Birmingham City have undoubtedly made a promising start to the 2024/25 campaign so far.
Following their relegation from the Championship at the end of last season, the Blues were remarkably busy in the summer transfer window.
They have put together a squad at the St Andrew’s, that they will feel should see them win an immediate promotion from League One, especially with the blockbuster signing of Jay Stansfield.
On the pitch, things have started in encouraging fashion for the Blues as well under new manager Chris Davies, who was also brought in over the summer from his coaching role at Tottenham.
Birmingham are already in a position in the table where it looks as though they will be capable of pushing for that return to the Championship this season.
But while that does certainly seem to have led to a very positive mood around St. Andrew’s right now, there may be some who feel that the club should not even be in League One in the first place after the events of the 2023-24 season.
Managerial change cost Birmingham City dearly in 2023-24 season
Back at the start of last season, John Eustace was going into his second campaign in the managerial hotseat at Birmingham.
His first season in charge had seen him guide the Blues to a 17th place finish in the Championship table in 2022/23, when the club recorded their highest points tally since 2016.
Eustace then looked to be building on that at the start of the 2023/24, only for Birmingham to shock the majority of the football world when they sacked him in October 2023.
That was despite that fact that they occupied a play-off place at the time of his dismissal, and the decision to make that managerial change certainly seemed to backfire on the Blues.
Under Eustace’s replacement, Wayne Rooney, they plummeted down the table, and were forced to make another managerial change just months later.
With Tony Mowbray in charge, it looked as though the Midlands club were well on their way to safety after an upturn in results.
But when Mowbray was forced to step back from the role for health reasons, Birmingham slipped again and would be relegated on the final day of the campaign.
Given how well they were going under Eustace at the start of the campaign, there are few who would imagine they would have even been close to that position, had they stuck with him.
Indeed, the 44-year-old had returned to work in February, taking charge of Blackburn Rovers and guiding them to Championship safety on the final day, at the expense of his previous club.
| 2023/24 final Championship standings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Club | Played | GD | Points |
| 19th | Blackburn Rovers | 46 | -14 | 53 |
| 20th | Sheffield Wednesday | 46 | -24 | 53 |
| 21st | Plymouth Argyle | 46 | -11 | 51 |
| 22nd | Birmingham City (R) | 46 | -15 | 50 |
| 23rd | Huddersfield Town (R) | 46 | -29 | 45 |
| 24th | Rotherham United (R) | 46 | -52 | 27 |
As a result, that decision to sack Eustace has already come under plenty of scrutiny, and the latest news could now add even more frustration to that decision for those of a Birmingham persuasion.
John Eustace links with Southampton job further show Birmingham City were wrong to sack him
Having kept them up last season, Eustace has now overseen a promising start to the current campaign with Blackburn.
The Lancashire outfit have looked much improved in terms of performances, and that has shown in the standings, where they are a lot higher in the table in the early standings.
Now it seems as though Eustace’s work at Ewood Park, may even be starting to attract attention from the Premier League.
According to reports from Football Insider, Southampton are now considering Eustace as a potential replacement for Russell Martin.
That comes amid the Saints’ slow start to the season, following their promotion from the Championship at the end of the previous campaign.
As a result, this latest update may once again have some Birmingham fans wondering “what if?”, when it comes to their decision to sack Eustace.
He has already reminded the Blues what he can get from a team in the Championship at the start of this season with Blackburn.
Now, the fact he could get the chance to go to the Premier League, does further seem to highlight just how good the 44-year-old can be in the managerial dugout.
As a result, this does feel like something of a demonstration to Birmingham of the quality of manager they let go, meaning they may have missed out on the chance for success under him.
It is perhaps also worth noting that had he not been sacked, Eustace would still have been under contract at St Andrew’s right now.
That of course, also means that had he attracted this interest while with the Blues, they would have been in line for some decent compensation if he was to leave this way.
Indeed, that could well be enhanced even further, due to the finances that Premier League clubs have available to negotiate such agreements.
In turn, that could then have brought in some useful funds that could potentially have been reinvested into the club.
With that in mind, it may well be the case that the latest links between Eustace and Southampton, may not help the perspective of Birmingham fans, when reflecting on their own club’s decision to sack back in October last year.
