An oft quoted claim of recent months has been for the Championship's status as the fifth richest League in Europe and if this isn't necessarily reflected in the quality of the goods on offer, that Derby County can attract an average gate of more than 26,000, Hull City shell out £21 million in wages for 2010-11, and Leicester City approach £18 million in net transfer fee spend is evidence of significant trade.

An oft quoted claim of recent months has been for the Championship's status as the fifth richest League in Europe and if this isn't necessarily reflected in the quality of the goods on offer, that Derby County can attract an average gate of more than 26,000, Hull City shell out £21 million in wages for 2010-11, and Leicester City approach £18 million in net transfer fee spend is evidence of significant trade.

The 19-year-old goalkeeper Jack Butland has been given the honor of joining the English squad which will travel to the EURO 2012, after Norwich's goalkeeper Ruddy broke his finger and had to be replaced. Butland has been a long term target for Wenger, and now that the goalkeeper has been called up for the first [.

It has been revealed today that Arsenal are set to sign a young Birmingham City starlet called Foday Nabay who has already been called up to the England U16 side when he was just 12 years-old. Now 13 it seems that he has been at Birmingham for six years, but Arsene Wenger is arranging for [...]

[B]irmingham City are perhaps the least heralded of the four candidates as we enter the Championship play-off period and there has certainly been a quiet and undemonstrative manner about the progress of Chris Hughton's charges. They have been playing catch up all season of course. Heavy involvement in the Europa League left them short on fixtures completed for months but a fabulous 2-1 win in Bruges in front of over 5,000 ecstatic away supporters signalled their strength and the rise has been inexorable.

Npower Championship 2011/2012: Promotion and Relegation Review - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The 2011-12 Championship league fixtures have come to an end and finally the automatic promotion positions have been confirmed. However, at the other end of the table, the relegation picture had been clear for some time.

[O]nce upon a time, the PFA Awards were the undisputed measure of a season's most valuable players. Voted for by the Professionals themselves, the response to their announcement was one of awed hush and consent – how could mere onlookers presume to know better than those involved in the rough and tumble of the actual sport?

Birmingham City supporters are kicking off over their away kit, which hasn't been worn since pre-season. Manager Chris Hughton has taken a strong dislike to the blue and black striped kit. The Inter Milan-ish outfit got a couple of wears in friendlies before Hughton decided the yellow European shirt was his preferred change kit.

With most teams having fifteen or fewer matches to play this season, it is far from certain which three teams from the Championship will be playing Premier League football next season. As it stands, the two most obvious candidates are the teams that have led the way for most of the season, current leaders, West [.

The draw for the FA Cup's fifth round was held earlier today. A reunion with Gus Poyet (via Brighton) wasn't in the cards, with Chelsea being drawn against Birmingham.

Not bad. The Championship club will pose a threat, but not to the extent that traveling to Anfield would have. Ties will be held 18/19 February.

Wade Elliot's lucky second half goal knocks Wolves out of the FA Cup as Birmingham go marching on.

Wolves captain Roger Johnson makes a return to his former hunting ground for the first time since his £8m transfer from Birmingham to Wolves last Summer and will expect the usual boo's a former player at any club gets.
Here's the tale of the tape for this Derby tie.

MATCH FACTS

Wolves have won the Cup 4 occasion's 1893,1908,1949 and 1960.

On this week's main listening report we look back at some of the big stories from the football world in 2011. Part one will feature January to June while part two will focus on July to December.

With the first-team goalkeeping situation of the last few seasons at last looking resolved, Arsenal are reportedly preparing a bid for Birmingham stopper Jack Butland. The England Under-21 player hasn't conceded a goal since mid-September and is looking to progress his career after receiving the national call-up.

Iceberg ahoy! Newcastle might be over-performing at the moment, but right-back Danny Simpson is following a dangerous template for the season. The ex-Manchester United man wants the Magpies to emulate Birmingham City's achievements last season. He told the Mirror: "We think we can go far in the Carling Cup look at Birmingham last season.

Once in a Blue Moon No way. Would you credit it? Owen Hargreaves not only avoided a trip to Manchester Royal Infirmary on his Manchester City debut, he only went and scored a bloody goal as well. Talk about running before you can, well, run for sustained periods, Roberto Mancini is now touting his new [.

Meet a Premier League star This morning we told you that a "Premier League star" would be outed as a cocaine user in tonight's episode of Dispatches on Channel 4. It has since come to our attention that the player in question was actually Garry O'Connor. Not only does that mean that the player in [..

Phew! It was that time again, and as per usual things were manic. We at In The Stands struggled to keep up with all the kerfuffle and constant will-he-wont-he debacles. However, after much journalistic endeavours, we have managed to finally pin down the most significant transfers on a thoroughly exciting last day of the transfer window.

In June, Ben Piggott ran the rule over the fortunes of Football League players in that month's European Under-21 Championship, with Aron Gunnarsson and Mikkel Andersen in particular enjoying less than fruitful campaigns. Now, the man behind the illustrations that adorn this website turns his attention to the recent Under-20 World Cup, a tournanment that has been covered expertly by Two Hundred

There are growing speculation that Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas is keen on...

According to the press, Liverpool FC has made enquiries to Birmingham City on...

Recently relegated Birmingham started their new life in the nPower Championship today with an opening day defeat at the hands of Derby County. Former Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies appeared to have given the visitors the perfect start as he scored in the 19th minute, but less than ten minutes later Jason Shackell equalizer for Derby.

So, to round off a week of keen anticipation, here's one final plug for our joint preview with The Seventy Two, a project that has been termed a "blogzine" by Bristol City's leading internet scribe, Paul Binning aka The Exiled Robin. Beyond the introduction, we were treated to 24 elegant and pithy summaries of those competing in Europe's fifth most popular league.

Kenny Dalglish is working hard to shipped out the deadwoods at Anfield to...

United States international Jonathan Spector has signed for Championship side Birmingham on a free transfer. The former West Ham United defender played well when called up by the Hammers last season, but now finds himself a division lower after the Blues faced relegation last season.

Despite plying his trade in the nPower Championship now, Spector will have the chance to impress in the Europa League thanks to the club's unlikely Carling Cup triumph over Arsenal last season.

Logo FAIL Rumours circulating among Cardiff City fans suggest that new Birmingham boss Chris Hughton was overlooked for their manager's job after giving a PowerPoint presentation featuring the logo of Championship rivals West Ham. The ex-Newcastle boss is said to have recycled the presentation he gave at his previous interview for the Hammers' job [.

After his team's woeful defensive display in pre-season, Liverpool manager...

Shroot has impressed whilst on trial at Stevenage

Robin Shroot is finally a Stevenage player. After 2 weeks on trial and four pre-season friendlies, Shroot has managed to convince Graham Westley that he is worth taking a gamble on. A two year contract has been agreed and the former Birmingham City winger will go into tonight's friendly at Hampton & Richmond as a permanent member of the Boro squad.

It seems that Arsene Wenger has decided to move on to the cheaper alternative of Birmingham's Scott Dann after finding the competition for Gary Cahill getting too hot with Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham all trying to get the Bolton and England defender. The Mirror reports that the Arsenal boss is hoping that he will [.

The Birmingham centre-half is a summer target for a number of Premier League...

They've only gone and done it Aston Villa have announced that Alex McLeish has been appointed as their new manager. Despite furious protests from Villa supporters, the ex-Birmingham City manager has signed a three-year deal at Villa Park. He said: "I am honoured to have this opportunity to manage a club with such a fantastic [.

Claret and Blues start to look very Blue We're beginning to wonder. Not only is ex-Birmingham manager Alex McLeish on the verge of becoming Aston Villa's new manager, but he is set to bring defender Scott Dann with him. This is all getting a bit too suspicious and we can only conclude that Carson Yeung [.

Alex McLeish is a big gamble for Aston Villa - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Looking beyond the city rivalry, there's plenty of ammunition for Villa fans to suggest that 'Big Eck' is not the right man for the job.

Alex McLeish has won just 26% of his games as a Premier League manager, so far no Aston Villa manager with more than five games in charge has posted such a low percentage.

Will the real idiots please stand up. Welcome friends to this the inaugural meeting of the newly formed International Division (of the ) Imbecilic Outraged Tottenham Supporters (or I.D.I.O.T.S as it is more informally known.) This organisation was set up under the initiative of our current manager Mr.

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The 2011 Premier League season has come to an end and the winners and losers have been decided. On this week's main report we take a look back at some of the highs and lows of the English football season.

That's it then. All over for another season and what have we got to show for it this time around? A 5th place finish in the league, quarter final exit from the Champions League, 4th round exit in the FA Cup and 3rd round in the Carling Cup. That's the cold, hard stats of the season.

Some Birmingham City fans are probably now wishing they had rethought their decision to attend Tottenham in fancy dress today. What might have seemed like a jovial end-of-season wardrobe decision at kick-off looked misjudged by the final whistle. 1. Nun This Blue Nun attended the match with a robber.

Birmingham City boss Alex McGleish is 90 minutes away from what could be a great season having beaten Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final or a nightmare season should they be relegated on Sunday at White Hart Lane in what has been billed 'Survival Sunday'.

This article has nothing about Arsenal but I just wanted to share my views on the teams fighting the battle for survival at the wrong end of the table.

Two out of Blackburn, Wolves, Wigan, Birmingham, and Blackpool will be joining West Ham in the Championship next season.

To be perfectly frank, I am disappointed that some good sides are struggling to survive.

It's only Rock and Roll, but I like it 'Come back Harry: all is forgiven'. So Harry is restored to Rock and Roll Hero after all.Well not quite, but two wins in twelve is better than one win in eleven in the Premiership. When it ends a fifteen year winless run at Anfield it is even more welcome. According to Spurs Odyssey it was only the fifth time in a hundred years.