The new owners had converted the stadium to all-seater, were to float the club as a plc, and saw Trevor Francis as the manager to take it forward. Francis introduced players with top-level experience, such as Manchester United captain Steve Bruce. They reached the 2001 League Cup final, losing on penalties to Liverpool, and three successive play-off semi-finals, losing all three, and lack of progress made Francis's position untenable. Bruce took the team from mid-table in November 2001 to the play-off final in which they beat Norwich City on penalties to win promotion to the Premier League. Motivated by World Cup-winner Christophe Dugarry, Birmingham's first top-flight season for 16 years finished in mid-table. Three years later, they were relegated in a season whose lowlight was a 7–0 FA Cup defeat at home to Liverpool. Bruce retained the confidence of the board and delivered automatic promotion in 2006–07.