Birmingham City struck gold with £0 ace who initially lit up St Andrew's | OneFootball

Chris Burke initially proved to be a remarkable free transfer for Blues

Birmingham City's recent history has certainly been full of drama, albeit that has also coincided with a period of stagnation and regression.

May 2011 was the last time when St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park hosted Premier League football, meaning an entire generation of Blues fans have missed out on the opportunity of seeing big games regularly part of the agenda in this part of the Second City.

It has been well-documented that the 2010/11 season typified the club in a nutshell, as they went on to win just a second major trophy in their history after defeating Arsenal in the EFL Cup final, before also being relegated against Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season.

The subsequent off-season was also full of chaos, with Alex McLeish, who had masterminded an initial promotion from the Championship to the Premier League in 2008/09, a ninth-placed finish in the top-flight the following season and the cup victory, fully in the headlines as he prepared for an unsurprisingly, controversial move from B9 to B6 to join Aston Villa following the exit of Gerard Houlier.

As a result, it is so often forgotten that one of his final acts at St. Andrew's, before his popularity nosedived, was the free transfer signing of Cardiff City winger, Chris Burke, leaving Chris Hughton to initially reap those rewards in his solitary season in charge.

Chris Burke enjoyed a remarkable first season at Birmingham City

Indeed, Burke became the club's first signing ahead of their first season in the Championship for two years on a bosman deal, with the Scotsman signing an initial two-year contract in the West Midlands after previously scoring 16 goals and posting 23 assists for the South Wales outfit.

As previously mentioned, though, Hughton would be named as the club's latest managerless than two weeks later, eventually handing the winger his debut against Derby County in August 2011.

Despite posting his first goal contribution in a 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough two weeks later, it was a sign of things to come from the attacker, who then netted his first strike against Barnsley at Oakwell, before scoring in the UEFA Europa League in a memorable 2-1 success at NK Maribor.

In a gruelling season which saw Birmingham play 62 matches in all competitions, Burke featured in all but one of those whilst posting a tremendous record of 13 goals and 21 assists, with 18 of those set-ups coming in the league.

Unsurprisingly, this saw him take home a clean sweep at the club's end-of-season awards, being named as Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season and Supporters' Player of the Season, although the campaign ended in heartbreak as Blues were defeated 3-2 by Blackpool in the play-off semi-finals.

Chris Burke then endured mixed fortunes in two Blues seasons under Lee Clark

After a fine season under Hughton, there would have been initial hope that Birmingham could, again, push for a play-off position, but they were dashed as the manager departed to join Norwich City in the Premier League, with Lee Clark taking the reins after guiding Huddersfield Town back to the second tier through the League One play-offs.

It took a while for the club to regain its spark after the managerial change, with Burke looking less productive, as he also had to wait until September 2012 for his first goal of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Much like Blues' overall season, it was one of inconsistency for the experienced figure, although a purple patch was enjoyed between March and April 2013, scoring three times and posting as many assists, leaving the club with the decision to extend his contract by a further 12 months.

However, the 2013/14 couldn't have gone much worse for the Midlands outfit, as they went on to survive against the threat of relegation to League One at Doncaster Rovers' expense.

That said, it seemed as though the contract extension was an inspired decision when the Scot netted in back-to-back games against Leicester City and Ipswich Town at the beginning of the season.

However, in the final months of the season, with Blues' form nosediving, Burke's productivity lessened, and he would eventually join Nottingham Forest in the off-season as his three-year spell at St. Andrew's came to an end.

Overall, a record of 27 goals and 39 assists in 155 games shows a player that may have cost a fair amount of money, but it was a credit to Blues and Burke that he was able to be one of the most impressive bargain signings in the club's history.