from a goal behind to draw with Bristol City, "barking out orders and putting in the miles as he tracked box-to-box, popping up all over the pitch with vital tackles and hold-up play." In December, while still returning to form and fitness, he produced another "wonder goal" against Port Vale, and followed it up in the next week match a similar effort to open the scoring as MK Dons won 2–0 at Crawley Town. His performances and those of the team their only defeat came in a match for which Gleeson was suspended, after a fifth yellow card received for unnecessary involvement in someone else's dispute in the Crawley match earned him a nomination for League One Player of the Month. By the end of the season, Robinson suggested that the team had reached "a stage when some of the players have run their race here". Although he was "desperate" for Gleeson to stay, he was not prepared to be kept waiting for a decision. Birmingham City On 9 June, Gleeson signed a two-year contract with Championship club Birmingham City, to begin when his MK Dons contract expired at the end of the 2013–14 season. The Irish Independent Daniel McDonnell suggested he was one of several Irish players who needed to prove themselves in the coming season. He made his debut in the starting eleven for the opening-day defeat at Middlesbrough, but failed to establish himself in the team: of the twelve league matches under Lee Clark's management, he started five and came on as a substitute in five as Birmingham dropped towards the relegation places. Clark's successor, Gary Rowett, included Gleeson in his first starting eleven, playing in front of the defensive line in a goalless draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers. This time, Gleeson did keep his place, tasked with "launching the counter-attacks" from Rowett's preferred 4–2–3–1 formation as his "effective midfield partnership" with David Davis started 18 consecutive league matches. Gleeson was sent off for retaliation in February 2016 as Birmingham beat Brentford, and new loan signing Robert Tesche of Nottingham Forest took his place alongside Davis. He returned to the side after his suspension as part of a three-man midfield, but when Rowett reverted to 4–2–3–1, it was Gleeson's passing that earned him selection ahead of Davis as Tesche's partner. Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Gleeson signed a two-year extension to his contract that took its expiry date