Birmingham City Boss Chris Davies Drops Claim On Promotion-Winning Squad

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has praised the mentality of a squad he assembled “from scraps” last summer as the club sealed their return to the Championship on Tuesday night.

Speaking to Birmingham Live after Tuesday night’s promotion-clinching 2-1 victory over Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium, the 40-year-old reflected on the spirit which runs through his squad, regardless of the discourse generated by a club and divisional-high spending total throughout a historic season at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.

Davies recruited 17 new faces and saw an abundance of players leave B9 after the club’s relegation was confirmed on the final day of last season, with two of those netting in the midweek success in the form of Alfie May and Taylor Gardner-Hickman.

With six League One games remaining and Sunday’s upcoming EFL Trophy final, the next step for Blues is to achieve a double-winning season in which they could still break two further third tier records and a potential EFL-high points haul, with Reading’s figure of 106 lasting the previous 19 years.

Chris Davies drops claim on Birmingham City’s promotion-winning squad

Davies and his staff were tasked with assembling a “Championship-ready” squad by ownership group Knighthead, with an immediate return to the second tier, the club’s solitary objective during stage one of a well-documented rebuild at St Andrew’s.

Expectations were already high given the club’s lofty ambitions, which include a 60,000-capacity stadium and Tom Wagner’s main aim of ending a lengthy hiatus from the Premier League, and they didn’t alter despite a first stint in the third tier for 30 years.

And, although much has been made of Blues’ financial muscle in comparison to their divisional counterparts, which included a seven-year deal for Jay Stansfield on Deadline Day last August, Davies hailed those in royal blue for dealing with the pressure throughout a gruelling campaign which will end on 60 games.

“They’ve been amazing,” he stated. “We’ve put a team together from scraps really. There was six or seven who stayed, but there were 17 new players.

“I step back during the week. I coach them but I don’t overbear, I let them gel, and they get on so well. They have come together so well and we signed good characters,

“For too long this club didn’t have good characters. They would let the club down,” Davies claimed.

“Whether we win, lose or draw you will always see the club fighting and that’s what we’ve got with this group of players.

“They’ve been exceptional. Don’t forget, every single game this season home and away they’ve been expected to win. There’s no team in the land that has had to deal with that every single week and we have,” the Birmingham manager concluded.

Chris Davies’ recruitment has been the catalyst behind Birmingham City promotion

Within a much-changed starting XI and substitutes bench for the first of a double-header against Darren Ferguson’s men, only five of Davies’ matchday squad were at St Andrew’s during a chaotic relegation season under six permanent or temporary managers – Krystian Bielik, Ethan Laird, Paik Seung-Ho, Keshi Anderson and the aforementioned club-record signing, Stansfield.

This highlights the mass squad overhaul which took place during a much-needed summer rebuild as plenty of high-earners and big-money signings who provided very little return on initial investments departed on a temporary or permanent basis.

Aside from Stansfield, the likes of May, who was signed for a nominal £775,000 fee after starring at this level for Cheltenham Town and Charlton Athletic, has proven his worth at such a critical stage of the season as he leads the divisional charts for goals and assists combined (23).

Ryan Allsop has been an assuring pair of hands for Davies since making his league bow for his boyhood club against Huddersfield Town on October 2nd, whilst Alex Cochrane, Christoph Klarer and Tomoki Iwata have also been inspired pieces of business by those in charge in B9.

There is an argument that a plethora of Davies’ squad are capable of making an immediate step-up to the second tier, and talk regarding a potential emulation of Ipswich Town’s back-to-back promotions under Kieran McKenna has already begun.