Birmingham City are champions of League One after Wrexham failed to win their lunchtime game at Wigan.
Blues secured promotion in midweek with a 2-1 win at Peterborough and the Red Dragons’ failure to take three points at the Brick Community Stadium in their goalless draw at Wigan Athletic sees Birmingham lift a league title for the first time since they won the old Second Division in 1994-95.
The Welsh side were the only team capable of catching Chris Davies’ side, who are not in league action this weekend.
The Birmingham squad is in London this weekend ahead of Sunday’s Vertu Trophy final, also against Peterborough, and which they also last won in 1995, under Barry Fry.
Over 40,000 fans are expected to head for Wembley after celebrating the title triumph, an achievement which caps a dominant season in which Birmingham returned to the Championship at the first time of asking.
The triumph further justifies the £25m outlay on transfers by owners Knighthead, who are also funding a new Premier League-standard stadium a mile from their current home at St Andrew’s.
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Rebuild success
The club set a new third-tier record by signing England Under-21 international Jay Stansfield for an eight-figure sum, and also brought in Christoph Klarer and Willum Thor Willumsson for big fees to bolster a squad relegated from the Championship last season.
The rebuild has been a success with 18-goal Stansfield currently joint top-scorer in the division, while Klarer has been central to Blues having the best defensive record in the division and Willumsson has been a key figure in midfield.
The appointment of Davies to his first senior role also raised some eyebrows in the summer, but that has also proved a success. Victory tomorrow will see him lift two trophies at the end of his first season as a manager.
Fry, now director of football at Peterborough, said that he believes the Blues will emulate Ipswich Town last season by going straight up again, to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2011.
The title charge has been based largely on their superb unbeaten home record, with 18 wins and three draws in the 21 games at St Andrew’s so far.
There has been little doubt from the start that Birmingham would be in the promotion reckoning, as they won eight of their first nine and then went on an 18-match unbeaten run from November 4 to March 4.
That has meant they have won the title with six games still remaining, with their next match at home against Crawley Town on Friday.