West Ham handed Birmingham City a club legend for just £1.7m

 

Lazaridis joined Blues after a successful time at West Ham, helping them secure promotion to the Premier League.

Birmingham City’s rise to the top-flight was marked by Lazaridis’s key goals and memorable performances.

Despite injuries decreasing his playing time, Lazaridis left a lasting impact on the club and fans with his dedication and skill.

The late 1990s and early 2000s were an enjoyable and relatively successful period for all connected with Birmingham City.

After climbing their way out of the third tier doldrums under Barry Fry in 1995, Blues eventually saw the charismatic boss replaced by their greatest ever player, in the form of Trevor Francis one summer later.

Francis then oversaw three consecutive seasons of progression at St Andrew’s, as the club went from finishing in 15th place to an eventual 4th-place finish at the conclusion of the 1998/99 season, where they were stopped in their aims of ending a 14-year exile from the top flight, losing on penalties to Watford in B9.

As is so often referenced in the club’s famous ‘Keep Right On’ anthem, Birmingham endured plenty of joys and sorrows in the coming years whilst, simultaneously, Francis was piecing together a squad that would feature a string of future cult heroes in the Second City, and one of those would join in the summer of 1999.

That’s when Australian winger Stan Lazaridis joined the club for a reported £1.7m fee from West Ham United, with the Hammers making a significant profit on their own £300,000 deal which brought the Perth-born winger to East London four summers previous.

In his first season at the club, Lazaridis would feature 31 times for Blues and score two goals in what is now the Championship, but Francis’ couldn’t shake off a play-off curse that would bug them for three consecutive years, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Barnsley in the semi-finals.

The following season saw the club reach the EFL Cup Final against Liverpool, with the Australian making six appearances in the competition, including the penalty shootout defeat in Cardiff, as well as holding an identical league record as 99/00. Once again though, Birmingham were defeated in the play-off semi-finals, this time by Preston North End.

The 2001/02 season was an extremely joyous one in the end for all Bluenoses, although in the November of that campaign, Francis departed and was eventually replaced by Steve Bruce.

However, the former centre-back was able to secure 11 victories following his appointment, with Lazaridis once again a regular figure across the campaign. Birmingham finished fourth and eventually secured a return to the top flight for the first time since 1985 with a dramatic semi-final win over Millwall, before putting past play-off heartbreak behind them with a shoot-out victory – which he scored in – over Norwich City at the Millennium Stadium.

Upon their return to the top flight, the Australian did manage to improve his goal output with two goals and as many assists, with the first of those coming at his old club West Ham, providing Stern John with the winning goal and Blues’ first-ever away success in the Premier League era.

However, one of Lazaridis’ most iconic moments in Royal Blue came in their away victory in the ‘Second City Derby’ against Aston Villa in March 2003, as he got on the end of a Jeff Kenna cross to turn the ball past Peter Enckelman on 74 minutes, with Birmingham running out 2-0 victors at Villa Park.

Once again, the 03/04 campaign yielded two goals for Lazaridis, with the second of those being an iconic solo effort in front of the Gill Merrick Stand against Everton in a 3-0 win back in February 2004.

The beginning of the end of Stan Lazaridis’ Birmingham City career
Stan Lazaridis battles with Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo in March 2006
The 04/05 season represented the start of a somewhat downward curve for both Lazaridis and Birmingham, with his campaign blighted by a recurring thigh problem which began causing issues in the summer of 2004.

He would feature just 20 times in the Premier League across the season, before a disastrous season for all connected for the club in 2005/06.

Once again, it would prove to be a personally frustrating one for the experienced winger, who featured just 17 times – 11 of which were starts, as the club came 18th and returned to the second tier after four years.

In March 2006, weeks before his final appearance for the club – unfortunately for him, an 11-minute cameo in a 3-1 defeat to Villa on April 15th – Lazaridis spoke about his affection for the club, and that he would hold no grudges against them should they not offer him a new deal, which is exactly what panned out.

“The club have a 12-month option on me but if we do go down, the club will have to curb their expenses. It is probably more than likely that I will go but there is no bitterness at all if that happens,” he said via the Irish Examiner.

“I have had seven great years at Birmingham. I think the world of this club and they will always have a place in my heart. If I go it will be the end of an era as I’m the only one playing really from before the manager came,” Lazaridis stated.

Ultimately, he would depart the club in the summer of 2006 for his hometown club, A-League side Perth Glory, after making 212 appearances at St Andrew’s, scoring on eight occasions, earning the nickname ‘Stan the Man’ among the Blues faithful.