They're sitting almost exactly midtable in the second tier of the English Football League, but Tom Brady's Birmingham City most certainly have grand plans for the future.
Birmingham have been under American ownership since July 2023, when business financier Tom Wagner purchased a controlling stake in the club as the front man for Shelby Cos. Ltd., a subsidiary of Knighthead Capital Management, which he co-founded in 2008. After being installed as chairman, Wagner also purchased full ownership of the club's St. Andrew's stadium before making the decision to bring the seven-time Super Bowl champion onboard as a minority owner and adviser.
After seeing several previous takeover attempts fall through, Wagner and Brady's unexpected arrival in the West Midlands coincided with a stark upturn in fortunes for Birmingham, who went from treading water in League One to winning promotion to the Championship as champions at the first attempt.
Although they have not quite have taken the division by storm so far this campaign, the club's eyes are most definitely on a long-overdue return to the Premier League, with plans formally revealed Thursday for an extraordinary new 62,000-capacity stadium just a couple of miles east of St. Andrew's.
Knighthead has unveiled the renderings for their proposed stadium that will form part of a redevelopment of the Bordesley Green area of inner-city Birmingham. The club hopes that the ground will be completed and ready for the start of the 2030-31 season, by which the Blues might be back in England's top tier.
Much like Tottenham Hotspur's brand-new abode in north London, the stadium will boast a retractable roof and a moveable pitch in order to allow other, non-soccer events, fixtures and music concerts to take place at the venue all year round.
The notably steep terraces will create a cacophonous atmosphere inside the ground on matchdays, while outside on the concourse a number of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants will offer all the refreshments, food and retail therapy any match-going supporter might need.
Rather than being a standard identikit bowl-shaped area, Birmingham's stadium will have instantly recognizable architectural features in the form of 12 large brick chimneys placed imposingly around the perimeter of the stands that will serve as a historic link to the old brickworks that used to be on the site as well as providing structural support for the roof.
The tallest chimney will also include a lift going up to what the club said will be "Birmingham's highest bar," which will offer fans spectacular views of the city from an altitude of approximately 400 feet above the canals below.
When it comes to the long-term future of their sporting project, it would appear that Birmingham under Wagner and Brady are quite literally aiming for the giddy heights.