Birmingham City: Harry Redknapp decision is surely biggest Blues regret of 21st century - View | OneFootball

Blues' decision to give Redknapp a huge amount of money to spend didn't terrible on paper, but it turned out to be a disaster.

Birmingham City have made a number of big errors over the years, even though things are going well for them at the time of writing.

During the early stages of the 2023/24 campaign, Blues did very well under John Eustace and looked to be in a very good position, having had a positive change of ownership during the summer before the start of that season.

However, new owner Tom Wagner and the board were keen to see a change in the team's style of play and Eustace was dismissed in October last year, despite the fact his team were in the promotion mix at the time.

Wayne Rooney came in as his replacement - and that proved to be a disastrous appointment - with the current Plymouth Argyle boss facing an uphill battle from the start in his quest to fill Eustace's shoes.

One or two unlucky factors came into play last term, but Eustace's sacking turned out to be a sliding doors moment for Blues, who were relegated at the end of last term.

To put salt in the wound, Eustace's Blackburn Rovers were one of the teams who stayed up at their expense.

For all of his good intentions, Wagner had made a disastrous start to life at St Andrew's, although that hasn't dampened his appetite to make Birmingham a major player in English football.

If he can get the club back to the Championship and competing at the top end of the second tier, all of this will be forgotten about.

Their 2023/24 campaign was a real blow for them though - and we take a look at another big regret the club will have - as we turn the clock back to 2017.

Harry Redknapp's spell at Birmingham City was a disaster

Redknapp was appointed back in April 2017 - and although he lost his first game in charge at Aston Villa - he was able to guide Blues to two wins after that and that was enough to keep them in the second tier.

However, he had only spent three games at the helm and despite his experience, it was unclear how his time at St Andrew's was going to unfold.

The experienced manager could have been a major success in the Midlands, but a summer spending spree just months after his appointment didn't work out for the best.

He took charge of just eight league games during the 2017/18 season, winning just one of these games and securing just five points from a possible 24 that were on offer, with their victory coming against Bristol City.

This left them in the relegation mix - and they would have been extremely disappointed with their start to the campaign - considering they had some winnable games.

They kept just one clean sheet in this eight-game run, with that coming in a 0-0 draw against Bolton Wanderers.

And with Birmingham starting the season so poorly, Blues had no choice but to dismiss Redknapp.

Birmingham City's spending spree impact lasted beyond the 2017/18 campaign

Unfortunately, their spending didn't pay dividends in the long term, even though some of their signings looked excellent on paper.

Harlee Dean could have been a real asset and he made some decent contributions, but he was also part of an unsuccessful period at St Andrew's, and the same could be said for Maxime Colin.

It's a shame, because these two had the potential to be excellent for the Midlands side following their moves from Griffin Park.

Not only did quite of these additions not have a great impact, but their spending also limited the business they were able to do in the future and the club were also handed a points deduction in 2019 for breaching financial rules.

This nine-point sanction disrupted their progress during the 2018/19 campaign - and their spending during the summer of 2017 contributed heavily to their financial breach.