Birmingham City have once again failed to reach the Premier League – even though the play-offs – after they could only finish in the bottom half of the table.

The continuing financial problems at the club can only be recovered either through investment from outside or by getting into the Premier League. The massive TV money available only in the English top division can help cure the financial problems of the club. The continuing failure to get into the English top flight could also lead to the club slowly slipping down the hierarchy. Manager Gary Rowett fears that this will not be the case.

The manager also believes that there will be significant transfer funds available for him to spend in the coming transfer window. Due to significantly lower transfer budgets than other competing clubs, Birmingham do not have a large squad. They are focusing on quality more than quantity and this will once again be the case during the summer according toRowett. The team finished 10th in the table courtesy of three consecutive victories towards the end of the season. All of them were narrow 1-0 victories and this will be an area of concern forRowett. Scoring much more easily will be the target for the new campaign.

“The easiest thing for me to say is that we certainly won’t have a lower budget than last season, I think that’s important.Whilst I wouldn’t want to go into specific details of figures I think it’s important the fans know we are not going to be reducing the budget.But when I talk about reducing the playing staff, for me that makes sense. How do you get better players in with a similar level of playing budget? For me the answer is to maximise all areas of it,” said Rowett.