Stefan Borson drops Birmingham stadium claim after stunning £3bn reveal
Birmingham City chiefs have ambitious plans to build a £3billion stadium as they look to take the club back to the Premier League.
The Blues have already purchased 60 acres of land in the east of the city to build a ‘Sports Quarter’, comprising a new 62,000-seater stadium, training facilities and more.
Birmingham chairman Tom Wagner has now told the public (as per The Sun, 6 February) of his plan to build a “£20million” tunnel connecting New Street station and the new complex that would be served by electric buses.
He said: “I’m the ‘crazy American’ talking about this, but we need more local voices with the right accent talking about why this is a good idea.”
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider he can say with complete certainty Birmingham will not be building a £3billion stadium.
Wagner has invested heavily in the playing squad at St Andrew’s, with the club sitting top of League One and inching closer to a return to the Championship.
Birmingham spending questioned after ‘unbelievable’ twist
Borson insisted it’s impossible to build a £3billion stadium without being one of the top clubs in the Premier League.
He told Football Insider: “They can’t build a £3billion stadium and make it financially liable.
“I did see the Birmingham chairman being interviewed at the Newcastle game and he was incredibly impressive. He’s a classic, very upbeat, ambitious, driving force for the club, and they’re clearly not hanging around.
“Some of the spending has been unbelievable. I question how they can make financial fair play in League One with that kind of spending. But put that to one side, they are clearly very ambitious.
“But we need to be realistic and credible. You cannot build a £3billion stadium without being one of the top clubs in the Premier League. Even then, the debt required to build a £3billion stadium would be suffocating for the business.
“I have no idea what the actual plan is or who’s going to pay for it. It may be that £2billion of this is going to be paid for by Birmingham City Council as a big part of a project in Birmingham. I doubt it, but maybe that’s the idea.
“Maybe £3billion is the total value of everything that’s going to be spent in the entire area of the new stadium, including a whole 50,000 new homes and all sorts of bells and whistles.
“We will have to see, but I can tell you with certainty that they are not going to be building a stadium for £3billion.”
Birmingham face battle to keep Zaid Bettaka
On the pitch, Football Insider revealed on 11 February Crystal Palace, Rangers and Norwich City are among a host of clubs tracking Birmingham winger sensation Zaid Betteka.
The 18-year-old is yet to put pen to paper on a professional deal with the Blues, alerting interested clubs to his potential availability.
He made his first-team debut in the FA Cup third-round win over Lincoln City last month.
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