A former Birmingham City defender has opened up about his arrival at the club, revealing something significant about how the club was operated at the time.

Birmingham City’s 2025-26 season has been somewhat disappointing, with a play-off spot currently out of reach. The club has huge intentions for the future, but a run of six defeats in eight games came at the worst possible time, dropping the team to the bottom half of the Championship table and putting their much-touted bid for a second consecutive promotion irrelevant.

But, as much as there will be disappointment with the way this season ended, it remains the true that Birmingham are significantly better run under the ownership of the Shelby Group, who bought the club in 2023, than they were under their former owners.

For years, the Blues competed in an annual race to prevent relegation to League One, and one of the more ironic aspects of the club’s recent history is that relegation occurred after the club was placed in safer hands.

Former Blues defender discusses his arrival at St Andrew’s

Former Blues defender Harlee Dean spoke on the Made In Brum podcast about his arrival at the club in 2017. His words reflect the club’s management at the time.The first time I saw Harry was when I drove up for the medical,” he explained.

“I had a chat with him, and he was talking to my agent as if my agency was the player and I was the agent.” “I’m not sure he recognized me.”He was talking to him, like, ‘Cracking, we need a big a centre-half like come and head it and play a bit,

we’ve got a big player in the ten I want you to hit’,” he continued, “I wouldn’t mind, but the agent looks like a 5’4 left-back! I came out of there and said, “Scott, do you think he was talking to you?” He answered, “No, but he definitely didn’t know who I was!”

Dean signed for Birmingham City at the very end of the summer transfer window from Brentford for an undisclosed fee which was reported to be in excess of £2 million.

Harlee Dean ended up remaining in Birmingham for far longer than Harry Redknapp.

Ironically, given that the manager had no idea who he was when he initially arrived at Birmingham City, Harlee Dean’s affiliation with the club lasted far longer than Harry Redknapp’s.

Redknapp arrived at St Andrew’s on April 18, 2017, with three games remaining in the 2016-17 season and Birmingham just three points above relegation. He lost his first match in charge, 1-0 against Aston Villa, but wins in the Blues’ next two games kept them in the Championship and earned Redknapp a year’s contract for the following season.

However, following a catastrophic start to the season in which they won only one of their first eight games, Redknapp was relieved of his duties on September 16th, less than five months after joining the club, with the team one place from the bottom of the Championship table. He was succeeded by Steve Cotterill, who lasted until March 2018 before being replaced by Garry Monk, who led the team to a second consecutive 19th-place finish.

Dean, on the other hand, would go on to become a stalwart in Birmingham City’s defence for the next six years, appearing in 200 games until moving for Reading in 2023. He is now 34 years old and plays for the non-league club Morecambe.

There is no doubt that, given the pre-season optimism following their record-breaking League One title win last season, Birmingham City fans have been disappointed this season, with widespread speculation that manager Chris Davies will leave the club at the end of the season. If there’s one thing Davies has going for him, it’s the fact that he knows who all of his players are.