2009/10 to 2017/18

Birmingham City spent two of the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League and seven in the Championship. Their best finish was 9th, in 2009/10. They won one major trophy: the League Cup. Over those nine summers they paid £29.2m in transfer fees and took in £26.3m, a net spend of £2.9m. In 115.football they get City’s £900m instead.

Ninth in the Premier League in 2009/10 is about as good as it has got for Birmingham City in modern times. The defence was built on Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, both signed that summer, and the following season brought the League Cup, won against Arsenal at Wembley. It was the club's first major trophy since 1963. Then, in the same season, relegation in 18th.

What followed was a slow drift. Fourth in the Championship in 2011/12, then mid-table, then 22nd in 2013/14 and two more uncomfortable seasons at the end of the period. Craig Gardner, Dann and Cameron Jerome were all sold in 2011, Ben Foster a year later and a young Nathan Redmond in 2013.

The 115.football question here is simple. What if the cup-winning squad had been strengthened instead of broken up? With £900m and hindsight, 2010/11 becomes a launchpad rather than a cliff edge.