New Tom Wagner, Birmingham City claim is a warning to the Championship | OneFootball

Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner has suggested that Birmingham's spending could continue this summer due to their revenue.

Birmingham City owner Tom Wagner has issued something of a warning to the Championship as the Blues head back up to the second-tier with ambitions beyond just making up the numbers.

Birmingham spent heavily last summer following their relegation down to League One, including breaking their club record fee to bring in Jay Stansfield from Fulham on the final day of the transfer window.

City have romped their way to the League One title and could still break the all-time EFL points tally of 106, set by Reading when they won the 2005/06 Championship title.

As they continue to grow and become ever more ambitious, co-owner and chairman Tom Wagner has indicated in an interview with The Times that the spending will not stop now they have returned to the second-tier, explaining that the second city club have money still to spend.

“If our revenue progresses as we expect into next season, which is basically a certainty, we will be the highest revenue-generating club in the Championship ever not receiving parachute payments – and we will be on a par with those receiving parachute payments.”

As they seek a return to the Premier League for the first time since the club were relegated in the 2010/11 campaign, Wagner’s comments will be noteworthy to the rest of the second division.

Birmingham’s big spending summer of 2024

Birmingham spent big last summer as the club’s ownership backed Chris Davies, entering into his first job as a manager, to gain automatic promotion from the third-tier at the first attempt.

They have been relentless throughout the campaign and their 4-0 demolition of Mansfield Town at the weekend before being handed the League One trophy at St Andrews showed off their quality.

Last summer, the Blues did not only break their club record fee to bring in Stansfield but they also ended up finishing the transfer window with the top three biggest fees ever spent by a League One club.

Their squad was built to not only quickly conquer League One but also immediately challenge when they returned to the Championship and they are expected to be pushing for promotion next season.

Wagner’s apparent assertion that the Blues will once again spend in this summer transfer window could eventually mark them out as one of the leading contenders for promotion to the top-flight next season.

Chris Davies’ dominant Blues

Davies was appointed Birmingham boss in June 2024 having previously been the assistant coach to Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City, Celtic and Leicester City, as well as Head of Opposition Analysis during Rodgers’ time at Liverpool before becoming Ange Postecoglou’s assistant for a season at Tottenham Hotspur.

The Watford-born coach, who played in the academy at Reading and represented Wales at U17, U18 and U19 level, was forced to retire before making a senior professional appearance in 2004 due to an arthritic condition in his foot.

In just his first season as a full-time manager, Davies has overseen 42 victories in 58 matches across all competitions as Birmingham boss, leading them to 105 points in 44 games in League One and also to the final of the EFL Trophy where they lost to Peterborough United at Wembley Stadium earlier this month.

The Blues have dominated League One throughout the campaign with standout performers such as Stansfield, Alfie May, Christoph Klarer and Tomoki Iwata, among many others, proving to simply be a level above the third division of English football.

With Davies at the helm, a core of players already assembled and Wagner’s ambition to take Birmingham even further, the rest of the Championship will be worried about what could develop in the second city next season.