Former Birmingham City captain Michael Morrison has exposed a huge miscalculation made during Gianfranco Zola’s disastrous spell at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park from December 2016 to April 2017.

Birmingham are now on the rise, with Chris Davies’ team leading the Championship for the first time in 18 years during the international break.

Even though Knighthead Capital Management has invested millions of pounds in various elements of the club, residents in this area of the Second City have not forgotten the team’s turbulent past.

Constant change of managers, players, and ownership troubles were major contributing reasons to the club’s decline, with Zola’s brief tenure at St. Andrew’s exemplifying such chaos, as the Blues moved from prospective play-off candidates to requiring a last-minute relegation escape in the same season.

Michael Morrison reveals a significant Gianfranco Zola blunder at his first meeting with Birmingham City players.

Zola was chosen Gary Rowett’s successor in December 2015, following a disputed purchase of St. Andrew’s by Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited.

Birmingham were eighth in the Championship when the former Chelsea, West Ham United, and Watford manager signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

His debut match as manager occurred two days later against high-flying Brighton and Hove Albion in a televised clash, which the Blues lost 2-1 despite taking the lead through Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Morrison, who made 183 appearances for the club, said on the ‘Made in Brum’ podcast that Zola’s first meeting with the players at Wast Hills was a major mistake.Morrison said that when bringing in new people, it’s important to surround them with positive influences.I didn’t think he hired very excellent people around him, and that was part of the problem.

“In Gianfranco’s first meeting, I remember meeting him and he said ‘I’m not going to change too much in a short space of time, we’ll see how it goes, we won’t be out on the grass too long’, and we were out on the grass for two hours, which is a long time to be out before a game, and then we conceded in the last minute.

“”You’ve flogged us there; if you hadn’t done that, and that’s when I talk about wins going by.”I remember him talking about Brighton’s team in our first meeting: ‘They’ve got this player, that player. “They have Sam B*****s up front, and we’re like ‘don’t you mean Sam Baldock’,

who was the Championship’s top scorer at the time,” said the former Blues player.You’re laughing right immediately, but if this guy gets the top scorer wrong on his first day, you think it’ll be a disaster, and it was.”

Gianfranco Zola’s time at Birmingham City could not have gone any worse.

As Morrison alluded to, Zola’s reign was nothing short of disastrous, despite Birmingham having an experienced Championship side and attempting to add further quality in the January window with the signings of Emilio Nsue, Craig Gardner, Cheik Keita, and Kerim Frei.

However, Zola won only two of his 24 games in command, with the first victory coming against Fulham in February 2017.

He resigned two months later, following an Easter Monday defeat to Burton Albion, stating, “It is not that I like quitting, but Birmingham deserves better.”

Since then, the Oliena native has not returned to management, while Harry Redknapp was hired as his replacement, albeit he, like Zola, would leave St. Andrew’s after a brief term.

Birmingham City has made similar blunders afterwards, but are presently on the rise.

Following Zola’s departure, Birmingham went through various managers, with multiple years of stagnation in the Championship culminating in relegation to League One in May 2024, less than a year after Knighthead’s takeover.

An even more costly choice was taken during that season, when John Eustace was fired in October 2023 despite Birmingham’s sixth-place finish, with high-profile replacement Wayne Rooney serving less than three months in command, winning only two of his 15 games.

However, the club’s American investors have learned from their mistakes by continuing to believe in Chris Davies, who has polished his tactical approach this season, and it has certainly got Birmingham fans dreaming of promotion following an exceedingly promising start.