The imposing centre half spent six months on loan in the Midlands during the 2013/14 campaign, and looks back on his time at today’s opponents with nothing but fond memories.
He said, “I really enjoyed my time there, I was only at the club for six months but it felt as though it was a lot longer.
“I’ve said in the past that had they tried to sign me, I would have definitely gone there. I made some good friends at the club, who I still keep in contact with now.
“The manager at the time was Lee Clark, and he’s actually now in charge of Blyth Spartans, which is the team from where I grew up, so it’s a bit surreal.
“My dad’s a big Newcastle United fan too and I remember going up there with him and sitting in his office, we got on really well.
“We probably didn’t get the results overall that we wanted, but we picked up just before I left, so it was a good time overall.”
The spell at the Sky Bet Championship club followed another temporary switch to Yeovil Town the season before, and Burn spoke about the progression that the move afforded him in the second tier.
“At the time the move was a good fit, I had a good year at Yeovil and I knew I wanted to make the step up to Championship,” he continued.
“Me and Lee got along really well, and I really liked the way he wanted to play and things like that.
“Birmingham was and still is a massive club, so it was step-up that I enjoyed, and it was a pity I had to leave.”
Albion face Valencia at the Amex Stadium in their final game of pre-season after today’s contest, and the defender looked back on the work that’s been done so far under new head coach Graham Potter.
“Pre-season has been really good, and I said before that it’s a lot different to what the lads have been used to.
“It’s a lot more football based, and I think we’re coming along well. We’ve had a couple of games and have a few left, which will give the manager a better idea of the team he wants to play on the opening weekend of the season.
“I think fans will have seen we’re more expansive with the way we play now and it takes time to get those ideas across, but training’s been really good and we’ll look to take that forward.”