The 1989–90 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 87th in the Football League and the first in their history in which they played in the third tier of the English football league system. After a sound start to the season, with six wins from the first ten games, their results worsened, and they eventually finished in seventh position in the 24-team Third Division, three points outside the playoff places. They entered the 1989–90 FA Cup in the first round proper and lost in the third, eliminated by Oldham Athletic after a replay, and entered the League Cup at the first round and lost in the second, beaten 3-2 by West Ham United over two legs. They lost in the preliminary round of the Football League Trophy, a competition open to teams in the third and fourth tiers of the League.

Dennis Bailey was the club's top scorer for the season, with 20 goals in all competitions, of which 18 came in the league.

In April 1989, the club was sold to the Kumar brothers, owners of a Manchester-based fashion and leisurewear company. Dave Mackay was brought in as general manager, previous manager Garry Pendrey refused to stay on as part of Mackay's staff, and Samesh Kumar became chairman.^[1]

Football League Third Division[edit]

League table (part)[edit]

FA Cup[edit]

League Cup[edit]

Football League Trophy[edit]

Appearances and goals[edit]

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with name struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.

Players having played at least one first-team match

Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	ENG	Roger Hansbury	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
GK	WAL	Martin Thomas	42	0	4	0	4	0	2	0	52	0
GK	ENG	Dean Williams	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
DF	ENG	Kevin Ashley	31	1	2	0	3	0	1	0	37	1
DF	ENG	Ian Atkins	45	2	4	0	4	2	2	1	55	5
DF	ENG	Ian Clarkson	15 (5)	0	3	0	1	0	2	0	21 (5)	0
DF	ENG	John Frain	36 (2)	1	4	0	2	0	2	0	44 (2)	1
DF	ENG	Trevor Matthewson	46	1	4	0	4	0	2	0	56	1
DF	ENG	Vince Overson	27 (3)	0	3	0	3 (1)	0	1	0	34 (4)	0
DF	ENG	Brian Roberts	9 (1)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	9 (3)	0
DF	ENG	Phil Sproson	12	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	16	1
MF	SCO	Dougie Bell	14 (1)	0	4	0	0	0	2	0	20 (1)	0
MF	ENG	John Deakin	3 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	3 (5)	0
MF	ENG	Andy Harris	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
MF	ENG	Robert Hopkins	16 (2)	6	0 (2)	0	2 (1)	0	0	0	18 (5)	6
MF	ENG	Kevin Langley	33	0	4	0	1	0	2	0	40	0
MF	ENG	David Madden*	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
MF	ENG	Dean Peer	22 (5)	3	0	0	3 (1)	0	0	0	25 (6)	3
MF	ENG	Mark Rutherford	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0
MF	ENG	Paul Tait	7 (7)	2	0 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	8 (10)	2
FW	ENG	Dennis Bailey	40 (3)	18	4	0	4	2	2	0	50 (3)	20
FW	ENG	Nigel Gleghorn	43	9	4	3	2	0	2	0	51	12
FW	ENG	Colin Gordon	14 (7)	3	0	0	2 (1)	0	0	0	16 (8)	3
FW	ENG	Simon Sturridge	30 (1)	10	4	1	2 (1)	0	1	0	37 (2)	11
FW	ENG	Mark Yates	12 (8)	2	0 (1)	0	2	0	1	0	15 (9)	2

See also[edit]

• Birmingham City F.C. seasons

References[edit]

General

• 
  Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
  


• 
  Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
  


• Source for match dates, league positions and results: "Birmingham City 1989–1990: Results". Statto Organisation. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  


• Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 414–15, 480.

Specific