This season Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of The Football League. To celebrate, we've asked bloggers from each of the 72 clubs to count down their top five strikers to have worn the No9 shirt, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer affects one in nine men.

Brummies' boy: Trevor Francis will always be No1. Picture courtesy of Action Images

 

Here blogger Daniel Ivery, of oftenpartisan.co.uk, selects Birmingham'sfive best No9s… and one to forget!

5. Steve Claridge (1994-96)
Easily one of the scruffiest footballers you'll ever see, Claridge was nevertheless a prolific striker for the Blues. In 1994 he became the first striker since Trevor Francis to get 20 in a season for Birmingham, rattling in 25 in all competitions as Blues won both Division Two and the Auto Windscreens Shield. Unfortunately for Blues, Claridge's well known gambling problems caught up with him and he moved on after just a couple of seasons to Leicester for £1.2m - more than treble the £350,000 Barry Fry paid for him.

4. Mikael Forssell (2003-08)
Forssell was one of Birmingham City's first Premier League heroes, with the Finn scoring 17 league goals in the 2003-04 season. A truly instinctive finisher with the kind of close control in the penalty box that gives defenders the heebie-jeebies, Forssell was destined for greatness until knee injury problems took hold. He was a dedicated trainer who would take balls to the local park to practice his 'ninja feet' skills against local kids, and you can only feel sorry that his career nose-dived after a succession of ligament injuries - he could have been so much more.

3. Joe Bradford (1920-35)
By all rights Joe should be top of this list with 249 league goals for the club, and it's only because he was playing before my grandfather was born that he isn't. He was a big, burly centre-forward who played almost his entire career with Birmingham and is still the holder of the highest goalscorer record at St Andrew's. Joe died in Birmingham in 1980, but is remembered with his picture in the Legends Lounge at the club where he plied his trade.

2. Paul Furlong (1996-2002)
'Funky' might be a controversial choice for some but as a teenager on the terraces at the time Furlong was one of my heroes. He had a reputation for being a bit lazy and a bit languid but the stats don't lie - 50 league goals for the club during a period when Blues weren't known for scoring goals, and which hasn't been bettered by any player since the 70s. A softly spoken, self-effacing gentleman off the pitch, he could be relied upon as a focal point on it for many years.

1. Trevor Francis (1970-79)
The greatest No9 in Blues' history of course usually wore No8 - but there is no way I couldn't put 'Superboy', who was of course the first £1m English player, at the top of the list. TF announced his entry to the halls of Birmingham City superstardom with four goals while still a 16-year-old against Bolton and he continued to bang them in throughout that decade, finishing with 119 in the league and 133 overall - the highest number by any Blues striker post-war and second only to the aforementioned Joe Bradford.

And the worst…
Mike Newell (1996-97)
There have been many far less talented strikers at Blues but Newell stands out for me as one who cost the club a lot of money and just didn't try. One league goal in 15 appearances after a £775,000 move from Blackburn Rovers points to a player who just didn't cut the mustard. An unpopular figure with fans, he was moved on for just £160,000 to Aberdeen just a shade under one year after signing for Blues.

Follow Daniel on Twitter @often_partisan