Birmingham City
Formed 1875
Founder member of Division Two 1892
Kit History
Small Heath Alliance
1875
1875 a
1882 b
1885-1886 j
1886-1889 b
Small Heath
1888
September 1889 a j
Sept 1889-1893 i j
1893-1900 b
Birmingham
1905
1904-1912 b
1912-1913 b
circa 1913-1927 b k
1927-1934 b
1934-1935 b
1935-1938 b g
1939-1940 b
Birmingham City
1944
1945-1948 b
1948-1949 b
1949-1955 b
1955-1956 b
1956-1957 g
1957-1961 b
1961-1962 k
1962-1963 early b k
1962-1963 late b k
1963-1964 b
1964-1965 h
1965-1967 a h
1967-1970 b h
1970-1971 b h
1971-1975 b
1975-1976 a
1976-1977 b
1977-1980 b
1980-1982 b
1982-1983 b
1983-1985 a
1985-1986 c
1986-1987 d
1987-1988 d
1988-1989 b
1989-1990 b
1990-1991 f
1991-1992 f
1992-1993 b f
March 1993 h
1993-1994 b
1994-1995 f
1995-1996 f
1996-1997 c
1997-1998 c
1998-1999 c
1999-2000 c
2000-2001 c
2001-2002 c
2002-2003 e
2003-2004 e
2004-2005 e
2005-2006 e
2006-2007 e
2007-2008 e
2008-2009 e
Background
Although Birmingham City were
formed only a year after their great rivals, Aston Villa, the club have
remained firmly in the shadow of their illustrious neighbour. City had
humble beginnings and were originally formed by a group of cricketers
as Small Heath Alliance in order to provide a winter activity. In 1885
the club became professional, the players receiving half the gate receipts.
Three years later Small Heath became the first football club to became
a limited company and dropped "Alliance" from their name.
The club started out wearing dark blue shirts. An experiment with black shirts in 1889 was abandoned after a single match, players and spectators complaining that the team were virtually invisible. In 1889 the club adopted light blue jerseys set off with dark blue collars.
The Blues became founder members of Division Two in 1892 and won the championship at the first attempt only to miss out on promotion by losing to Newton Heath in the test matches. A year later, Small Heath were promoted to Division One after finishing second but made little impression before being relegated in 1896. Around the turn of the century, the Heathens regularly bounced between the two divisions.
In 1905 the club changed its name to Birmingham FC ("City" was not added until 1944) in a bid to gain wider support and a year later moved into St Andrews, the club's present home. After the First World War, wearing a darker shade of blue, the club became established in Division One, reaching the FA Cup Final in 1931. 1939 brought relegation and after the Second World War, Birmingham City, as they now styled themselves, moved between the two top divisions. In 1956 they finished sixth in Division One and were beaten finalists in the FA Cup for the second time - their most succesful season to date.
In 1963 City won the League Cup their only major trophy. Although the competition was not taken very seriously at that time, their victory was all the sweeter because they overcame Aston Villa over the two-leg final. Two years later, City were relegated to Division Two but they returned to the top flight in 1972. This was the period of the beloved "penguin strip" that has in one form or another been revived several times since. After bouncing back immediately following relegation in 1979, City struggled against relegation on an annual basis. The late Eighties brought disaster as they slipped all the way down to Division Three in 1989.
The Nineties brought a return to the second level and by the new millennium, the Blues were regularly in contention for promotion to the Premiership. Traditionalists, however, pointed out that the shade of blue then in vogue was not the rich royal blue that is associated with the club. They are likely to be more pleased with the latest version of the "penguin" kit, unveiled in 2007 to mark City's brief return to the Premier Division.
Sources
- (a) BCFC Archive Site
- (b) Birmingham City FC (Images of Sport - T Matthews)
- (c) Sporting Heroes
- (d) kitclassics
- (e) Birmingham City Official Website
- (f) True Colours (John Devlin 2005)
- (g) Pete's Picture Palace
- (h) Russell Mann
- (i) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
- (j) Rob Horton
- (k) Peter Moor