own net to gift Wolverhampton Wanderers a win. Crystal Palace took a two-goal lead, and Løvenkrands was booked for diving in the penalty area, before substitute Žigić scored a well-placed header with his first touch before Papa Bouba Diop, on his first start, equalised with a powerful header from a corner. Teenage midfielder Callum Reilly made his league debut. Seven teenagers started the match, and Žigić played as a lone striker after Løvenkrands was injured during the pre-match warm-up, at home to Burnley. Davies opened the scoring with a header before Charlie Austin's headed equaliser was disallowed when the referee called play back for a foul on the player who had crossed the ball. Burnley took the lead in a two-minute spell in the second half before Žigić shot under the goalkeeper to equalise in the 89th minute.[11] Two headed goals by Davies gave Birmingham a win at Barnsley to take them seven points clear of the relegation zone, though they were fortunate that Craig Davies, who scored four of Barnsley's five in the reverse fixture, missed a penalty.[31] In what Clark thought "was our most inept performance for many, many weeks", at Bolton Wanderers, Žigić scored early but after Bolton secured a two-goal lead, his frustration got the better of him and he was booked twice in quick succession.[32]

With no senior striker available, Mullins injured in the warmup, and his replacement, Reilly, injured half an hour into the match, Birmingham lost at home to league leaders Cardiff City by a single goal, tapped in by Joe Mason after Butland failed to deal with a long-range shot.[33] Reilly's first senior goal gave Birmingham the lead as Clark returned to the club that sacked him less than a year earlier, but a 93rd-minute equaliser secured Huddersfield Town a share of the points.[11] Caldwell's header from Hall's corner opened the scoring at home to Brighton & Hove Albion; Brighton took the lead, but in stoppage time, goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak appeared to have substitute Žigić's header under control but allowed it drop into the net.[34] Davies opened the scoring away at Burnley, again from Hall's corner, then Robinson conceded a penalty from which Ross Wallace equalised. After Dean Marney was sent off, Birmingham had more of the game. Žigić should have scored when his late header hit the post, but he compensated with a flick-on that King volleyed home.[35]

Former Birmingham manager Alex McLeish had tried to buy Chris Burke for Nottingham Forest during the January transfer window. Burke showed him what they were missing by scoring twice as Birmingham beat Forest 2–1, "a glorious left-foot effort off the underside of the bar from the edge of the area" and a second-half tap-in.[36] On a poor pitch at Charlton Athletic, the home side took the lead after 88 minutes, but Elliott converted Burke's cross for a 94th-minute equaliser.[11] Clark criticised Žigić for producing "possibly the worst training session in terms of a professional footballer I have ever come across", and dropped him for the visit of Watford.[37] Birmingham were overrun, losing 4–0. Žigić's response was clearly acceptable to Clark, for he returned to the starting lineup for a goalless draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham's first clean sheet for three months, in which he failed to take several chances.[11] February ended with a visit to Peterborough United. Žigić opened the scoring, Reilly hit the bar from distance, and a deflected Burke shot completed a 2–0 win,[38] although Butland made what Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson called an "unbelievable double save", no penalty was awarded when Hancox appeared to foul Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, and Reilly was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for a "cynical trip" on Kane Ferdinand.[39] Clark substituted Reilly immediately after the incident.[38]

Clark's relief at George Boyd's leaving Peterborough[39] lasted one match. Now at Hull City, Boyd took advantage of weak defending to tear Birmingham apart; Hull manager Steve Bruce claimed he "didn't know he was that good."[40] Hancox was able to restrict the influence of Blackpool's Tom Ince, but a combination of bad luck, when a shot by Løvenkrands struck the inside of a goalpost, rolled along the line and came out, and a bad miss by Elliott late in the game restricted Birmingham to a draw.[41] Redmond's first goal of the season, and loanee Wes Thomas's first two, took Birmingham above opponents Derby County and seven points clear of the relegation zone,[42] and Žigić converted Shane Ferguson's cross at Middlesbrough to take them into the top half of the table for the first time since mid-September.[11] March ended with an unexpected and emphatic 4–0 win at Crystal Palace, orchestrated by youngsters Redmond – according to Clark, "a super footballer, he plays high-tempo, he can beat people" – and Morrison – "a very, very talented young man ... he's like a kid in the park playing with his mates"[43] – both of whom scored. Under pressure from Žigić, Damien Delaney turned the ball into his own net, and the fourth goal was a "sumptuous 30-yard free-kick" by Ferguson after Morrison was fouled.[44]

In complete contrast, Birmingham went three goals down in the first half at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Elliott scored twice late in the game from the penalty spot – the second from the rebound after the penalty was saved – and 17-year-old Koby Arthur made his debut.[45] According to Clark, "quite simply, without the ball in the first half we were rubbish".[46] The visitors' Chris Taylor was the centre of attention as Birmingham drew with Millwall. He was booked for diving when it seemed that Caddis had fouled him, then his goal-bound shot was touched in by teammate Richard Chaplow. Initially disallowed for offside, the referee then awarded a goal because he thought the ball had crossed the line unassisted; when the fourth official informed him that Chaplow had indeed got a touch, he disallowed the goal again. In the second half, Taylor scored the equaliser.[47] A point was gained at Leicester City when Burke converted a stoppage-time penalty awarded when Thomas was fouled outside the area.[48] A 1–0 win at Bristol City confirmed that club's relegation,[11] and Mullins' second goal of the season at home to Leeds United left Birmingham in 10th place, still mathematically within reach of the play-off positions and finally safe from relegation.[11]

In the last away match of the season, Ipswich Town scored three times and had two disallowed in the first hour, a flat, uncompetitive defeat summed up by Clark as "I'm three stone overweight and even I could have gone out and played at that tempo."[49] At home to Blackburn Rovers, they attacked from the start, but without reward until the 42nd minute, when Morrison received a pass from Gomis, slipped past two defenders, and shot from 20 yards (18 m) low into the corner of the net. Jordan Rhodes tied the scores in the second half, and despite Birmingham's greater possession and number of shots, they needed Robinson's late block of Cameron Stewart's shot to avoid another defeat.[50]

Clark said that he envisaged keeping "three or four" senior players for the next season, but his priority would be "building a young vibrant squad". He confirmed that the club would be unable to pay transfer fees, and the budget would be sharply reduced, "so players coming in will not be getting the same salaries as they have in the past."[51]

General source (match reports):[11] Match content not verifiable from these sources is referenced individually.

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref
9 July 2012	Peter Løvenkrands	(Newcastle United)	Free	[70]
10 July 2012	David Lucas	(Rochdale)	Free	[71]
12 July 2012	Hayden Mullins	Portsmouth	Free	[72]
13 July 2012	Darren Ambrose	Crystal Palace	Undisclosed	[73]
25 September 2012	Paul Robinson	(Bolton Wanderers)	Free	[20]
19 October 2012	Papa Bouba Diop	(West Ham United)	Free	[80]

Brackets round club names indicate the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Birmingham.

Brackets round club names indicate the player joined that club after his contract with Birmingham expired.