Birmingham City are a fantastic example of a club that have had their off-field troubles, but are firmly focused by making sure things are as good as possible on it.

It’s been 15 months since Gary Rowett’s appointment at the St. Andrews helm, and he has single-handedly turned the club’s fortunes around.

When he took the reins, Birmingham sat 23rd in the table and still reeling after a crushing 8-0 home defeat to promotion chasing Bournemouth. It proved to be the final straw for the board (or what’s left of it), who sacked Lee Clark without a moment’s hesitation.

And Rowett has taken to the job like a duck to water, effortlessly turning around the club’s fortunes. Birmingham are now genuine promotion contenders and the extraordinary transformation has even shocked some of the club’s longest-serving supporters.

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Rowett is a fantastic example of a manager that doesn’t need money to succeed. Birmingham have one of the Championships’ lowest wage bills and lowest transfer expenditure.

The team that swept title-chasers Derby County aside last weekend cost just £410,000 to put together - an extraordinarily low amount for a team at this level in English football.

Meanwhile, their opponents were quite the opposite, fielding a side that has spent over £22million on players in 2015/2016 alone. That is the difference we are talking about here.

But whilst Birmingham played like a team full of confidence, that were willing to play for each-other, the Rams looked like a team full of individuals.

It looks like Gary Rowett has instilled a sense of confidence in his players that says we can succeed, despite the astronomical difference in budgets throughout the league. And let’s be honest, everyone loves an underdog, don’t they?

The Blues currently sit in eighth place, only two points away from the promotion places. But is it realistic to suggest they could keep up their form until the end of the season and genuinely get to Wembley?

Actually yes, yes it is.

Gary Rowett has some expenditure available to him this window. Following the £3.7million sale of Demarai Gray to Leicester, Rowett has been promised some of the funds from the deal.

Already secured are James Vaughan and Will Buckley on loan deals, but Blues fans will be hoping there could be scope for a couple more names to be added before the end of January to aid their promotion push.

But highest on the list of importance is keeping his key players fit. The likes of Clayton Donaldson, Jon Toral,  Tomasz Kuszczak and Jacques Maghoma are crucial to the Blues’ starting eleven. These are the biggest names on the teamsheet, and the individuals that are going to score and prevent the majority of goals.

A massive motivation for the whole team will have been the form of their rivals Aston Villa, over in B6. The majority of Blues fans have been spurred on by their neighbours’ rapid demise this season, and a promotion push only heightens the sense of success that is circulating around St. Andrews at present.

In Gary Rowett Blues have a young, up-and-coming English manager whom much is expected from. Should they be able to keep hold of him, they have every chance of winning the race to the Premier League, albeit more likely than not, through the play-offs.

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