Former Birmingham City defender Paul Robinson has insisted that the Blues can not keep carrying on battling against the drop hoping to survive each year in the Championship without going down eventually.

The Blues are facing a real daunting challenge once again this term as they aim to survive in the Championship. Lee Bowyer has taken over from Aitor Karanka and been handed a major task to try and keep them in the division. Birmingham are once again hovering just three points clear of the drop, but with Rotherham United having some games in hand on them.

Robinson was part of the Birmingham squad under Lee Clark who survived on the final day of the 2013/14 campaign coming back from 2-0 down to secure a 2-2 draw at Bolton that kept them up. Since then, after a brief positive period under Gary Rowett, they have been involved in numerous relegation battles but always just about managed to get over the line towards safety.

Speaking to Birmingham Live, Robinson suggested that the situation of Birmingham can not continue where they continually battle against the drop every season in the closing stages and just about manage to survive. He believes that at some point they will eventually drop down to the third tier if they do not move forwards.

He said: “It’s happening too much, it’s never moved forward and it’s a shame, because it’s a massive club and Birmingham is renowned for it in the Midlands.

“All the teams in the Midlands are big clubs and you want to see them competing at the top level against each other. That’s where you want to see them.

“But it can’t keep happening, you can’t keep surviving the way they survive and unfortunately one season it is going to be too many.

The verdict

You have to agree with everything that Robinson has suggested here, for too long the Blues have been battling relegation in the Championship and just about doing enough to be better than three or four teams below them in the table. As he says it will eventually end up with the club going down and would spell major trouble for the football club.

Bowyer needs to do all he can to keep the club in the Championship this season and then must be backed in the summer with signings and also with time to bring some stability to St Andrews. Constantly chopping and changing managers is one of the reasons the Blues are in their current situation and they will not improve until they have a more settled approach.

Birmingham is way too big of a club for their sole ambition to be Championship survival each year. Ten years ago they lifted the League Cup and were a Premier League side, that has to be the aim moving forwards to try and get closer to that level of success. As Robinson says they can not carry on the way they are going.