Exclusive: David Prutton makes Birmingham City prediction involving Ipswich Town | OneFootball

Blues will hope to be a force to be reckoned with back in the second tier

Birmingham City have enjoyed a historic and record-breaking season in League One, regardless of last weekend's disappointment in the EFL Trophy final.

It had been a rollercoaster of a week for all associated with Blues, having defeated Peterborough United 2-1 to secure promotion, before the League One title was sealed on Saturday afternoon as second-placed Wrexham were held to a goalless draw by Wigan Athletic.

However, Chris Davies' side weren't able to add to their remarkable campaign with victory at Wembley, as Posh avenged their two prior defeats and produced a turn up for the books under the arch through two stunning first-half goals from Harley Mills and Hector Kyprianou.

Regardless, the attention has swiftly focused on how the league leaders can break further records in their remaining six games, with owner Tom Wagner also revealing the potential for Birmingham to smash their transfer record once more after last August's monumental deal by third-tier standards to acquire Jay Stansfield on a permanent basis.

As a result of the investment being pumped in by Knighthead Capital Management, which is now set to increase after the announcement of an Amazon Prime documentary and new investors behind-the-scenes at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, it has been a hot topic of discussion among EFL onlookers as to how Davies' side will fare back in the Championship.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit and former Leeds United midfielder, David Prutton, believes that the scenes which followed the Wembley defeat in the Royal Box would only strengthen Wagner's motivation for further success.

"I think they'll want to be contenders for promotion (next season)," he said. "The scenes that we saw off the back of the EFL Trophy final with the two Tom's talking to the players. I'm sure there was an element of motivation in that."

"Because, the disappointment. Yes, you lose at Wembley, but a tremendous season, champions. The first port of call would've been getting promotion - to go up as champions is a glorious thing.

"Yes, people talk about the money they've spent. But, you still need to play the teams and beat the teams in front of you, and they've done exactly that," Prutton added.

"I think they may have half an eye on what Ipswich Town did," the pundit claimed. "Potentially, the squad has got slightly more quality individually, so there inlies the expectation.

"I'm sure us as pundits will see them as a team in the mix, in the top half of the table before a ball's kicked.

"But, you've got to take into account the three teams that are going to come down, and the ones that will be duking it out at the tail end of this season via the play-offs.

"So yes, a stellar season (for Birmingham) and you get the feeling there's more to come," Prutton concluded.

Birmingham City must be efficient in the transfer market ahead of Championship return

There have been plenty of suggestions made that a large proportion of Blues' most-used starting lineup would be able to make a seamless transition into the Championship, especially the likes of Stansfield, who netted 12 goals during the club's relegation season, as well as Christoph Klarer, Ethan Laird, Paik Seung-Ho and Tomoki Iwata among others.

Whilst the comparison between Davies' current side and Kieran McKenna's Ipswich outfits of 2022/23 and 2023/24 is completely logical, the Tractor Boys were extremely efficient in the market, rather than taking a gung-ho approach to proceedings.

Of course, Wagner and Tom Brady will look to make plenty of statements which make the rest of the second tier stand up and take notice of the club who have ambitions of back-to-back promotions and a 60,000-seater stadium on the horizon, and a big summer is definitely on the cards.

There is also an argument that the current Championship isn't exactly the strongest on paper, but it also remains to be seen just how strong Ipswich, Leicester City and Southampton will be next season, as despite having parachute payments at their disposal, the latter two sides have been in disarray for quite some time.