Birmingham City retained list: Deadline revealed to announce who's leaving amid 10 out of contract players

Birmingham City will be tasked with making a decision on which players they keep around following their relegation. 

Blues were relegated to League One despite being Norwich City on Saturday (May 4). They face playing in the third tier for the first time in over 30 years. 

In his final press conference as interim manager, Gary Rowett said that that there’s decisions to be had over the coming weeks. He believes some might want to stay loyal and help them get promoted after being a part of a squad that suffered relegation.

It’s not all up to the players, however, as now Birmingham must assess what their plans are for next season. Technical director Craig Gardner will be working closely with the management team to decide on who will stay and who will go. 

Some clubs like to go early and the decisions and have already told the players and then in other cases, they’ll take as long as they can. 

When is the EFL deadline for submitting a retained list? 

Clubs can publish their retained list whenever they want but must submit it to the EFL. It’s usually around the third Saturday in May, and so this year it would be on Saturday, May 18. 

It is not immediately made public by the EFL until around mid-June. Some clubs will say who is departing but also say they are in discussions, and as is the nature of football they can either be short or long. 

Last year, the Championship season ended on Monday, May 8 and the club then published theirs on Monday, May 22.

What to look out for with Birmingham City…

As Birmingham have been relegated, their television money has gone down from £8m to £2m. Knighthead are investing in the club but it does mean that their wage bill will be cut from what it was in the division above.

It means that for those out of contract, should the club want to keep them and a player hold an interest in staying, they might have to accept lower terms.

Andre Dozzell, Oliver Burke, Cody Drameh, Emanuel Aiwu and Jay Stansfield are five players confirmed to be departing. They all signed on loan and will go back to their parent clubs, though they won’t be able to play again this season. 

Ivan Sunjic, Scott Hogan, Gary Gardner, Marc Roberts, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Neil Etheridge, Keshi Anderson, Marcel Oakley, John Ruddy and Bradley Mayo are all out of contract. 

Out of the 10 players leaving, six of them are 30 years old or more. Experience is something that is sometimes needed but it does usually come at a higher cost so the club might look to their talented academy to plug a few holes in next season. 

Birmingham holds a one-year option on Keshi Anderson who joined on a free transfer from Blackpool. The 29-year-old finished the season with two assists from 20 games.