2020–21 Birmingham City F.C. season

With nine matches of the 2019–20 season still to play and Birmingham lying 16th in the table, football was interrupted for three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 June – 12 days before the Championship resumed behind closed doors – the club confirmed that head coach Pep Clotet would leave at the end of the season to "explore other coaching opportunities";[6][7] after a series of poor results, he left by mutual consent on 8 July.[8] Steve Spooner and Craig Gardner acted as caretakers for the last four matches. Birmingham accrued just three points after the resumption, extending a winless run to 14 league matches, and finished 20th, avoiding relegation on the final day thanks to favourable results elsewhere and a 12-point deduction because of Wigan Athletic's entering administration. On 31 July, former Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka was appointed as head coach on a three-year contract.[3]

Of the senior players, goalkeeper David Stockdale, defenders Jonathan Grounds and Cheick Keita, and wingers Jacques Maghoma and Kerim Mrabti were released at the end of their contracts;[9] Lee Camp extended his contract to cover the last nine games of the season, and then left;[10] and midfielder Craig Gardner retired to concentrate on coaching.[11] Forward Álvaro Giménez' loan at Cádiz was converted to a permanent move after that club were promoted.[12] Jude Bellingham, who became Birmingham's youngest first-team debutant at the age of 16 years 38 days[13] and youngest goalscorer 25 days later,[14] set more records, for transfer fee received by the club and as the world's most expensive 17-year-old, when he joined Borussia Dortmund for a fee reported as an initial £25 million.[13]

Karanka's first signing was defender George Friend, who rejected a contract extension at Middlesbrough in favour of rejoining his former manager.[15] He was followed by midfielder Jon Toral, who was Birmingham's Player of the Season when on loan from Arsenal in 2015–16,[16] wingers Iván Sánchez, fresh from helping Elche gain promotion to the Spanish top flight,[17] and West Bromwich Albion's Jonathan Leko, the first signing for whom a fee – reported as £1 million – was paid,[18] goalkeepers Andrés Prieto[19] and Neil Etheridge,[20] and another former Middlesbrough player, midfielder Adam Clayton.[21] After a loan spell in 2019–20 during which he scored seven goals in eight league games before lockdown but none after, Scott Hogan arrived from Aston Villa on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee,[22] and Mikel San José, a Spanish international midfielder or defender released after eleven years with Athletic Bilbao, signed for two years.[23]

In June 2020, the club announced a four-year partnership with Nike as supplier of kits, which carry the logo of the club's principal sponsor, Irish bookmaker BoyleSports.[24] The home kit consists of a blue shirt with white collar, sleeves and trim, white shorts and blue socks.[25]

Birmingham played four pre-season friendlies: at home to Charlton Athletic, Leicester City and Walsall, and away to Tottenham Hotspur.[26]

As with all teams in the top two divisions, Birmingham entered the competition in the third round, in which they were drawn to play away to Premier League club Manchester City.[68][69]

Birmingham were drawn to play at home to League Two club Cambridge United in the first round.[71] They went into the match with an 18-year-old debutant, Adan George, as lone striker in the absence of the injured Lukas Jutkiewicz. They conceded after 18 minutes when debutant goalkeeper Andrés Prieto misjudged a set-piece, and came closest to an equaliser shortly afterwards when Jérémie Bela hit the crossbar with a shot from distance.[72][73] The team remained winless since February, and Karanka said that he and his staff needed to change what he perceived as a "losing mentality" after the previous season had ended with such a poor run of results.[74]

For those players released or contract ended before the start of this season please see 2019–20 Birmingham City F.C. season.

In

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref.
15 August 2020	George Friend	(Middlesbrough)	Contract expired	[15]
25 August 2020	Jon Toral	(Hull City)	Contract expired	[16]
27 August 2020	Iván Sánchez	(Elche)	Contract expired	[17]
28 August 2020	Jonathan Leko	West Bromwich Albion	Undisclosed	[18]
28 August 2020	Andrés Prieto	(RCD Espanyol)	Contract expired	[19]
1 September 2020	Adam Clayton	(Middlesbrough)	Contract expired	[21]
11 September 2020	Neil Etheridge	Cardiff City	Undisclosed	[20]
16 September 2020	Scott Hogan	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	[22]
17 September 2020	Oriol Soldevila *	(Barcelona)	Contract expired	[75]
21 September 2020	Mikel San José	(Athletic Bilbao)	Contract expired	[23]
23 November 2020	Alen Halilović	(AC Milan)	Contract expired	[76]
26 January 2021	Leonardo Dos Reis *	(Barcelona)	Contract expired	[77]
31 January 2021	Sam Cosgrove	Aberdeen	Undisclosed	[78]
1 February 2021	Keyendrah Simmonds	Manchester City	Undisclosed	[79]

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

* Signed primarily for the development squad

Out

Date	Player	Club	Fee	Ref
22 July 2020	Álvaro Giménez	Cádiz	Undisclosed	[12]
23 July 2020	Jude Bellingham	Borussia Dortmund	Undisclosed[lower-alpha 1]	[13]
3 August 2020	Lee Camp	(Coventry City)	Contract expired	[10][83]
20 August 2020	Wes Harding	Rotherham United	Undisclosed	[84]
14 January 2021	David Davis	(Shrewsbury Town)	Mutual consent	[85]
25 January 2021	Maikel Kieftenbeld	Millwall	Undisclosed	[86]
31 January 2021	Josh McEachran		Mutual consent	[78]

Brackets round a club's name denote the player joined that club after his Birmingham City contract expired.

1. The fee was officially undisclosed, but was understood by Sky Sports to be "a guaranteed £25m up front, with fees worth 'several millions more' potentially added on depending on appearances, achievements and milestones."[13]

Sources:[102][103]

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with name and squad number struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		EFL Cup		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ESP	Andrés Prieto	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
2	DF	FRA	Maxime Colin	25 (3)	1	1	0	1	0	27 (3)	1	4	0
3	DF	DEN	Kristian Pedersen	18	0	0	0	1	0	19	0	2	1
4	DF	ENG	Marc Roberts	17 (4)	2	0 (1)	0	0	0	17 (5)	2	0	1
5	DF	ENG	George Friend	18 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	20 (2)	0	3	0
6	MF	NED	Maikel Kieftenbeld	8 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	10 (2)	0	1	0
6	DF	FRA	Yan Valery *	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
7	MF	IRL	Dan Crowley	1 (2)	0	0	0	1	0	2 (2)	0	0	0
8	MF	ENG	Adam Clayton	10 (4)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	10 (6)	0	4	1
9	FW	IRL	Scott Hogan	17 (3)	5	1	0	0	0	18 (3)	5	1	0
10	FW	ENG	Lukas Jutkiewicz	14 (12)	2	0 (1)	0	0	0	14 (13)	2	1	0
11	FW	FRA	Jérémie Bela	17 (7)	3	0 (1)	0	1	0	18 (8)	3	2	0
12	DF	ENG	Harlee Dean	26	2	0	0	1	0	27	2	5	1
14	MF	ENG	Jonathan Leko	9 (9)	0	1	0	0	0	10 (9)	0	3	0
15	DF	ENG	Jake Clarke-Salter *	5 (1)	0	1	0	0	0	6 (1)	0	1	0
16	FW	ENG	Sam Cosgrove	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
17	MF	ESP	Iván Sánchez	24 (3)	1	1	0	0	0	25 (3)	1	1	0
18	MF	AUS	Riley McGree *	5 (3)	2	0	0	0	0	5 (3)	2	0	0
19	MF	ESP	Mikel San José	17 (3)	0	1	0	0	0	18 (3)	0	3	0
20	MF	ENG	Gary Gardner	10 (9)	2	0	0	0	0	10 (9)	2	2	0
21	MF	ESP	Agus Medina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	MF	ESP	Jon Toral	10 (4)	2	1	0	0 (1)	0	11 (5)	2	3	0
24	MF	ENG	Rekeem Harper *	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0	0	0
25	DF	ENG	Josh Dacres-Cogley	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
26	MF	ENG	David Davis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	GK	ENG	Connal Trueman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	GK	PHI	Neil Etheridge	27	0	0	0	0	0	27	0	1	0
31	MF	ENG	Charlie Lakin	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
34	MF	CRO	Ivan Šunjić	23 (2)	0	1	0	1	0	25 (2)	0	9	0
35	MF	CRO	Alen Halilović	1 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (4)	0	0	0
37	MF	ENG	Odin Bailey	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
38	GK	ENG	Zach Jeacock	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
40	FW	ENG	Adan George	0 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	1 (1)	0	0	0
42	DF	ENG	Steve Seddon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	MF	NIR	Caolan Boyd-Munce	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
53	MF	ENG	Tate Campbell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Players not included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name
16	MF	ENG	Josh McEachran
28	FW	ESP	Miguel Fernández
39	GK	ENG	Aaron Clayton
41	MF	ENG	Amari Miller
43	DF	ALB	Geraldo Bajrami
45	DF	IRL	Ryan Burke
46	DF	IRL	Joe Redmond
47	MF	WAL	Ryan Stirk
48	MF	ENG	Jack Concannon
49	FW	ENG	Jayden Reid
50	DF	ENG	Nico Gordon
51	MF	ENG	Kyle Hurst

• Official website