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Eurosport.yahoo.com continues its countdown to the Championship season with a look at Birmingham City.

Manager: Alex McLeish

Last 10 seasons in the Championship (2007/08 to 1998/99): -/2/-/-/-/-/5/5/5/4

POSSIBLE STARTING XI (new signings in bold):

Maik Taylor

Stephen Kelly - Radhi Jaidi - Liam Ridgewell - David Murphy

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie - Sebastian Larsson - Lee Carsley - Gary McSheffrey

Kevin Phillips - James McFadden

BACK-UPS FROM:

Colin Doyle

Stuart Parnaby - Damien Johnson - Martin Taylor - Franck Queudrue

Jordon Mutch - Mehdi Nafti - Kemy Agustien

Cameron Jerome - Garry O'Connor - Marcus Bent

POSITIVES:

Birmingham have a great chance to bounce straight back into the Premier League. Their chief strength is in attack, with the sublime James McFadden and handy duo of Cameron Jerome and Garry O'Connor now supplemented by veteran Kevin Phillips (pictured left) - top scorer in the Championship last season with champions West Brom - and Marcus Bent. In midfield too they are as talented as anyone in the division: they have kept hold of Seb Larsson and Gary McSheffrey while adding quality in the form of battler Lee Carsley from Everton and former Arsenal winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie. The defence is solid and first-choice goalkeeper Maik Taylor has signed a new contract. Above all they have a knowledgeable manager in former Scotland boss Alex McLeish, who has trimmed the squad to a pair of very good first XIs.

NEGATIVES:

The retaining of players such as Larsson and McFadden will not come cheap, while even back-up defender Franck Queudrue - in trouble with the boss in pre-season after failing to show up for training - is on £20,000 a week. Owusu-Abeyie will cost about £1.6m for his loan deal alone; it will be worth triple that to Blues if they wish to make his move from Spartak permanent at the end of the season. Mikael Forssell, Daniel de Ridder and Fabrice Muamba have all departed - although the latter brought in a welcome £5m - while there has been some sniping with Wigan over former manager Steve Bruce's penchant for raiding the St Andrew's backroom staff. As with many recently-relegated clubs, there will be pressure to return to the top flight while the benefits of parachute payments are still being felt.

VERDICT:

Birmingham to get promoted. They are strong in every area and have a manager able to bring out the best in his players.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport