Football General Manager
- Birmingham eyeing Premier League promotion
- Relegated from the top-flight in 2011
- Tom Brady a minority owner
Don Goodman has given Birmingham just a “15% chance” of winning promotion to the Premier League in 2025-26 after rising out of League One. The Football League pundit believes that the Blues will struggle to replicate their possession-heavy approach under manager Chris Davies in the second tier.
Birmingham have been busy in the summer transfer window as they prepare for life in the second-tier; they have brought in nine first-team additions, including the signing of ex-Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi, thanks in part to the financial backing provided by minority investor Brady.
Don Goodman said while speaking exclusively withu0026nbsp;football betting siteu0026nbsp;talkSPORTBET: “What we do know, is that Birmingham are a super ambitious club, the recruitment certainly reflects that ambition. They very much remind me of Ipswich, the project. With every passing signing, I find myself giving them a slightly better chance of a top-six finish, but I couldn’t give them more than a 15 to 20% chance of promotion at this stage.
“The main reason for that would be the style of play that they had last season, which was complete domination of teams in League One. They won’t be able to average 66% of the ball – they’re simply not going to be having that in the Championship.
“It’s going to be impossible for them to have that amount of the ball. So can they find a different way to win games of football? That’s the question that I’m asking myself.
“For the record, I’d say most teams that come up from League One, I would probably give a 2 to 3% chance [of promotion]. So I think I’m being quite generous with a 20% chance. But it’s a project that we’re only really going to know about after maybe the first 10 games.
“They play Ipswich on the opening day which I’ll be at on Friday night and I’m really curious to see how that game plays out. Not necessarily who wins, but the style, how it pans out and how good Birmingham are, because I do think Ipswich will be at the very top of the Championship next season.”
Birmingham play Solihull Moors on Wednesday evening in their latest pre-season friendly. The Blues will open their Championship campaign with a home fixture against Ipswich Town on August 8.
