The latest club to secure promotion from League One to the Premier League in successive seasons were ill-prepared for their sudden rise to the summit of English football; it was merely a happy accident of an excellent managerial feat. So it is no surprise that Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich are back in the Championship at the first opportunity.
Should Birmingham emulate Friday night’s opponents, they have no intentions of following the same path. Every bold statement to emerge from the club over the summer makes it abundantly clear that this period in the second tier is expected to be brief. Sights have been set high and, on the basis of this performance against opposition that took points off clubs such as Chelsea, Tottenham and Aston Villa last season, it is easy to see why.
