Championship: Birmingham City’s £28.9m wage bill compared to Watford, Bristol City and Huddersfield Town

After analysing the 2022–2023 Championship’s financial data, Birmingham City’s standing is as follows.

One of Birmingham City’s main problems since being down to League One is their disparity in income.

With a sizable stadium and a devoted fan base, Blues will be regarded as one of the biggest teams in the third division come next season. With a large budget, Knighthead has made public their ambitious intentions for the team, which include building a new stadium, a new training facility and upgrades to St Andrew’s.

However, over ten players have expired their contracts, and it will be up to them to decide whether or not to continue. Birmingham’s budget for the upcoming season will likely be among the largest in the division, but the team must still operate at a sustainable level, which may mean offering lower teams. Relegation does present an opportunity for a roster reset, which may result in more players joining the highly regarded programme that turned out Jude Bellingham.

Here, we examine Birmingham City’s pay spend in relation to its Championship competitors. Chris Weatherspoon of the Fair Game and Wise Men Say Podcast gathered these precise numbers. More of his conclusions regarding issues on and off the pitch can be read here.Since these numbers are from the 2022–2023 season, Rotherham United, Reading, and Blackpool are also included, along with Sheffield United, Burnley, and Luton Town. The reason for this is that this season’s accounts won’t be made public until this time next year because every team from the previous season was required to publish their accounts. They do not include Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday, and Ipswich Town, who were in the third division the previous year.