This weekend brings the playoff finals and while we are all happy not to be taking part in them it did get me wondering about the players who secured Blues’ first Premiership campaign back in 2002.

Nico Vaesen
Vaesen remained Blues’ number one for the following Premier league season until a cruciate knee injury in March 2003 put him out of the game for nine months.  With Blues signing Maik Taylor in the summer he struggled to retain his place appearing only a couple of times.  In one of those appearances in 2005 he was sent off in a 4-1 defeat by Manchester City.  He was released after relegation and now plays for FC Verbroedering Geel in the Belgium 3rd division.

Jeff Kenna
Kenna went on to be a popular player throughout our first couple of seasons before joining Derby County on a free transfer in 2004.  He finished his career as player manager with Galway United and is now the manager of Keith Fahey’s old club St Patricks Athletic.

Steve Vickers
Birmingham turned out to be Vickers’ last club as he retired due to injury the following season. He went into property management and does some coaching at non-league level.

Michael Johnson
Johnson was another player who played only one Premier League season for Blues before dropping back down a division. He played for Derby until 2008 and now plays for Notts County alongside another ex-Birmingham Player Jamie Clapham.

Martin Grainger
Sadly injury stopped him from having much of a Premier League career although he did score an excellent free kick against Man Utd.  He retired in early 2005 and now works as a chauffeur after a very short spell as the manager of Cheshunt FC.

Paul Devlin
Devlin scored the first ever Premier league goal at St Andrews in a 2-1 defeat of Leeds.  He went on to score a couple more goals for us and get ten caps for Scotland before joining Watford.  He now plays for Stratford Town in the midland football alliance.

Bryan Hughes
A favourite of many a Bluesnose Hughes’ goals were a major factor in Blues staying up the following season.  His attacking runs from midfield made him a useful member of the squad but he decided to move to Charlton in 2004 to get more first team opportunities.  He won another play off final for Hull City in 2008 who he still plays for today.

Olivier Tebily
Tebs became a bit of a cult hero at Blues despite not making that many first team appearances in his six years at the club.  He finally left in 2008 joining Toronto FC for a short spell.  He has now retired back to France with his family.

Tommy Mooney
Mooney only played one game in the top flight before being sent out on loan and then moving to Swindon Town at the end of the season.  He went on to play for Oxford, Wycombe and Walsall. Most recently he has been playing in the Spanish 2nd division with UD Marbella.

Geoff Horsfield
The Horse was another St Andrews hero who played a part in our succesful fight to stay up in 2003. He joined Wigan in September 2003 and also played again in the Premier League with West Brom.  He had to retire after being diagnosed with testicular cancer but after fighting that off he joined Lincoln City for a few games in 2009.

Stern John
He will always be remembered as the player who scored the last minute winner against Millwall in the semi final.  He scored a further nine goals for Blues in the Premier league before joining Coventry.  He is currently a Southampton player although he spent the second half of the season on loan at Bristol City.

Subs

Stan Lazaridis
Stanley was another Blues legend who became a regular fixture down the left in the following seasons.  He left after relegation in 2006 to join Perth Glory in his native Australia but his time their was curtailed by a twelve month drug ban. He retired in 2008.

Andrew Johnson
Johnson left Blues the following season as part of the deal the brought Clinton Morrisson from Crystal Palace.  This proved to be a bit of bad business as he went on to score 74 goals for Palace before moving to Everton for £8.5m. He now plays for Fulham.

Darren Carter
The Birmingham trainee turned out to be the hero as he put away the winning penalty.  Unfortunately his career never took off the way we had hoped and he was eventually sold to West Brom in 2005.  He now plays for Preston North End.

Unused sub

Damien Johnson
The only member of the team still at the club.