Key man: Robbie Savage
Savage has spent the past few months driving the streets of the Midlands in a bright yellow Ferrari bought especially for summer. The Bee Gees lookalike has travelled from Leicester in a £3.5m transfer intended to stiffen Steve Bruce’s midfield. Although underrated, Savage must pull out all the stops to justify his £22,500-a-week salary

Coach: Steve Bruce
After managing five clubs in four years, Bruce could do with a bit of stability, but the strains of striving for Premiership survival may bring his honeymoon period with Karren Brady and the rest of the Birmingham board to an end. A huge test of the former Manchester United captain’s managerial potential, he is unlikely to have much spare time to write more of his football-based thrillers, but don’t bet against a character closely resembling Savage looming large in a future novel

Full squad
Goalkeepers 1 Ian Bennett 18 Nico Vaesen	Midfielders 10 Bryan Hughes  11 Stan Lazaridis 13 Graham Hyde 14 Curtis Woodhouse 20 Tommy Williams 21 Tresor Luntala 22 Damien Johnson 33 Darren Carter 37 Paul Devlin, Robbie Savage, Aliou Cisse
Defenders 2 Nicky Eaden 3 Martin Grainger 5 Darren Purse 15 Jeremy Gill 17 Michael Johnson 26 Olivier Tebily 28 Jonathan Hutchinson 35 Steve Vickers 36 Jeff Kenna, Kenny Cunningham	Forwards 8 Stern John 9 Geoff Horsfield 16 Tommy Mooney 25 Paul Furlong, Clinton Morrison

Strongest XI

Nationalities
England (17), Ireland (3), France (2), Belgium (1) Senegal (1), Australia (1), Northern Ireland (1), Trinidad and Tobago (1), Wales (1) Total 28

Players in
Robbie Savage, Aliou Cisse, Paul Devlin, Clinton Morrison, Kenny Cunningham

Players out
Dele Adebola, Danny Sonner, Jon McCarthy, Andrew Johnson, David Holdsworth

Instant expert
Ground St Andrews, Birmingham, B9 4NH
Telephone 0709 111 25837
Capacity 30,009
Shirt sponsor Phones 4U
Ticket office 0121 772 0101
Can I get a ticket? You’ll be lucky
How to get there The ground is about 1.5 miles from Birmingham New Street railway station
Club call 09068 121 188
Club shop 0709 111 25837

New boy: Clinton Morrison
The Republic of Ireland forward cost the Blues a club record £4.25m from Steve Bruce’s previous club, First Division Crystal Palace, where Morrison netted a healthy 71 goals in 178 games. Pacy and confident, the striker is already backing himself to make an impact at the higher level

Money talk
Top earners Savage £22,500, Morrison £19,000, Purse £19,000

Total wage bill £9.25m
The Premiership newcomers have one of the lowest wage bills and total turnovers (£13.28m), ranked 18th and 17th highest respectively among the 20 teams

Where are they now?
Dave Latchford The former keeper, 53, is assistant manager of the Robin Hood Cemetery in Solihull