Why thousands of Birmingham City fans could miss out next season | OneFootball

Blues fans will hope for an improvement on their finish in 2025/26 next season

Birmingham City's supporters have been on quite the journey since Knighthead Capital Management acquired initial control of the football club three years ago, and their end 'destination' is also wetting the appetites of those in B9.

Despite residing outside the Premier League for the past 15 years, owner, Tom Wagner, hasn't been afraid to continuously outline his grand plans for Blues and their supporters in the years to come.

That is regardless of the fact his first season in the boardroom at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park resulted in one of the most chaotic of relegations from the Championship, leading the American and his fellow members of the hierarchy to plot an even greater rebuilding job.

Chris Davies has since overseen matters on the pitch in this part of the Second City, with his first-ever season in full-time management seeing Birmingham romp to the League One title with 111 points to their name, as they were promoted alongside the equally as ambitious Wrexham and Charlton Athletic.

However, the club's first season back in the Championship didn't exactly go as many envisaged, even if a position of 10th in the second tier still represented Blues' highest finish since the only full season of Gary Rowett's first spell in charge a decade ago.

As such, improvements are to be expected next season, with the aforementioned Davies becoming the subject of sack calls throughout various points of 2025/26.

However, there will be some supporters who, unfortunately, may have to showcase their individual backing away from St. Andrew's due to a new revelation.

Birmingham City announce impressive season ticket renewal figure at St. Andrew's ahead of 2026/27

Indeed, after the historic stadium saw all four stands reopened after required developments earlier in the decade, St. Andrew's has been a real 'fortress' on paper for Blues, particularly under Davies.

Since a defeat to Cardiff City in April 2024, weeks before relegation to League One was confirmed, it took 29 games for another home league loss in B9 to be recorded, with Hull City emerging 3-2 victors back on October 18th.

Only Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers took maximum points away from B9 in the remaining encounters, leaving Birmingham with the fourth-strongest home record with 44 points, in comparison to the fourth-worst on their travels.

Whilst some fans have, at times, voiced their displeasure at Davies' style of play despite a strong end to the campaign, that hasn't reflected in the renewal of season tickets, which, as confirmed by the club, have reached extremely impressive levels.

Of an ESTIMATED 20,000 season tickets that were up for renewal from 2025/26, Blues revealed that 95% of supporters had taken up the option, with 70% also done online rather than in-person.

Chief commercial officer, Jon Grimes, has stated that such figures "brings us closer to the renewal rates of best-in-class Premier League clubs, reduces the cost of service, which means the savings can be reinvested in other areas of the Club and improves the overall supporter experience."

A window for fans to relocate season tickets, despite limited opportunities, will then open from 8th June until 12th June, before remaining season tickets will be available to those at the top of a reported 15,000-strong waiting list.

Birmingham City's latest ticketing update will encourage Tom Wagner ahead of Powerhouse stadium plans

Image supplied through Grayling

While the aforementioned update isn't bound to please those further down the waiting list, as they will not have the fortune of being able to attend all 23 Championship home fixtures, one man who will be encouraged by the ticketing data is Wagner.

Last season, Blues averaged the eighth-highest attendance figures in the division at a figure of 27,163, and there is every chance those numbers would improve if Davies' side were to showcase signs of a sustained promotion bid from the early weeks of next season.

Meanwhile, with plans now firmly in motion for the upcoming 62,000-seater Powerhouse stadium, which is set to open in four summers' time, Birmingham's chairman will still have full confidence that the vast majority of seats in the new ground will be taken up, as opposition supporters continue to ridicule such ideas, as it is set to be over twice the capacity of St. Andrew's.