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Birmingham City have bounced back into the Championship in style with a record points haul under Chris Davies.
Birmingham made League One history for points accrued in a season with a 4-0 victory over Mansfield, and then smashed the EFL record with a 2-0 win against Blackpool.
The Blues, who were joined in the Championship by Wrexham, cantered to the title after flexing their financial muscles.
The £15 million signing of Jay Stansfield was the most notable, which saw them break a third-tier record, while co-owner Tom Wagner has promised more heavy spending this summer.
According to the co-founder of the Knighthead Capital, Birmingham aim to break their transfer record as they strive for successive promotions, and that means offering huge wages to players.
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Birmingham City will offer £30,000-per-week to new signings
According to the Mail, Birmingham can offer wages as high as £30,000-per-week to attract some of the division’s best talent.
That is an eye-watering sum of money in the second-tier that is typically associated with teams coming down from the Premier League.
For instance, Leicester City have paid Jamie Vardy a whopping £140,000-per-week in the top flight, as per Capology, and that would have been the case in the Championship.
However, Vardy announced his departure from Leicester at the end of the 2024/25 season last week, with the Foxes set to cut back on some of their players wages.
Although Birmingham have just come up from the third tier, the club can offer an attractive project and a lucrative sum of money to play for a big team.
It suggests that Chris Davies’ men are trying to escape the second tier instantly by doing what Ipswich Town did a year ago, and that is to win promotion to the Premier League.
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Birmingham tipped to finish in the top six
Birmingham’s current squad is already made up of top-end Championship players, including the ‘astounding’ Christoph Klarer.
If they can successfully build on that foundation this summer and add quality to their squad, David Prutton believes Birmingham can finish in the play-offs in 2025/26.
When asked about whether they can achieve a top six position, Prutton replied: “Do you know what? I think so.
“They’ve tooled up going into this season, they’ve made mincemeat of League One, they seem to be a team in a hurry with ambitious ownership.
“Yes, you’ve got to make sure the ambition doesn’t outstrip what the club can do, I think they have already learned from the handling of the Wayne Rooney situation, wanting a certain type of football that ultimately ended in relegation.
“So I don’t think they’ll set them up for that particular type of fall. But they will be a team in a hurry knowing who is in charge and knowing what riches and prestige are on offer in the Premier League.”