BORN-again midfielder David Dunn has admitted his decision to leave Blackburn Rovers for Birmingham City four years ago was a big mistake.

The 27-year-old schemer, who faces his former club for the first time in the Premier League tomorrow, became the Blues' record signing in the summer of 2003 when he left Rovers in a £5.5 million deal following a fall-out with Graeme Souness.

However, within months of his arrival at St Andrew's, things quickly began to turn sour for Dunn, who was beset by injuries and homesickness, and, at one point, he got so low, he almost walked away from the game for good.

Now, thankfully, Dunn has managed to banish those blues and he appears to be in a far happier place after successfully rebuilding his career and tarnished reputation at Blackburn, having secured a dream return to Ewood earlier this year.

But if Dunn was able to have his time again, then he insists he would never have joined Birmingham in the first place, claiming it was the wrong move at the wrong time in his career.

"I've no regrets about going. I enjoyed my time there and made some good friends," said the former England international.

"But I think I should have gone down other avenues - I don't think Birmingham was the right club for me.

"I made a good start to my career there and maybe that papered over the cracks a bit.

"I have some fond memories of my time with them and when I did play, I enjoyed it.

"But if I'm being honest, I never really wanted to go from here in the first place, so it just feels great for me to be back at Blackburn again."

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce invested a lot of time and money in taking Dunn to St Andrew's four years ago, and his capture was considered to be a major coup at the time.

However, a succession of hamstring problems meant Dunn increasingly spent more time in the treatment room than out on the pitch, and as a result Birmingham fans only ever saw fleeting glimpses of the mercurial talent that had carried the former Rovers star into Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad.

At one stage, Dunn's injury problems became so bad, he spent several months laid flat on his back, recovering from a six-hour operation on his spine.

It was during those dark hours that he contemplated quitting the game altogether but, somehow, he found the inner strength to fight his way back to full fitness again, only for his injury problems to strike again.

In the end, Bruce finally lost patience and agreed to cut his losses on a player who had made barely 50 first team appearances in four years.

But whilst Dunn was ultimately relieved to leave Birmingham in the end, particularly as it led to a dream return to Blackburn, he also felt the club gave up on him.

"I don't think they did everything they could have done," said the midfielder.

"There was more they could have done. It was my fault as well, and I won't just blame the staff at Birmingham, but they could have been stronger."