Heartbreaking: check out the names of #Birmingham Players who died in a plane crash today after

Preview: Birmingham City vs. Rangers – prediction, team news, lineups

By Carter White

Published: 22 July 2024 10:38 PM

St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park will host the inaugural edition of the Trevor Francis Memorial Match on Wednesday night, when Birmingham City and Rangers meet as part of their pre-season schedules.

Francis is widely regarded as Blues’ greatest-ever player, with the two-time European Cup winner also helping the Gers to Scottish League Cup glory during the late 1980s.

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.

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