Sheffield United coach, Sweden assistant - What became of the last Birmingham City XI to face Wrexham

Birmingham City and Wrexham will clash at a sold out St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park when the two sides meet on Monday, September 16, in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Blues confirmed in a Twitter post on Monday that the fixture was sold out, and now supporters await their next fixture. The Welsh side had an allocation of 2,227 tickets, and they were snapped up in a matter of hours ahead of Monday’s clash which will have the eyes of the world watching them. NFL legend Tom Brady of course has a role in Birmingham City, whilst Wrexham are owned by Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds, and Rob McElhenney It'll have been nearly two weeks since they draw with Walsall in the EFL Trophy, losing on penalties after Alfie May's effort was saved. That’s nothing however compared to nearly the 19 years since the two sides met in a competitive fixture.

At the time, Birmingham were a Championship team, and in that season they won promotion to the Premier League under Steve Bruce at the first time of asking after being relegated. Wrexham on the other hand finished 19th in League Two, and just a season later they would be relegated, before spending 15 years in the fifth tier of English football.

Birmingham City hosted Wrexham in a Carabao Cup second round tie in front of 10,491 supporters. Chris Llewellyn gave the visitors the lead before Cameron Jerome spared Birmingham's blushes in the 41st minute. Birmingham required extra time to beat Wrexham but beat them with a brace from Gary McSheffrey, and an effort from Nicklas Bendtner.

In the build-up to Monday’s match, we take a look at the XI that played that evening, and what became of them since that meeting 6567 days ago. Did you attend the match? Let us know of your memories from it.

Colin Doyle

Doyle began his career at Birmingham City, and went on to make 63 appearances for Blues. He eventually left in 2016 for Bradford City, and also had playing spells with Hearts and Kilmarnock before returning to Valley Parade in 2022. The 39-year-old is still a registered player for Bradford City, and played against Newcastle United in the EFL Trophy earlier this month.

Stephen Kelly

The Republic of Ireland international was at Birmingham from January 2006 to 2009, and had a brief loan spell at Stoke City before his departure. He went on to play for Fulham, Reading, and Rotherham United. At 41-years-old now, he's a pundit and co-commentator for RTE, BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports, and talkSPORT.

Marcos Painter

Painter graduated through Birmingham's academy, but made just 11 appearances in total for them. Painter departed for Swansea City in 2006, and later Brighton & Hove Albion before a short stint at AFC Bournemouth. He finished his playing career with Portsmouth in 2014.

Olivier Tebily

Joined Birmingham in 2002 from Celtic, and made 92 appearances for the club. Departed in 2008 to join Toronto where he played briefly before retiring. According to an interview with the BBC, Tebily now helps in selling bottles of Cognac, which could set back punters at about £230.

Martin Taylor

Centre-back Martin Taylor was at Birmingham from 2004 to 2010, and made over a 100 appearances. He had a loan at Norwich City, before going to Watford three years later. His career finished in 2014 with him contracted to Sheffield Wednesday after a brief spell at Brentford. His son Caleb is also a centre-back and is contracted to West Brom, but but he is currently out on loan at Wycombe Wanderers.

Neil Kilkenny

Kilkenny began his career at Birmingham City and was there for four years. He had two separate loan spells at Oldham Athletic before heading to Leeds United where he was signed permanently. The 15-time Australia international would also go on to play for Bristol City and Preston nroth End before spending the last eight years in Australia with Melbourne City, Perth Glory, and Western United. The 38-year-old is still playing, as he turns out for semi-professional Australian side Sorrento.

Seb Larsson

Larsson joined Birmingham initially on loan before joining in January 2007 for £1m. The 133-time Sweden international was at St Andrew's from 2006 to 2011. Larsson would go on to play for Sunderland and Hull City, before retiring with AIK. He is currently the assistant manager of the Swedish national team, working under Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Fabrice Muamba

Fabrice Muamba like Larsson joined Birmingham on loan from Arsenal. He spent most of the 2006/07 season on loan at Blues and then joined on a permanent basis in 2007. The 33-time England under-21 internaional was sold to Bolton Wanderers for £5m in 2008, and he was a player there for four years.

He was forced to retire in August 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest whilst playing for Bolton in an FA Cup tie against Spurs in March 2012. In the present day, he's been working for the PFA as a Player Services Executive, and has been doing some coaching with Burnley.

Mikael Forssell

The 43-year-old had two loan spells at Birmingham City before signing permanently in 2005. Forssell scored 37 goals in 118 games for Blues before he departed in 2008. For the rest of his career, he would play for Hannover, Leeds United, VfL Bochum, HJK, and HIFK. He's currently working as the assistant manager at HJK Helsinki.

Cameron Jerome

Jerome was signed from Cardiff City in 2006, and spent a large chunk of his career at Birmingham. He notched up 42 goals in 202 games, and spent most of his career in the Premeir League and the Championship. Jerome played for Stoke City, Crystal Palace, Norwich City, and Derby County before heading to Turkey for a spell with Goztepe. He returned to England in 2020, and played for MK Dons, Luton Town and most recently Bolton Wanderers. At 38-years-old, he's a free agent after being released this summer.

Gary McSheffrey

McSheffrey joined Birmingham in 2006, and made 96 appearances in total. He had loans at Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, before joining Coventry City in 2010. The other clubs in his career were Chesterfield, Scunthorpe United, Doncaster Rovers, Eastleigh, Grimsby Town and Frickley Athletic before he retired. He's the under-21's coach at Sheffield United, having been appointed in November 2023.

Nicklas Bendtner (subbed on, 64)

Another player Birmingham took from Arsenal, however he was only here on loan. The Danish forward hit 13 goals in 48 games in what was a successful loan spell at St Andrew's. He broke in to the Arsenal first-team from that, and would end up playing 171 times for the Gunners, scoring 45 goals.

Bendtner would also play for Sunderland, Juventus, and VfL Wolfsburg. His other clubs include Nottingham Forest, Rosenborg, and Copenhagen before his retirement. Earlier this year, he invested in an esports investment company.

DJ Campbell (subbed on, 64)

Campbell was at Birmingham City for a season-and-a-half, where he managed 12 goals in 39 games. He departed for Leicester City in 2007, and later went on to play for Blackpool, Derby County, QPR, and Ipswich Town. His other clubs were Millwall and Maidenhead United.

David Dunn (subbed on, 90)

The 44-year-old was at Birmingham from 2003 to 2007, and left having made 69 appearances. Dunn played over 200 times for Blackburn Rovers, featuring for them in the Premier League and the Championship before winding down his career at Oldham Athletic. He had spells in charge of Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Barrow. Dunn was the assistant manager of Port Vale until February 2024.