The late 1990s and early 2000s were a fun and relatively successful period for everyone involved with Birmingham City.
After emerging from the third tier doldrums under Barry Fry in 1995, the Blues’ dynamic manager was replaced by their greatest ever player, Trevor Francis, the following summer.
Francis then oversaw three consecutive seasons of progress at St Andrew’s, as the club rose from 15th to 4th place at the end of the 1998/99 season, when they were denied the chance to end a 14-year absence from the top flight by Watford on penalties in B9.
As is often mentioned in the club’s famous ‘Keep Right On’ anthem, Birmingham experienced many joys and sorrows in the coming years, while Francis was assembling a squad that would include a string of future cult heroes in the Second City, one of whom would join in the summer of 1999.