{"id":362001,"date":"2025-08-21T12:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T12:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/362001\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T12:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T12:18:16","slug":"birmingham-city-favourite-reveals-why-tom-wagner-is-right-about-sensational-sports-quarter-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/362001\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham City favourite reveals why Tom Wagner is right about sensational Sports Quarter plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jermaine Pennant made 60 appearances for Birmingham City before going on to play in the Champions League final with Liverpool<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_GettyImages-56513022.jpg\" alt=\"Jermaine Pennant of Birmingham City\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Jermaine Pennant during his time at Blues(Image: Jamie McDonald\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Jermaine Pennant insists Birmingham City should be looking at a top-six finish as a \u2018minimum\u2019 following their encouraging start to the Championship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The former Blues winger, who spent an eventful 18 months at St Andrew\u2019s during the Steve Bruce era, has been impressed not only with how they have started this season but with their activity in the transfer market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 42-year-old has also <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/birmingham-city-sports-quarter-build-29882161\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">backed Bluenoses to fill the 62,000-seater stadium <\/a>when Tom Wagner\u2019s Sports Quarter dreams come to fruition giving the club the launchpad to attack the upper echelons of the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">But first they must get there and in an exclusive interview with the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@KeepRightOn\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Keep Right On podcastLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Keep Right On podcast<\/a>, the ex-Arsenal and Liverpool star says they\u2019re in with a shout of promotion this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI think they&#8217;ll fare well,\u201d he said. \u201cThey&#8217;ve shown already that they can fare well. They played against an old Premier League outfit in Ipswich and they should have won that game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI think the penalty was ridiculous. Then the goal should have stood, to give a foul on the defender like that is crazy \u2013 and the handball as well so <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Birmingham<\/a> should have felt hard done by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI think they&#8217;ve got enough in the tank, they&#8217;ve made some big signings, I think Demarai Gray is going to be a big hit, I think he will come good 100%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cHe&#8217;s got a lot of Premier League experience. We know about Jay Stansfield and how good he&#8217;s been for the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThey&#8217;ve got a lot going for them, with the new owners investing well, the fans seem eager again and excited and trust the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cSo at the moment they&#8217;re sitting very pretty, in a great place and without a shadow of a doubt, minimum, minimum expectations is playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/jermaine-pennant\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Pennant Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Pennant <\/a>sees Gray\u2019s return to St Andrew\u2019s, nearly a decade after he left for Leicester City and went on to Everton, as a portentous signing. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/transfer-news\/breaking-birmingham-city-demarai-gray-31963048\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"The 29-year-old signed a three year deal last monthLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">The 29-year-old signed a three year deal last month<\/a>, having ended a two season stay with Al-Ettifaq.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cHe obviously saw the project, you don&#8217;t come from that to then go into somewhere where you don&#8217;t believe they can kick on, achieve great things, or bigger things and aspirations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThey\u2019d have had conversations, they would have showed him the project and where they want to go and to come away from what you&#8217;re getting in Saudi to then join Birmingham he must know something that we don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cObviously we do know Birmingham want to get back in the Premier League, so he&#8217;s joined a club going places.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">One of those places is a short trip to the Wheels site where Knighthead are planning to build their new ground as the centrepiece of a Sports Quarter, a \u00a33bn project that has attracted hundreds of millions of Government funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Some scoff at the scale of Wagner\u2019s ambition, not Pennant who knows the untapped potential of the club and the platform that would give them to crack the elite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Pennant speaking on behalf of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"best online casinosLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">best online casinos<\/a> Casino.org said: \u201cIf we can do that, then absolutely. You know, you can put 100,000 stadium the Blues will fill it out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThe love that they have for this club, the love that they have for football, for the city, for Birmingham, is huge week-to-week. That&#8217;s what they live and die for and look forward to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cWith that support and a stadium like that it will just take them to new heights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cAs a player when you&#8217;ve got that support behind you, sometimes you need to rely on that and it&#8217;s like a twelfth man.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThere&#8217;s no better place than St Andrew\u2019s or wherever it will be when the fans get behind you like that, it goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Do you agree with Pennant? <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/birmingham-city-sports-quarter-wagner-32321257#comments-wrapper\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Have your say here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n<p>This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/affiliates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755016403_380_0_Sky-Factbox.jpg\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a343<\/p>\n<p>\u00a335<\/p>\n<p>Sky<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"AffiliateContent_content-buy-btn__xWiVO buy-btn\" aria-label=\"Buy button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=11005&amp;awinaffid=213635&amp;campaign=&amp;clickref=Regionals-FootballLondon&amp;ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sky.com%2Fdeals&amp;platform=pl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Sky has slashed the price of its <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=11005&amp;awinaffid=213635&amp;campaign=&amp;clickref=Regionals-FootballLondon&amp;ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sky.com%2Fdeals&amp;platform=pl\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jermaine Pennant made 60 appearances for Birmingham City before going on to play in the Champions League final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,393,4884,83051,8161,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-362001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-jermaine-pennant","14":"tag-tom-wagner","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115066720016495318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}