Sign up NOW for daily Blues headlines straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Birmingham City have played 46 games under Gary Rowett which just happens to equate to a full Championship season.

While it should be pointed out only 41 of those games have actually been in the league - there have been three Capital One Cup ties and two FA Cup matches, the statistic bears some degree of extrapolation.

After all the identity of their knockout opponents levels out. Since Rowett’s appointment in October 2014 as well as the 41 Championship fixtures, Blues have faced two Premier League opponents, one from League One, another from League Two and non-league outfit Blyth.

In that time their record under the former defender is an impressive played 46, won 21, drawn 13, lost 12.

This season Blues have a return of six wins, three draws and three losses from their 12 games. Last season it was 15 wins, ten draws and nine defeats. The pattern continues.

They have risen from 23rd position on October 31, 2014 to fifth place today, a climb of 18 spots up the table.

If converted to league points that would equate to 76 - which is regularly above the cut-off for the play-off places.

Indeed only once since the First Division was renamed the Championship in 2004 has 76 points not been enough to qualify for the top six - last season when Wolves missed out on goal difference with 78.

In the previous ten seasons 76 points would put a team comfortably above the Plimsoll Line, in fact in six of the 11 seasons it was enough for a top four finish. In 2012 Birmingham were themselves fourth with exactly 76 points.

In 2013 Hull were promoted automatically with only 79 points, as were Stoke in 2008, all of which means if Rowett can continue to coax the same level of results in a single league campaign, talk of a play-off charge might not be as fanciful as it at first sounds.

The following table shows what was needed to make the top six.

2014-15 (78 points)

2013-14 (72 points)

2012-13 (68 points)

2011-12 (75 points)

2010-11 (75 points)

2009-10 (70 points)

2008-09 (74 points)

2007-08 (70 points)

2006-07 (75 points)

2005-96 (75 points)

2004-05 (73 points)

And this table shows where 76 points would have put a side in previous seasons.

2014-15 - 9th

2013-14 - 5th

2012-13 - 4th; Hull went up automatically on 79

2011-12 - 4th

2010-11 - 6th

2009-10 - 4th

2008-09 - 5th

2007-08 - 3rd; Stoke went up automatically on 79

2006-07 - 4th; Blues went up automatically with 86

2005-96 - 6th

2004-05 - 4th

Clearly it has to be pointed out that results spanning two campaigns don’t mean anything tangible.

Also just because the cut-off in the last 11 years has been an average of 73.2 points, it does mean it ever will again.

Last season’s 78 points could have been a new norm rather than an outlier.

And it should also be noted that clubs with small squads and budgets - Blues’ budget belongs in the bottom half of the league not the top, will find it more difficult to maintain their performances for an unbroken nine month period.

However, if these figures are worth anything, they are at least proof that Birmingham are playing consistently above their means - and have been for nearly a year. Let’s hope they can continue that until next May.