Motivated by the inspirational Christophe Dugarry, Birmingham's first top-flight season for 16 years finished in mid-table. Loan signing Mikael Forssell's 17 league goals helped Birmingham to a top-half finish in 2003–04, but when he was injured, the 2004–05 team struggled for goals. In July 2005, chairman David Gold said it was time to "start talking about being as good as anyone outside the top three or four" with "the best squad of players for 25 years". Injuries, loss of form, and lack of transfer window investment saw them relegated in a season whose lowlight was a 7–0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool. Jermaine Pennant and Emile Heskey left for record fees, many others were released, but Bruce's amended recruitment strategy, combining free-transfer experience with young "hungry" players and shrewd exploitation of the loan market, brought automatic promotion at the end of a season which had included calls for his head.