Businessman Clifford Coombs took over as chairman in 1965 , luring Stan Cullis out of retirement to manage the club . Cullis 's team played attractive football which took them to the semifinal of the League Cup in 1967 and the FA Cup in 1968 , but league football needed a different approach . Successor Freddie Goodwin produced a team playing skilful , aggressive football that won promotion as well as reaching an FA Cup semifinal . Two years later , the club raised money by selling Bob Latchford to Everton for a British record fee of £ 350,000 , but without his goals the team struggled . Sir Alf Ramsey briefly managed the club before Jim Smith took over in 1978 . With relegation a certainty , the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest , making him the first player transferred for a fee of £ 1 million ; Francis had scored a total of 133 goals in 329 appearances over his nine years at Birmingham . Smith took Birmingham straight back to the First Division , but a poor start to the 1981 – 82 season saw him replaced by Ron Saunders , who had just resigned from league champions Aston Villa . Saunders ' team struggled to score goals and in 1984 they were relegated . They bounced back up , but the last home game of the 1984 – 85 promotion season , against Leeds United , was marred by rioting , culminating in the death of a boy when a wall collapsed on him . This was on the same day as the Bradford City stadium fire , and the events at St Andrew 's formed part of the remit of Mr Justice Popplewell 's inquiry into safety at sports grounds . The club lacked stability both on and off the field . Saunders quit after FA Cup defeat to non-League team Altrincham , staff were laid off , the training ground was sold , and by 1989 Birmingham were in the Third Division for the first time in their history
Bradford City stadium fire
Bradford City stadium fire
Birmingham City F.C.