Tom Wagner explains why Championship quartet don’t scare Birmingham City

Birmingham City have returned to the Championship in great shape after winning the League One title

Birmingham City want to be among the Championship’s big guns next season and aim to go toe-to-toe with the four clubs receiving parachute payments.

There will only be four teams in next season’s Championship being propped up by the Premier League’s cash after Leeds United and Burnley went up, Luton went down, and Norwich and Watford saw their financial aid come to an end.

The three relegated clubs, Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, plus Sheffield United will be the only teams benefitting from parachute payments.

Thanks to a series of lucrative commercial deals, Blues chairman Tom Wagner believes his team can compete financially with the aforementioned quartet after winning the League One title last term.

Wagner told BirminghamLive: “Our goal is to generate as much revenue as (clubs with) parachute payments do but without having received parachute payments, so ultimately we want to be in a position where we don’t care how many parachute clubs there are because we’re generating the same level or more than they are.

“We look at ourselves and our own opportunity and not pay too much attention to others. If we do things right on our end it will work out just fine.”

Blues moved a step closer to a brand new 62,000-seater stadium and Sports Quarter earlier this week with the announcement that the Government will fund a tram-line between the site and the city centre.

Wagner wants Blues in their new home by 2030 and it goes without saying that he wants to reach the Premier League before then.

“We’d like to be in the Premier League a year from now but ultimately that requires a lot of hard work and dedication on the part of the footballing staff,” says Wagner.

“We’re confident that they have the right ambition and our job is to give them the right resources to make sure that happens.”

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