Birmingham City are one of four Women’s Championship clubs taking part in a trial to allow fans to drink alcohol in the stands. Barry Ross, chair of the club’s supporters’ group, admits he is grateful for this as he prepares for Sunday’s winner takes all final match of the league season.
“I normally get the bus in, meet up with people outside the ground, then get in and chill, watching the players warm up,” he tells BBC Sport of his pre-match ritual. “The club are trialling allowing beer in the stands – I will need it.”
On Sunday, Birmingham City host London City Lionesses and it is a straight shootout for promotion to the Women’s Super League.
Birmingham are two points behind leaders London City, with only the champions being promoted to the WSL. If the Blues win, they go up. If not, the Lionesses are in the top flight for the first time.
“Everybody’s excited, this is the position we wanted to be in,” captain Christine Harrison-Murray told BBC Sport. “One last game and a big push.
“Going down to the last day like this, I’ve not had it before, so it is really exciting.”
The meeting between the two best sides in the second tier this season pitches the ambitious new blood of London City Lionesses against Birmingham City, a fallen giantess finally back on the up following relegation from the top flight in 2022.
Birmingham were a founder member of the WSL in 2010 and an ever-present for the first 12 seasons. They finished second in 2011, qualifying for the Champions League, and won the FA Cup the year after.
But as other clubs received greater funding and interest, the money for Birmingham dried up. Despite a permanent move to play all home games at St. Andrews in 2021, they fell through the WSL trap-door and have not yet returned.
Birmingham narrowly missed out on an immediate return in 2023 but finished fifth last season, with Ross admitting they have struggled to adapt at times to their status as a big fish in the smaller Championship pond.
“We’re a bigger scalp,” he says. “And with there being so few teams you can’t lose many games, there is little room for error.
“It’s nerve-wracking – some games we have run away with it, but others we have been superior and haven’t taken chances.
“I’m a nervous watcher anyway, but I was less nervous in the WSL than the Championship because we should be doing well.”
A turning point towards the success of this season has been, like rivals London City, new American ownership and serious investment.
While Michele Kang’s leadership of Lionesses has caught the eye, Birmingham owner Tom Wagner attracts fewer headlines but is proving similarly effective and shows how far they have come since the squad sent a letter to the board complaining about conditions for the team in 2021.
Investment in the women’s training facilities and an expanded playing squad has allowed Birmingham to compete. Like the men’s team, who took League One by storm this campaign, relegation may have been a blessing in disguise.
“Having a fuller squad is massive,” says Harrison-Murray, one of several survivors of the relegation season still playing for Birmingham.
“It means after the international break when players are tired, we still have fresh legs.
“Just having that full circle support of the women’s side is massive, to help us make that next step into the WSL and stay there.”
“Without any shadow of a doubt we are in a healthier state now,” adds Ross.
“Crowds are far bigger now than in the WSL. There is a whole new feeling around the club – playing at St Andrews helps, there’s a fan park outside on matchdays, lots of things aimed at families and kids, lots of food, like a family fun day.”
On the pitch, Birmingham have been boosted by the management of Amy Merricks, one of the most highly-rated up-and-coming coaches in the English game.
Following two interim spells leading WSL side Brighton and a stint with England under-19s, Merricks then aged just 30 was named Birmingham boss in April 2024, succeeding former men’s team player Darren Carter.
She has wasted no time winning over players and fans, with Harrison-Murray regarding her as a role model for her and any other English women aiming at a future coaching career.
“Amy has been huge,” she says. “Trying to implement a way of playing and a philosophy, she is also very hands on. That level of prep, it has been huge having her in, and what she wants to achieve.
“Amy has spent a long time coaching, a long time at Brighton, she is young but has her pro licence. She is someone I want to learn from, possibly emulate in future.
“I would love to stay in the game when I retire, and she is someone I have learned a lot from in the space of a year.”
If she leads Birmingham to the top flight, Merricks will be one of only two full-time English female coaches in the WSL, alongside Rehanne Skinner of West Ham.
She forms part of an all-female, all-English management unit with former England boss Hope Powell as technical director, and Ross feels they are here to stay even if Sunday does not go their way.
“The owners want us in the WSL, they would back the manager even more so in the summer,” he says.
“Amy Merricks seems very tactically astute, the players seem to play for her. They’ve bought into her thoughts. It’s really good, and it’s nice to have English people and a woman in those positions.”
Whatever happens, it should make for a fascinating final day. Hold on to your pints.
