Chris Davies: New Birmingham City boss ‘ready to act’

VaselineJune 12, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Chris Davies: New Birmingham City boss ‘ready to act’

image source, Features Rex

image caption, Chris Davies’ last role alongside Brendan Rodgers was at Leicester before linking up with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham

Author, Ged Scott
Role, BBC Sport England
June 11, 2024

New Birmingham City boss Chris Davies says he is ready to step up to management after so long as number two.

The 39-year-old took over at the Blues on June 6 after a season as Ange Postecoglou’s assistant at Tottenham.

The Spurs spell followed 13 years working under Brendan Rodgers at Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester, and Davies says becoming a manager is just about finding the club that suits him best.

“I’ve been prepared to be a manager for a few years,” Davies said in his first interview at the club in his new role.

“I always felt like a manager, like a number one,” Davies told Blues TV. “I had a lot of responsibility at big clubs with the managers I worked with.

“Now I’m the one making the decisions and the buck stops with me, but I prefer that.

“It was about the right club, the right fit and the right time.

“I already had a great job at a great club, but my feeling was that this was a club that reflected my own ambition.

“I was in the Maldives with my family when all this happened, but these types of opportunities are important to capture.”

He says it was co-owners Wagner, NFL legend Brady and chief executive Garry Cook who sold him the League One club.

“They are all very successful, credible people in their field,” he said. “You can feel their commitment to this club and the real vision of what they can do.

“It was inspiring just to listen to them speak. As each conversation went on with each of them, I got more excited.”

“We have to be the hardest working team”

Having started his job on Monday, Davies’ immediate plans are simply to put his building blocks on and off the pitch as Birmingham prepare for what they hope will be a season-long stay back in the third tier of English football.

“Recruiting is key for every team,” Davies said. “We have some key positions to fill.

“It’s important to bring in the right kind of characters – but we already have some very qualified people here.”

It’s the same story in terms of his backroom team.

“There are two or three that I’ve worked with at previous clubs that I want to bring in,” Davies said. “Also, we have a lot of good people on the current staff.

“This creates the best mix – to bring fresh energy and new ideas, but also to work with the good qualities we already have in the building.”

But his main concern is to provide the kind of fun, fast-paced product that fans will want to watch and that will regularly win Blues games.

“Fitness will be key for the high-energy football we want to play,” Davies said. “To be very proactive and dynamic, to be attacking and dominant, to play with a relentlessness that makes it difficult for the opposition, while also making sure we are very organised.

“Number one is to be the hardest-working team. You need a lot of discipline. Never have an easy day during the week, with pressure all the time, so when it comes to match day, dealing with the pressure becomes second nature.

“But also key is building that connection with the fans. This will be fundamental to any success we may achieve.

“We’re hoping to put a quality team on the field that the fans will love coming to see and if we can pull it off we’ll be very hard to stop.”

VaselineJune 12, 2024

0 2 minutes read