Birmingham City in ‘late-night meetings’ to get mega deal over the finish line
Birmingham co-owner and chairman Tom Wagner has been praised for his ambitions at the Championship club.
That is according to ex-Aston Villa, Everton and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, as Wagner looks to lead Birmingham to the Premier League.
Birmingham unveiled plans to build a new 62,000 capacity stadium, with housing and hotels also set to be built on the site.
The stadium project could run into complications for Birmingham, with the plan set to cost over £1billion.
Birmingham ‘very attractive’ amid stadium plans
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – states that costs for the stadium could spiral above what Birmingham have projected to spend.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness though believes ambition is a good sign from the ownership.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I’ve been in this phase of projects before and it is not that easy to then make this reality. It’s gonna be a lot of arm twisting and a lot of wrangling, a lot of late-night meetings, and probably a lot more money than they expect as costs will escalate as well.
“Now look, with Birmingham, HS2 now being stopped at Birmingham basically, makes it very attractive, almost like a London club when you’re, you know, I think 15 minutes into the centre of London there. So that’s one advantage that has always been there.
“But as I say, it’s a long road to go, but it’s nice to have ambition, and I give them full marks for that. But whether you like it or not, as I say, it’s up to the eye of the beholder.
“I think they’ve certainly given themselves something, an image to aim for and a feeling to aim for, and so full marks for that. But let’s just see, the jury is very much out on execution on such a big project.
“It may have been better to have done it in phases and to have to have got different things done by certain dates. I think fans would have accepted that, but they’ve gone for the whole package and wanted to deliver. Look, listen, the chairman spoke very well.
“He’s got that ambition, but there are a few questions yet to be answered on where that money and revenue is going to go. But anyway, let’s just follow the story and we’ll be watching it every week.”
Premier League promotion still on the table this season
Birmingham’s current St Andrew’s home holds a capacity of just over 29,000, making it bigger than four Premier League stadiums.
If they were to become a Premier League club, Birmingham will also see increased revenue due to increased tv deals and greater exposure.
The club are still in the mix for the second automatic place in the Championship, with an eight-point gap between them and Middlesborough.