2007-2011

Alex McLeish joined Blues as first team manager on November 28, 2007, a day after resigning from his role as Scotland boss.

Born in Renfrewshire, Scotland 'Big Eck' began his career in football as a player with Aberdeen.

Between 1976 and 1994 the centre half made 493 appearances, scoring 25 goals. During his long spell with the Dons he won a host of trophies including the European Cup Winners' Cup, European Super Cup, Scottish Premier League (three times), Scottish Cup (five times) and Scottish League Cup twice.

Much of this success came under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson who left the Dons in 1986 to join Manchester United. In his last year of playing football he joined Motherwell, but made just three appearances. He also represented his country 77 times.

His management career began in 1994 with Motherwell. In his first season at the club he led The Well to second place in the Premier League behind Walter Smith's Rangers. Unfortunately he wasn't able to repeat this achievement in the following two seasons and left to join Hibernian in 1998. McLeish took over a struggling Hibernian side but was unable to prevent their slide in to the First Division. However he led the Edinburgh outfit back up at the first attempt by winning the First Division championship.

Following a relatively successful time at Hibs, which included a third place finish in the SPL and a Scottish Cup Final appearance, McLeish attracted the attention of Glasgow Rangers. He joined Rangers in December 2001 and won the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup in his first season. In his second season he went one better by winning the domestic treble.

Because of financial problems, McLeish was forced to sell a number of his top players in 2003, but his side bounced back to win the SPL in 2005. The following season they reached the last 16 of the Champions League, where they were defeated on the away goals rule by Villarreal. Following a disappointing finish to the season McLeish had his contract terminated. McLeish replaced Walter Smith as Scotland coach in January 2007. He came close to guiding the Scots to qualification for the 2008 European Championship in a group that included Italy and France. Scotland's Euro 2008 hopes were eventually dashed when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Italy.

McLeish arrived at a struggling Birmingham City mid-way through the 2007/2008 campaign, but despite his best efforts the club suffered relegation on the final day of the season by a single point. But the Scot and his staff quickly regrouped and he saw them win promotion back to the top flight at the very first attempt.

What followed was a record breaking 2008/09 campaign, which saw Blues end the season in ninth spot - their best finish in more than 50 years.A large part of that success was down to Blues' home record. They were unbeaten at St. Andrew's from September 2009 right through to end of the season. This record breaking run carried on into this current season and finally came to an end against Everton in October 2010, when they suffered their first home defeat in 19 games.

In 2011 McLeish led his side to only their second major title when they lfted the Carling Cup at Wembley.McLeish got his tactics spot on as his underdogs deservedly beat Arsene Wenger's Arsenal 2-1 in a thrilling final.

Unfortunately the season ended in disappointment when McLeish saw his side relegated to the Championship after they suffered a last-day defeat away at Spurs.

In June 2011 Mcleish tendered his resignation and less than a week later was installed as manager at Blues' local rivals Aston Villa. 

2001- 2007: Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce was appointed Blues manager in December 2001 and led the club into the Premier League just six months later, ending a 16-year exodus from the top flight of English football.
The former Norwich City and Manchester United defender, who also turned out for Blues towards the end of his playing career, was in charge for short periods at Sheffield United, Huddersfield, Wigan and Crystal Palace before taking over at the helm at St. Andrew's. He remained in charge for six years. Blues were relegated back in the Championship in 2006 but bounced back at the first attempt under Bruce's leadership. He left Blues to join Wigan in November 2007.  

1996-2001: Trevor Francis

Former St. Andrew's playing legend Trevor Francis returned to the club to become the new manager in May 1996. The England international striker became Britain's first £1 million player when he moved from Blues to Nottingham Forest in 1979 and won a host of honours, including two European Cups. After a playing career that spanned over two decades, Francis cut his teeth in management at QPR and Sheffield Wednesday before coming to Blues, which many people saw as his destiny.Unfortunately he wasn't able to lead the club back into the big time but he did come close, reaching three play-offs but losing in the semi-finals on each occasion. Blues did reach the final of the Worthington Cup (League Cup) in 2001 during Francis's reign but lost on penalties to Liverpool after a battling effort. 

 1993-96: Barry Fry

The colourful Barry Fry became the Blues manager in December 1993 after achieving great success over many years in non-league football and the lower divisions of the Football League.
The former Manchester United apprentice had an eventful first 12 months at St. Andrew's, signing and selling players galore, but suffered relegation from Division One.There were happier times ahead as Blues bounced straight back in 1994/95, winning the Division Two championship, as well as leading the club to Wembley in the Autowindscreen Shield where over 76,000 fans saw Paul Tait's golden goal clinch victory. Blues and Fry parted company at the end of the following season after a mid-table finish in Division One in 1995/95.  

1991-93: Terry Cooper

Terry Cooper was a very talented player who represented England on 20 occasions and appeared in the 1970 World Cup finals.
The former Leeds, Middlesbrough and Bristol City defender moved into management at the end of his playing career and took charge of Bristol Rovers and their neighbours City plus Exeter City before he was lured to St. Andrew's in August 1991. Cooper led Blues to promotion from the old Division Three in his first season at the helm and then kept them up on a nerve-wracking final day of the 1992/93 season. Blues also have a lot to thank Cooper for as he helped to steady the ship during that second campaign after the then-owners' business went into receivership and the club's very future looked in doubt. Cooper left Blues after a disappointing start to the 1993/94 season.

1991: Lou Macari

Lou Macari was a Scottish international footballer who won a host of top honours in a playing career that took encompassed Celtic, Manchester United and Swindon Town, cutting his managerial teeth at the latter club. After a brief spell as manager of West Ham, he arrived at the helm of Blues in February 1991 and led the club to a Wembley final for the first time in 35 years, although admittedly it was the Leyland Daf Cup, the competition for the clubs in the bottom two divisions of the Football League. But just a few weeks after the 3-2 success over Tranmere under the Twin Towers, Macari walked out on Blues to join Stoke, citing a lack of ambition from the club as the reason for his departure.

1989-91 Dave Mackay

Dave Mackay was another highly successful player and Scottish international who joined Blues as boss in April 1989 towards the end of a relatively successul managerial career that included winning the top flight championship at Derby and three FA Cups at Tottenham. He was unable to repeat that success at a cash-strapped Birmingham City, then operating in the third tier of English football. 

1987-89 Garry Pendrey

Garry Pendrey had been an immensely popular during more than a decade at Blues in the 1960s and 70s and when the opportunity came to manage the club that he loved, he jumped at the chance, stating 'this is the only job I ever wanted'. Unfortunately the club had no money at that time and he left two years later with Blues on the verge of dropping into the third tier of English football for the first time in its history.

1986-87: John Bond

John Bond arrived at Blues as manager in January 1986 with the club second from bottom of the old First Division and having recentely been knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Altrincham.
Fortunes improved little under Bond's leadership as the team dropped out of the top flight and then narrowly avoided relegation to the Third Division in the following campaign.

1982-86: Ron Saunders

Ron Saunders became the first former Aston Villa manager to take charge of Blues when he got the St. Andrew's top job in February 1982.
Just nine months earlier Saunders had led Villa to the First Division championship and they were on course for the European Cup final when he surprisingly left and reappeared across the other side of the city. He was unable to replicate that glory in B9 as Blues were relegated in 1984 but he did lead the club straight back the following season.

1978-82: Jim Smith

Jim Smith had a chequered four-year reign at St. Andrew's as the club suffered relegation and also won promotion during his time at the helm. Many fans look back at Smith's time in charge with great fondness due to the style of football that was played and the entertaining players that were signed, such as Frank Worthington, Archie Gemmill and Alan Curbishley. Smith went on to enjoy a long career in management. that included spells at Oxford, QPR, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Derby.

1977-78: Sir Alf Ramsey

The man who famously led England to their one and to-date only World Cup final success enjoyed a brief stint as manager at St. Andrew's. He was part of the Board of Directors when Willie Bell was sacked and took at the helm for eight months before ill-health forced him to stand down.

1975-77 Willie Bell

Another former Scotland international who went on to manage Blues, the ex-Leeds full back was a coach for five years at Blues under Freddie Goodwin before taking the top job following a successful spell as caretaker torwards the start of the 1975/76 season. After a promising start, the team struggled again and only just stayed up at the end of his first season in charge. A mid-table position was achieved in 1976/77 but a poor start to the next campaign saw him lose his job. He went on to manage Lincoln City for a short time before leaving the UK to go and live in America.

1970-75: Fred Goodwin

Freddie Goodwin was one of the most succesful managers in Blues' history, leading the club to promotion in his second season and also to an FA Cup semi-final in the same year, 1972, and finished tenth in the top flight 12 months later,Blues reached the last four of the main cup competition again in 1975 during Goodwin's reign but surprisingly lost to lower-graded Fulham. The former Manchester United player, and one of the Busby Babes, later coached in the North American Soccer League for several seasons.

1965-70 Stan Cullis

After Clifford Coombs took over as chairman of Blues from Harry Morris in December 1965, his first major decision was to appoint Stan Cullis as manager. Cullis had been out of football for just over a year after leaving Wolves, where he had led the Molineux club to three First Division titles and two FA Cup successes.This success convinced Coombs that Cullis was the man for the job but unfortunately he couldn't replicate that success in the Second City, although Blues did reach the semi-finals of both cup competitions.But in the league, although fortunes improved, he failed to lead the club back into the top flight and eventually lost his job as a result.

1964-65: Joe Mallett

Joe Mallett was a well-respected coach having  nurtured talented young players such as Ian Storey-Moore and David Pleat at Nottingham Forest but things didn't go well for him in his first taste of management at St. Andrew's after he was appointed in the summer of 1964. Blues were relegated from the top flight in his first season in charge and the team were languishing in the bottom two of the second tier when he was relinquished off his duties as manager in December 1965, although he stayed on as a coach under Stan Cullis.

1960-64: Gil Merrick

Gil Merrick made more than 720 appearances for Blues during over 20 years as a player before moving into the managerial hot seat in May 1960.Under Merrick's charge, Blues lifted their only major silverware to date when local rivals Aston Villa were beaten 3-1 on aggregate in the 1963 League Cup final.Blues also reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup where they lost in a stormy encounter against AS Roma.He kept the club in the top flight throughout his time at the helm but was still relinquished of his duties after four years.

1958-60: Albert 'Pat' Beasley

Pat Beasley was initially bought to St. Andrew's as an assistant to Arthur Turner but was quickly appointed as caretaker manager and then as team manager in January 1959. He resigned from his position in May 1960 after taking Blues to the Fairs Cup final, where they lost to Barcelona over two legs. 

1954-58 Arthur Turner

Arthur Turner spent 13 years with Blues, nine as a player and four as manager, and is arguably the most successful boss in the club's history. Within six months of his arrival, he led the club to promotion to the top division in 1955 and then the following year to the FA Cup final, where Blues lost 3-1 to Manchester City.In that same season Blues finished sixth, the highest final league position to date. After his departure he joined Oxford United where he achieved great success again, taking the U's from the non-league into Division Two.  

1949-1954 Bob Brocklebank

Bob Brocklebank made over 300 Football League appearances for Burnley before moving into management with Chesterfield. He came to St. Andrew's in January 1949 and although he couldn't prevent the club from dropping out of the top flight at the end of that season, he led Blues into the semi-finals of the FA Cup in the following campaign, as well as finishing a creditable fourth in Division Two. Even though Brocklebank didn't get the club back into the First Division during his four-and-a-bit years in charge, he was responsible for bringing through a lot of the young players at Blues, the likes of Jeff Hall and Trevor Smith amongst others, who were to play a key part in the most successful ever side of the mid-1950s.

1945-48 Harry Storer

Harry Storer was a player at Grimsby, Derby and Burnley before taking over as manager of Coventry City in 1931.He led the Sky Blues to promotion into Division Two during 14 years at the helm at Highfield Road. Storer became Blues manager in 1945 and in the final year of wartime football he led the club to the Football League South championship, as well as place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup where they lost to Derby. Under his management, Blues won the Second Division in 1948, conceding only 24 goals in 42 games, but midway through the following season Storer returned to Coventry. 

1944-45 Ted Goodier

Ted Goodier took charge of Blues for a six-month period as team manager between November 1944 and May 1945 before returning from whence he came, as boss of Rochdale. 

1939-45 William A. Camkin

William Camkin took charge of the team through World War Two and steered the club through the war and kept the flag flying, despite German bombing of St. Andrew's and a fire which destroyed the Main Stand.

1933-39 George Liddell

George Liddell made almost 350 appearance for Blues before being appointed as manager in 1933, just 12 months after he'd hung up his boots.His six years at the helm was not the most successful as the team struggled to maintain their top flight status before finally suffering relegation in 1939, in the final season before World War Two. 

1928-33 Leslie Knighton

Leslie Knighton joined Blues as manager in 1928 and remained at the club for five years.His finest moment during his time at St. Andrew's came in 1931 when he led his side to the 1931 FA Cup Final at Wembley. Unfortunately Blues were narrowly beaten 2-1 on the day by Midlands neighbours West Bromwich Albion.He left Birmingham in 1933 to join Chelsea for a six year stint and his final managerial job was at Shrewsbury Town where he took charge for the post-war period from 1945-48. Born in Church Gresley in Derbyshire, Knighton had seen his own playing career curtailed because of injury.
He started his management career as assistant at Manchester City in 1909 and spent three years at city before moving to Huddersfield Town. After a seven year spell with the Terriers, Knighton was appointed as secretary-manager at Arsenal. The best finish Arsenal made under his guidance was ninth place in the 1920-21 season.

1923-27 Billy Beer

Billy Beer had previously played for the club during an eight year spell before taking over at the managerial helm in 1923. Beer looked after the playing side of things, with Frank Richarsd dealing with the administration. At the end of his first season in charge the club finished in 14th place and in the following year they climbed up to 8th place in the table, before slipping back to 14th position at the end of the following season. Beer remained at Blues until March 1927 before deciding to step down from the role. Richards took over as caretaker boss before the appointment of the next full time manager, Leslie Knighton.

1915-23  Frank Richards

Club secretary Frank Richards took over at the helm following McRoberts departure. He held the role throughout WW1 and right  up until 1923. 

1910-15  Bob McRoberts

Bob McRoberts was the first full time manager of the club. Prior to 1910 the team had been selected by committee. The Scotsman had been a former player at the club  from 1898-1905, but left to join Chelea after the Pensioners were admitted to the Football League. When he returned  to the club they were struggling, having just finished bottom of Division Two. In his first season, Roberts (who was assisted by former England goalkeeper Billy George) finished in 16th place. The next season they finished 12th and the following season missed out on promotion by just four points. Their form dipped slightly the next year as they finished 14th. In his final year in charge Blues finished fifth. He eventually retired from the club following the outbreak of World War 1.