Birmingham City favourite Tomasz Kuszczak has reflected with Sports Mole on his tumultuous four-year stay in the Second City during the reign of former owners Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited (BSHL).
The ex-Manchester United and Poland goalkeeper signed on a free transfer for Blues during the summer of 2015 from Wolverhampton Wanderers, assuming the role of first-choice shot-stopper for two seasons.
However, Kuszczak was soon to be another victim of the challenging landscape at Birmingham, who experienced a damaging period of financial instability and misfortune owing to a number of questionable off-field decisions.
"It was a crazy time for me during the last two years of my contract. The first year was great, with Gary Rowett, I played most of the games and I really enjoyed the football club, it was great," Kuszczak told Sports Mole.
"It was the Chinese owners [BSHL], they pretend that they know what football is about but they didn't know. My last one and a half years at the football club wasn't that great. I had six different managers coming and going, and as one of the senior players I was the first in line to be stamped on the head, it was difficult."
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Birmingham in the midst of "refreshing start" under new ownership
Following a number of false dawns at St Andrew's, Birmingham fans enjoyed arguably their greatest day since the EFL Cup success of 2011, with Knighthead Capital Management, led by American Tom Wagner, purchasing a 45% stake in the football club from BSHL during July 2023.
Most significantly, the Wagner-led consortium assumed complete control of operations at Blues and have since invested millions into renovating St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park and the team's training facilities, whilst also seeking to expand the global influence of club's brand.
"There is now a refreshing start, new facilities and new ownership, people who understand how football works," Kuszczak explained to Sports Mole.
"You start from the background and the training ground, you start from the place where you're working the most hours. You need to feel well and this is what sport is about. I think it's a good time for Birmingham, and I think they're going to progress."
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League One "not the place" for Birmingham but club "heading in a good direction"
Despite a positive change in the boardroom over the past 18 months, Birmingham have experienced hardship on the pitch, suffering relegation to League One for the first time in three decades last season.
The club's decision to sack John Eustace, who had Blues sitting sixth in the Championship, and the appointment of Wayne Rooney was the catalyst for a series of events which led to the American-owned side losing their second-tier status.
Kuszczak told Sports Mole that League One is "not the place" for Birmingham, but the former Champions League winner is confident of his previous employers bouncing back.
"I speak with Krystian Bielik, the captain at Birmingham, he's a good friend of mine. When I was there he was there on loan from Arsenal, and I helped him to join the team and adapt quickly, and he did very well at the time for us," stated Kuszczak.
"Now he's the captain. Birmingham is a League One team, who are leading League One but this is not the place for Birmingham. Everything is heading in a good direction."
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The Big Seven? Birmingham like you've never seen them before
The new ownership have admitted that they are bound to make mistakes during their tenure at Birmingham, although it is hard to be too critical of a group who are promising so much.
American businessman Wagner has laid out his plans to build a £2b 'Sports Quarter' in East Birmingham by 2030, a venue which will host all of the club's teams, headlined by a 62,000-seater stadium with the capability of hosting major sporting events.
Whilst Knighthead have been relatively vague when addressing their on-field goals - aiming for Birmingham to "compete against the best" at the turn of the next decade - it is proving difficult for Bluenoses to contain their excitement.
With ambitions of boasting world-leading facilities, a place in the Premier League will surely be a minimum expectation for Blues, who could be the first club since Manchester City to disrupt the established order at the top of English football, as unthinkable as that sounds right now.
Champions League nights on the blue side of the Second City could become a staple of the 2030s, however there will be plenty of humble contests to navigate in the meantime, including a League One clash with Exeter City on Saturday afternoon.
Tomasz Kuszczak was talking to Sports Mole on behalf of sports betting site 888sport.
Carter White
