Birmingham City’s main issue last season was their inability to both create and take chances in the final third and that led to them enduring a difficult campaign in the Championship.

Lee Bowyer was able to save them from the drop last term and he managed to get more out of some of the Blues’ best-attacking players. This summer has presented him with the chance to correct the issues they had in the last third last term and bring in players to make them more of a threat.

Chuks Aneke, Tahith Chong and Jordan Graham have already been added to the squad and appear to be very solid signings that should help them create and score more goals.

The Blues have had a couple of reliable goalscorers in the last ten seasons and some of those have gone on to sign for other clubs with varying degrees of success.

With that in mind, here we take a look at Birmingham’s top ten scorers from the last ten seasons and there are a few here who Bowyer would love to be able to call upon next term…

The 2011/12 season was the start of Birmingham’s time back in the Championship following on from their relegation from the Premier League in dramatic fashion in the 2010/11 campaign.

The Blues’ top scorer that season was Marlon King and the forward became a crucial player under Chris Hughton after he arrived on a free transfer from Coventry City that summer.

King suffered an injury in pre-season that delayed his debut for the club until September, but once he had got going he became a very difficult player for opponents to stop. His first goal came in a UEFA Europa League defeat at home to Braga before he quickly added a first league goal against Leicester City.

In total, King managed to register 18 goals in all competitions for Birmingham in that 2011/12 campaign. The majority of those came in the league with him firing in 16 goals in his 40 league appearances to help Hughton’s side secure a fourth-place finish.

The forward’s efforts proved not to be enough for the Blues to secure promotion as they were beaten in the play-off semi-finals for Blackpool. As well as his goals, King stood out for providing 12 assists as well that campaign. Birmingham could do with a player on that level of form next term.

The 2012/13 campaign was much more challenging for the Blues who started to show signs that life back in the Championship could be more permanent than they were hoping for.

King was once again the Blues’ go-to player for goals in the final third under Lee Clark after Hughton had left in the summer to take over at Premier League Norwich City.

The forward managed to deliver a few stand out performances for Birmingham in the 2012/13 campaign and one of those was certainly his hat-trick against Millwall in October 2012. That started a run of nine goals in nine matches for King in what was a real purple patch for him.

The goals dried up for King somewhat after that run of form and his season was eventually brought to a premature end by a knee problem in March. That came after offers had been rejected for him by Birmingham during the winter transfer window.

Overall, King found the net 13 times in the league and 14 times in all competitions that term to help the Blues secure a solid if unspectacular, 12^th place finish in the Championship.

The 2013/14 campaign was one of real struggle for Birmingham in the Championship and they were left fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the division.

Lee Novak was Birmingham’s top scorer in all competitions that campaign and he managed to score 11 times in his 43 appearances for the Blues throughout that season. That came after he had arrived from Huddersfield Town in the summer of 2013 to reunite with Clark.

The forward managed to register nine league goals for Birmingham that season, but that only made him the club’s second-highest scorer in the league after Federico Macheda netted ten goals in 18 appearances during his loan spell with the club.

Novak was a solid enough performer for Birmingham and his goals proved to play a key part in helping them ride out a very challenging season and ensure they survived the drop.

The Blues enjoyed a much more positive season in the 2014/15 campaign with Gary Rowett taking over from Clark at the end of October after a difficult start and guiding them to a 10^th place finish.

One player who played a vital role in their improvements that season was forward Clayton Donaldson. The striker had arrived in the summer of 2014 from Brentford and he proved to be an astute signing for the Blues.

Donaldson initially struggled to get going at Str Andrews under Clark, but after Rowett took over as manager and made him the Blues’ main starter upfront he started to show what he could do. By the end of the campaign, he had fired in 15 goals in the Championship in his 46 appearances and 16 in all competitions.

The forward’s efforts during the 2014/15 campaign were enough to see him be awarded both the  Players' Player and Supporters' Player of the Season awards. That shows that he was a crucial part in the progress that Rowett was able to make after taking over from Clark.

The 2015/16 season was another very solid one for Birmingham under Rowett and the Blues even threatened to mount a promotion push for large parts of the campaign before another 10^th place finish.

Donaldson remained Birmingham’s go-to player in front of goal in the final third in a side that relied on the majority of the squad chipping in with goals rather than having one main scorer. However, the forward was still able to fire in 11 goals in his 40 appearances in the Championship and 41 appearances in all competitions.

The striker began the campaign as Birmingham’s main assist provider and he had registered four assists by the time the first month of the season had come to an end. His highlights in front of goal included a hat-trick he scored against Bristol City.

The forward though did suffer some injury issues during the campaign, but he was still able to register 18 goal involvements in all competitions and that was not bad going for him.

The 2016/17 season started well for the Blues and they were showing more signs of progression under Rowett before Birmingham’s board made the shock decision to part ways with him and bring in Gianfranco Zola.

After that, Birmingham struggled to pick up any wins in the Championship and ended up needing to rely on Harry Redknapp to help get them over the line towards safety.

Amidst all of that Birmingham’s top scorer was Lukas Jutkiewicz, who had arrived in the summer of 2016 from Burnley on an initial loan deal. The forward managed to register 11 goals in the Championship during his 38 appearances and found the net once more in the cup competitions to leave him as their top scorer for the campaign.

The forward was crucial to their survival in the Championship and he has continued to be an integral part of the squad for the last few campaigns as well. Bowyer relied on him to do the job last term and he delivered once again.

The 2017/18 campaign was yet another rollercoaster season for the Blues who went through Redknapp and then Lee Carsley on a temporary basis and Steve Cotterill before surviving the drop under Garry Monk in the end.

Che Adams was Birmingham’s top scorer that season in what was a campaign where the Blues lacked a go-to player really for goals and struggled down the wrong end of the Championship table as a consequence. They relied on the form of Adams as well as others chipping in with goals including Sam Gallagher to help them survive the drop.

In total, Adams managed to score five league goals in his 30 appearances in the Championship. That was incidentally two goals less than he had managed to score in the 2016/17 campaign. However, four more goals in the cup competitions was enough for him to be their top scorer on nine goals.

The 2018/19 campaign was a little less of a challenge for the Blues and they showed a lot more signs of stability under Monk as they finally saw a manager last out a full season.

Adams was once again the Blues’ main scorer in the final third but this time he was not someone that just chipped in with the occasional effort. The forward was a player on fire in front of goal for most of the campaign and he started to deliver on the promise that he had shown during his time with both Sheffield United and Birmingham.

In total, Adams managed to fire in a very impressive tally of 22 goals in his 46 Championship appearances and that marked him out as one of the best forwards in the division.

His form was vital to Birmingham and without his goals and performances that season they would have finished a lot lower than 17^th place. He went on to earn himself a move to the Premier League with Southampton the following summer.

With Adams gone to Southampton, Birmingham were always going to struggle in front of goal in the 2019/20 campaign and it proved to cost Monk his job with Pep Clotet taking over and leading them to survival.

Jutkiewicz was once again a crucial player for the Blues and he returned as their most important player in front of goal

The forward led the line superbly for most of the campaign and he managed to fire in 15 goals in his 46 Championship appearances, with a lot of those proving vital in picking up crucial and much-needed results.

The Blues were indebted to Jutkiewicz in the 2019/20 campaign and while Scott Hogan also weighed in with seven important league strikes for them during his loan spell, without Jutkiewicz Birmingham would have been in huge trouble.

Last season saw Birmingham once again struggle in the Championship with Aitor Kranka proving to have been a poor appointment by the club and it needed Bowyer to come and save them from the drop.

Jutkiewicz’s form mirrored that of Birmingham’s side in general, with the forward struggling to find the net on a regular basis under Karanka. That was largely because the Spaniard was not getting balls into the box for him consistently enough and he opted at times to leave the striker on the bench.

Bowyer took over and made Jutkiewicz a key player once again and got him the service that he needs to thrive in the final third. In total, he managed to fire in eight goals in his 42 Championship appearances and that proved to be enough to help the Blues survive the drop.