A significant Birmingham City change is happening behind the scenes at St Andrew's | OneFootball

Blues are set for a reshuffle within their hierarchy ahead of the new season

Birmingham City's first season back as a Championship club didn't exactly go according to the script which many set out 12 months ago following their promotion from League One.

Indeed, the aim for many newly-promoted clubs is to consolidate their position in a new division, but as seen by the ambitions shown at both Blues and Wrexham, expectation levels surrounding both were sent through the roof.

During their record-breaking season in the third tier, many argued that Chris Davies, who is soon set to surpass the two-year anniversary of being manager at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, had the nucleus of a squad which could, at the very least, hold its own in the Championship.

As such, even before any transfer activity was conducted last summer, it was nigh on impossible to find a prediction which had Birmingham placed lower than mid-table, and they soon went into many punters' play-offs or promotion picks after the first of two major squad reshuffles in 2025/26.

That said, though, Davies' side were very rarely in the conversation for promotion, with their form away from B9, in particular, a major hindrance, as only three sides had worse records, in contrast to Blues boasting the fourth-best points total on home turf.

Given the high-profile recruitment drives overseen by Davies and his recruitment staff in the last 24 months, more of the same is to be expected this summer as Tom Wagner hopes to realise his dream of owning a Premier League club.

However, as well as adding new members to the squad, a key change in the hierarchy is now on the agenda.

Craig Gardner to leave Birmingham City as director of football ahead of 2026/27 campaign

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The aforementioned Wagner has been heavily involved with the day-to-day running of the club on many fronts, but in February, confirmed he would be taking a step back on those fronts due to suffering a stroke, in order to restore his personal health.

It remains to be seen when he will return to such duties after gaining intense popularity for his engagement and transparency with supporters, but ahead of the upcoming campaign, he and other members of the board will be tasked with appointing a new director of football.

That's because, after murmurings of such an eventuality were rife amongst supporters on social media, John Percy of the Telegraph has revealed, via X, that Craig Gardner will be stepping down from said position.

Gardner's affiliation with Blues is extremely strong, as both a player and a member of the club's backroom team.

After spending two stints of his career at St. Andrew's, which included being a part of Alex McLeish's EFL Cup-winning side of February 2011 against Arsenal, the 39-year-old joined the club's coaching staff in January 2021, and was subsequently promoted to the position of technical director in June of the same year.

He would move into his role as director of football in February 2025, but after 16 months, is now to depart, with Percy's update already clarifying that the process of recruiting a new figure to take up the vacancy is underway.

Craig Gardner's exit from Birmingham City may not come as the greatest of surprises

Indeed, Gardner's role has meant he has worked in unison with Davies on recruitment strategies at St. Andrew's, and they have become a hot topic of discussion in recent months due to varying success levels of new additions.

Reports earlier in the year also mean that his exit from the club may not be the biggest of surprises, particularly as any exit talk surrounding Davies appears to have dissipated.

In April, amid talk that England Under-21s boss and former Blues midfielder, Lee Carsley, had emerged as a potential managerial target, Football Insider claimed that Gardner was "under significant pressure" to retain his role within the higher-ups ahead of the off-season.

It now remains to be seen who will be appointed in his place, but it is a decision Knighthead will hope eventually pays dividends.