Birmingham City’s 2016/17 season was full with potential, and under Gary Rowett’s leadership, the Blues demonstrated that they were more than capable of challenging for a play-off spot.
The former Burton Albion manager took over the club in the 2014/15 season, stabilising them after a turbulent few years that saw the West Midlands side bounce between the Premier League and the Championship.
They were on the verge of relegation in May 2014, less than six months before Rowett took over at St. Andrew’s, but Blues avoided thanks to Paul Caddis’ 93rd-minute equaliser against Bolton Wanderers on the penultimate day of the season.
Birmingham were revolutionized under the now-50-year-old’s leadership, and despite a promising start to his second full season in command, a decision made in December 2016 changed everything.
Rowett’s sacking was hugely damaging
The 2016/17 season in the Championship was always going to be extremely competitive. Brighton & Hove Albion, Leeds United, Newcastle United, and Sheffield Wednesday were among the clubs vying for promotion to the Premier League, with the Blues emerging as one of several surprises after the first few months.
Rowett had gotten his squad back to playing incredibly effective football, which made them difficult to beat.
Birmingham had only lost one of their first 11 matches and had established themselves as a play-off possibility. With a 2-1 victory over Brentford, the club moved up to fourth place in the table, and enthusiasm was rising.
Two consecutive defeats to Barnsley and Newcastle had threatened to derail their promising start, but another 2-1 victory, this time over Ipswich Town, had put the West Midlanders back on track, or so they believed.
Surprisingly, just a day after the triumph, it was revealed that Rowett had been fired after more than two years in charge of St Andrews. Their owners, Trillion Trophy Asia Limited, were not popular characters, and this simply added fuel to the already out-of-control blaze of rage directed at them.
The now-out-of-work manager later stated that he wished he had done a few things differently, but the decision seemed extremely severe, and his replacement struggled.
Gianfranco Zola was a terrible appointment
The sacking of Rowett appeared to be pre-planned, as Birmingham hired former Chelsea player Gianfranco Zola to lead them ahead and keep them in contention for a play-off spot on the same day.
However, the results quickly declined. What had once been a very promising campaign was quickly turning into a disaster, and no one could have predicted how awful things would get for the club.
The Blues lost five of their next eight matches, drawing the other three, and it took nearly two months for the Italian to win the Championship.
The West Midlands team continued to plummet down the league standings, going from play-off contender to relegation threat in a matter of weeks. Zola quit his position with only three games remaining in the season, possibly as an admission that he did not believe he had what it took to retain the team in division.
Harry Redknapp took over for the final few weeks of the campaign, and although losing to Aston Villa, he defeated both Huddersfield Town and Bristol City to ensure survival on the final day of the season.
The decision to fire Rowett remains a dreadful one, and fans will never forgive their former owners for the situation they put the club in.
