Football Season Review

Birmingham can count their lucky stars they did not go down as at one stage it appeared as if relegation would be inevitable. This was a bleak campaign from start to finish, although Lee Bowyer did save them when he came in late in the season. Aitor Karanka arrived at St Andrew's with plenty of fanfare after enjoying relative success at this level before. He was a disaster with the Blues though and the overly defensive tactics and aloof persona did not endear him to his players at all. Birmingham were abysmal for much of the season, going several months without a home win. The St Andrew's pitch was poor and two stands have now been condemned. Many of the summer signings such as Mikel San Jose and Ivan Sanchez just did not impress. Even up-front Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz both had disappointing campaigns. Birmingham did at least show their fight when Bowyer came in with some impressive victories steering them away from the drop with a couple of games left. There is plenty of work to be done this summer and it will be no easy task for Bowyer to turn this side into one capable of a top half finish given how poor they were this season.

Player of the Season: Harlee Dean