With Birmingham City prepared to play in League One for the first time in 30 years, the Premier League’s glory days seem like a distant memory.
Between 2002 and 2011, the Blues were a fairly consistent presence in the top level of English football, spending seven seasons in the Premier League, and numerous excellent players passed through St Andrew’s throughout that nine-year span.
One of them was centre-back Matt Upson, who spent four seasons at the club between 2003 and 2007, becoming a fixture in the England national squad during that period due to his performances for Birmingham.
The Suffolk-born defender joined Birmingham City from Arsenal in January 2003, and it is fair to say that the deal was a success for the club.