Tom Wagner and his Knighthead Capital Management hardly made an auspicious start as owners of Birmingham City.
Sacking boss John Eustace when they were sixth in the Championship and appointing Wayne Rooney took many by surprise and, with the former Manchester United and England striker winning only two of his 15 league games in charge before being replaced by Gary Rowett, relegation became a near certainty.
A rebuild under Chris Davies saw Blues pay a League One record fee to sign Jay Stansfield, with his 19 goals helping to fire them to a record-breaking promotion.
Last season brought consolidation and a 10th-place finish with the hope for a promotion tilt this time around and the early signs are promising.
A run of five wins from their past six games has propelled Davies’ side up to third, and a chance to possibly go top by beating Swansea on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
“The league table is temporary at the moment and when I came in two-and-a-half years ago we’d just been relegated, so we’ve come a long way and we feel like we deserve to be where we are,” said Davies after Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Millwall.
Swansea’s visit not only provides a good test for Birmingham’s credentials but also of the Welshmen’s powers of recovery.
A 4-0 thrashing of Blackburn last weekend was sandwiched in between a 5-0 walloping by QPR and Tuesday’s 3-1 reverse at Portsmouth which has seen Vitor Matos’ side fall out of the automatic promotion places.
This then feels like a first real test for both teams to prove their worth.
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