Birmingham City will hope to emulate Coventry City bargain this summer

In 2011, Marlon King relocated to Birmingham City from Coventry City with the goal of getting the Blues promoted back to the Premier League at the first opportunity.

Prior to returning to the Championship in 2010 with Coventry, King played in the Premier League for three seasons with Wigan Athletic, Hull City, and Middlesbrough. He was a consistent goal scorer in the second tier with Gillingham and Watford in his previous career.

Despite having verbally agreed to extend his one-year contract with the Sky Blues in the summer of 2011, he decided to join Birmingham under new manager Chris Hughton because he was a productive player for the team.

After King, then 31 years old, scored 18 goals and provided 11 assists in 49 games across all competitions, Hughton considered him a wonderful addition. Blues finished fourth, but King’s play-off loss to eventual winners Blackpool in the semi-finals prevented them from moving on to the Europa League group stage.

He finished 2012–13 with 14 more goals in 30 games, but a chronic knee ailment that summer led to the termination of his contract.

In their quest to return to the Championship after just one season in the third division, Birmingham could do much worse than find another King this summer—a player who will score goals at will and improve his teammates.

Birmingham don’t have a goalscorer

Despite Jay Stansfield’s 12 league goals, Blues’ heroics in the 2023–24 season proved to be insufficient to stave them from relegation.

As the team’s Players’ and Supporters’ Player of the Season, Stansfield will likely return to his parent club, Fulham, this summer. Relegation will prevent the Blues from making a further attempt to sign the 21-year-old.

Due to their expiring contracts this summer, Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz are certain to go after contributing just one and three league goals, respectively, to a team in need of goals.

With his summer transfer from Leeds United, Tyler Roberts is now their only centre-forward option under contract for the upcoming campaign. However, despite playing in just 17 league games due to recurring hamstring problems, the 25-year-old has not scored a goal this year.

Though they will probably have to accept losing important players, Jordan James and Juninho Bacuna, who scored eight and seven league goals respectively, the Blues will hope that in-contract wingers Koji Miyoshi and Siriki Dembele, who each scored six goals this season, will stay on at the club to help them climb back up.

A goal scorer is essential for whoever leads St Andrew’s in 2024–2025, and a King–inspired acquisition would undoubtedly be beneficial.

The free agent market could help

King joined Blues on a free transfer back in 2011, and Blues may find success there once more as they try to get some deals with the clout they will unavoidably have in the third division.

As a modern-day club legend, Jonson Clarke-Harris is departing Peterborough this summer after logging 87 goals in 189 outings for the Posh since joining from Bristol Rovers in 2020.

Birmingham should be interested in his services if they are looking for a target man and a player who, given the appropriate service, can guarantee goals. He would be a wonderful addition to any League One team.

Tom Bradshaw, a free agent who will soon turn thirty-one, was a prolific scorer for the Walsall Wolves in League One before continuing to score regularly for Barnsley and the Lions in the Championship.

The contract of 29-year-old Devante Cole, who finished third in League One scoring this season with 18 goals in 46 games, is due to expire, making him a marquee addition even though he may end up in the Championship.

We’ll have to wait and see if those players are realistic goals to pursue. What they may offer, though, is the same influence King had all those years ago in the hopes that the Blues’ League One tenure will be short.

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