Birmingham City F.C. Players

Birmingham City Football Club, an English association football club based in the city of Birmingham, was founded in 1875 under the name of Small Heath Alliance. They first entered the FA Cup in the 1881–82 season. When nationally organised league football in England began, the club, by then called simply Small Heath F.C., was a founder member of the Football Alliance, formed the year after the Football League. In 1892, the Football League decided to form a Second Division, inviting the members of the Football Alliance to join; as one of the less successful members, Small Heath were placed in the Second Division. Since that time the club's first team has competed in numerous nationally and internationally organised competitions, and all players who have played in 100 or more such matches are listed below.

Each player's details include the duration of his Birmingham career, his typical playing position while with the club, and the number of games played and goals scored in domestic league matches and in all senior competitive matches. Where applicable, the list also includes the national team for which the player was selected, and the number of senior international caps he won.

Introduction

As of the date specified below, more than 200 men had made 100 or more appearances in senior competitive matches for Birmingham. Frank Womack holds the club record for league appearances, having played 491 matches between 1908 and 1928, closely followed by Gil Merrick with 485 between 1946 and 1959. If all senior competitions are included, Merrick has 551, followed by Womack's 515 which is the record for an outfield player. The goalscoring record is held by Joe Bradford, with 249 league goals, and 267 in total, scored between 1920 and 1935. No other player comes close: Trevor Francis is the nearest with 119 league goals, 133 in total, scored between 1970 and 1979. Bradford holds the record for league goals scored in a top-flight season with 29 in the 1927–28 First Division. A club record for transfer fee received was set when Ché Adams joined Southampton in 2019; officially undisclosed, it was reported as £15 million. Forty years earlier, Trevor Francis became the first player transferred between British clubs for a £1 million fee, and in 1896, future England international forward Fred Wheldon joined league champions Aston Villa for terms reportedly "higher than have ever been concluded": a fee of £350 plus the proceeds of a friendly match between the clubs. Caesar Jenkyns was the first man capped by his country while a Birmingham (then Small Heath) player when he represented Wales against Ireland in February 1892. The player with most senior international caps while at the club is Maik Taylor with 58 for Northern Ireland, and Harry Hibbs has most for England, with 25.

Bob McRoberts, Billy Beer, George Liddell, Merrick, Garry Pendrey, Francis and Gary Rowett all went on to manage the team. Others took part in significant matches in club history. Billy Ollis, Jenkyns, Ted Devey, Jack Hallam, Wheldon and Tommy Hands appeared in Small Heath's first Football League match in 1892. Eight men listed here played in Birmingham's pioneering venture into club football in Europe in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and ten played on the losing side in the 1956 FA Cup Final (an eleventh, Roy Warhurst, missed the match through injury). In more recent times, Paul Tait scored the first golden goal to decide a Wembley cup final, against Carlisle United in the 1995 Football League Trophy. Geoff Horsfield scored the extra-time equaliser that took the 2002 First Division play-off final into a shootout; Paul Devlin and Stan Lazaridis converted their spot-kicks as Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League for the first time. Seven men listed here, including captain Stephen Carr and goalscorer Nikola Žigić, took the field as Birmingham won the 2011 League Cup; another two were unused substitutes. Just three years later, the first headed goal of full-back Paul Caddis's career, 93 minutes into the final match of the season, saved the team from relegation to the third tier of English football.

Key

*The list is ordered first by number of appearances in total, then by number of League appearances, and then if necessary by date of debut.
*Appearances as a substitute are included.
*Statistics are correct up to and including the match played on 25 February 2023. Where a player left the club permanently after this date, his statistics are updated to his date of leaving.

Players with 100 or more appearances

CaesarJenkyns.jpg, Caesar Jenkyns, captain in the 1890s, was the first player capped by his country while a Small Heath player., alt=Head and upper torso of a young dark-haired white man with thick eyebrows and a large moustache. He is looking straight ahead, and is wearing a tasselled cap and open-necked striped shirt
Bullet Jones.jpg, Billy Jones scored 102 goals from 253 games before the First World War., alt=Head and upper torso of a stocky white man with dark hair parted in the middle. He is wearing a sports shirt with broad stripes
AlexGovan in 2008.jpg, 1956 FA Cup Finalist Alex Govan was responsible for Harry Lauder's song "Keep right on to the end of the road" becoming the Birmingham City fans' anthem., alt=An elderly white man with grey hair and glasses wearing a warm coat and scarf, pictured outdoors at night
Trevor Francis 1980 cropped.jpg, Trevor Francis, who joined Birmingham as a 15-year-old, became the first British footballer transferred for £1 million when Brian Clough signed him for league champions Nottingham Forest in February 1979., alt=Black and white photo of young white man with dark wavy hair wearing an open-necked shirt
AlanCurbishley.JPG, After Alan Curbishley was transferred from Birmingham to local rivals Aston Villa in 1983, it was 36 years before another player made the same move.
Birmingham released Chris Sutton in June 2006, after which he was out of football until joining Villa in October, so it was not a direct transfer., alt=A middle-aged white man dressed in suit and tie looking down
MichaelJohnson02.jpg, Jamaica international Michael Johnson played more than 300 times for Birmingham in an eight-year career., alt=A smiling black man dressed in suit and tie stands by a large shiny car
Damien Johnson.jpg, Damien Johnson, captain from 2006 to 2009, won Birmingham's Player of the Season award in 2006., alt=An unshaven white man in a blue sports shirt stands on a grassy area
Zigic vs Antwerp.jpg, Nikola Žigić scored Birmingham's opening goal in the 2011 Football League Cup Final., alt=A dark-haired white man wearing a blue training top and white shorts
Paul Caddis - Schottland U-21 (1).jpg, Paul Caddis scored the 93rd-minute goal on the last day of the 2013–14 season that saved Birmingham from relegation to League One., alt=Head and shoulders of a young dark-haired white man wearing a football shirt with Scotland badge

Players with fewer than 100 appearances

Footnotes

Player statistics include games played while on loan from clubs listed below. Unless individually sourced, loaning clubs come from the appearances source or

References

General

Player of the Year

Specific

Sources

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Birmingham City
Players
Association football player non-biographical articles