Reserves
Birmingham City have had a reserve team since 1879. They played friendly matches until gaining a place in the Birmingham & District League in 1893. In their third season they finished in runners-up spot, an achievement repeated in 1907 and 1921. In 1915 they were runaway winners of the league; in the 34-game season they scored 160 goals, of which Charlie Duncan scored 52. In 1921–22, following the reorganisation associated with the formation of the Third Division North, they joined the Central League, which now consisted of reserve teams of northern Football League clubs. In 1947–48 they lost their place to Barnsley, so joined the Football Combination, the equivalent reserve league for teams in the southern half of the country, rejoining an expanded Central League in 1982.
Since the 1999–2000 season, the league played in by the reserve team has depended on the league position of the club's first team. Relegation for the first team in 2006 meant the reserves dropped out of the Premier Reserve League into the Central League for 2006–07; they finished top of the Central Division of that League. Promotion back to the Premier League for the first team meant that for 2007–08 the reserves were placed in the Southern Division of the Premier Reserve League. Birmingham City fields its reserve team in the Birmingham Senior Cup, which it has won on twelve occasions, most recently in 2008 after a 5–0 win over Burton Albion.
Following the first team's relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2007–08 season, the reserve team was no longer eligible to play in the Premier Reserve League. The option to enter the Central League was not taken up, the club deciding instead not to enter the reserves in a league, but to play only friendly matches and the Birmingham Senior Cup. When the first team gained promotion back to the Premier League the following year, the reserve team resumed its place in the Premier Reserve League South, in which they finished seventh of nine. They did not enter a league until the 2012–13 season, when they were placed in the northern division of the Professional Development League 2, the second tier of the newly formed Professional Development League, a predominantly under-21 league resulting from the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan.
The reserve team's playing staff consists of younger players and those on the fringe of the first-team squad, augmented by first-team players recovering from injury and academy players gaining experience. They played most of their league matches at Damson Park, the home ground of Solihull Moors; they sometimes played at St Andrew's, for instance when an unusually high attendance is expected. Friendlies are often played behind closed doors at the club's training ground.
Read more about this topic: Birmingham City F.C. Reserves And Academy
Famous quotes containing the word reserves:
“While you are nurturing your newborn, you need someone to nurture you, whether it is with healthful drinks while you’re nursing, or with words of recognition and encouragement as you talk about your feelings. In this state of continual giving to your infant—whether it is nourishment or care or love—you are easily drained, and you need to be replenished from sources outside yourself so that you will have reserves to draw from.”
—Sally Placksin (20th century)
“...I want to see a film, they send the Israeli army reserves to escort me! What kind of life is this?”
—Golda Meir (1898–1978)