Believe it or not, we’re closing in on two decades since the Blues’ first promotion to the
Premier League, achieved by Steve Bruce in the 2001/02 season. Our passage to the top level
was far from straightforward (when is it ever?) but the memories of that campaign remain
overwhelmingly positive.
Two promotions followed during the next ten years, but for many Blues fans of a certain
vintage, that first elevation to the promised land is the one that is special,
particularly as our glory was sealed with victory in a nerve-wracking play-off final.
That season, including the usual highs and lows that goes with being a Bluenose, which saw
Trevor Francis depart barely two months into the campaign, and a remarkable ten-match
unbeaten run to close the regular fixtures that helped us climb from 10th to 5th, which started with a 2-2 home draw against Wolves after we’d been 2-0 down. A match I remember for two reasons, 1. Devlin played really well and scored a great goal and 2. part of the roof was blown off of the main stand by the very strong wind blowing that day!
Consistently Inconsistent
Our form during the opening weeks of the season saw us string four wins together before
collapsing to three defeats on the spin and a run of five games without a victory. An opening-
day defeat to Wimbledon left many fans doubting our credibility as promotion hopefuls, but consecutive wins against Millwall, Walsall, Stockport, and Sheffield Wednesday saw us quickly climb to third.
Then a hat-trick of defeats, coming against Manchester City at Maine Road, (remember there!), and then at home to Burnley and Preston, saw Blues plummet to 14th in the table, conceding seven goals
along the way and scoring just two.
A degree of consolidation followed as three wins from the next five, plus two draws, and
including a thumping 4-0 win at home to Bradford – saw the side claw its way back up the
table and into fifth. However, the inconsistent start to the year that had seen us lose ground
the pace-setters cost Francis his managerial role.
Turning a Corner?
Under the caretaker guidance of Mick Mills and Jim Barron, we developed a handy
habit of picking up points more often than not. The return wasn’t always three points, but just
four defeats from the next 15 heading into the new year demonstrated a resilience that would
prove crucial during the latter stages of the campaign.
This spell included another 4-0 win, this time against Norwich, but also saw us ship four
away at Sheffield United. A five-game unbeaten run over the festive period saw Blues,
now under the stewardship of Bruce, rise to 6th in the table and firmly in play-off contention.
Our form under former Manchester United midfielder Bruce was impressive. Just four
defeats throughout the remaining five months helped the side to solidify their place in Division One’s top six, with a 2-0 win at home to Sheffield United on the final day avenging their
embarrassment at Bramall Lane earlier in the season and demonstrating the progress made. A
ten-game unbeaten run to close the campaign saw the Blues finish 5th.
Goals weren’t exactly a rarity for Bruce, though: the uncapped Englishman netted 113 of them throughout a career which included spells at Gillingham, Norwich, Birmingham and Sheffield United.
Today’s football betting odds price Norwich as overwhelming favourites to coast to the
Championship title, with Watford fancied to join them in the automatic spots, especially after they beat Norwich on Tuesday evening. But it was a much tighter race in ’02, with just three points separating West Brom in second, and Wolves in third – although Man City were able to pull away in the closing weeks to wrap up the title.
Play-Off Glory
The end-of-season play-offs typically deliver a roller-coaster of emotion for supporters,
especially when there’s a Premier League place at stake, and this particular season was no
exception, with City edging past Millwall over two legs to book their spot at the Millennium
Stadium Final.
A draw at St Andrews was followed by a 1-0 win at The Den, with Stern John striking a 90th-
minute winner. Awaiting City in the Final would be Norwich, who’d finished sixth – a point
behind us – during the regular season.
And there was no shortage of tension on the big day, as City were forced to come from
behind after conceding a goal in the first minute of extra time. Geoff Horsfield’s 102nd-
minute goal cancelled out Iwan Roberts’ effort, and Stern John, Paul Devlin, Stan Lazaridis, and
Darren Carter were all faultless from the spot to send the Blues into dreamland.
Today, nearly 20 years on, the 2001/02 season remains vivid in the memories of Birmingham
fans. Despite us enduring no shortage of highs and lows over the course of the two decades
that have followed, that famous day in Cardiff remains etched in the memories of thousands.
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