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Published on Jul, 31 2024
Dion Sanderson fizzes a pass into Koji Miyoshi who finds Jordan James out wide. His cross is turned in by Alfie May and Birmingham have the winner at Walsall. “To go through a team and get that finish was excellent,” Chris Davies tells Sky Sports.
"It was probably our best team move of pre-season."
Birmingham supporters will tell you that they have been waiting rather longer than that to see this football. After the ignominy of relegation from the Championship, the mood has shifted. They feel Davies can be the coach to unlock the true potential of this club.
Last season descended into farce, five different managers taking charge as newly-moneyed Blues contrived to crash out of a division that their high-profile owners - NFL legend Tom Brady included - had been planning to exit in a very different way.
But while the failed experiment with Wayne Rooney was seen as a sop to celebrity, Davies appears an imaginative appointment of substance. After coaching at Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic, Leicester and Tottenham, this is his opportunity to do things his way.
Already, there is a sense that he could turn out to be the right coach at the right time. Birmingham's senior figures may have been chastened by their past mistakes but the resources remain and there is an eagerness to learn from those errors in League One.
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"It has been the level of ambition, the organisation, that has stood out for me. They are really experienced operators and very ambitious in what they want to do but they have got a real plan to do it as well. It is not just a case of them having a pipe dream."
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Davies talks about the processes in place behind the scenes, the support he is receiving. "I have been really impressed with that." But it is also the way that the supporters have embraced the possibilities. From nowhere, optimism is in the air.
May, signed from Charlton this summer, is yet to make his competitive debut but is already a fan-favourite, his name chanted all over the city. "He is a bit of a cult figure. He is that type of player. He works hard and scores goals and that is what fans love."
'You can sense it building'Davies adds: "I think the fans themselves have been exceptional. Like anywhere, you go to a club and you only really start to get a feel for how big it is and what it means when you get in there. I think they have sold more season tickets this season already.
"You can sense it building. You really get the feeling that it is a big club that is really eager to go on a bit of a journey now and achieve something. And that is why I came, essentially, to take the club on that journey. I am really looking forward to it."
Big plans have long been in place, the redevelopment of the stadium among them. What was lacking before Davies' arrival was any evidence of that on the pitch. He brings clarity, not just in terms of leadership but an obvious commitment to a new style of play.
Speaking to Davies last year, he revealed that he had counted the passes when watching childhood club Watford and remembered how Swansea had been criticised by opposition managers for playing 'academy football' with their incessant possession.
His successes since, part of a coaching staff that won trophies north and south of the border, winning many admirers with the manner in which it was achieved, have more than justified those ideas. The mantra remains. Pass the ball but pass it quickly.
'Play as quickly as possible'Against Walsall, at one stage late in the first half, Davies could be heard bellowing from the touchline, calling for tempo, for them not to slow it down, to keep that ball moving. He rushes to feed the ball to his full-back, urging them not to give the opposition time.
"We are going to have to play as quickly as possible to keep the speed up. If the opponent is just kind of sat in a block, we have to make them run somehow. And that is only going to come from us bringing some tempo to it rather than playing at their speed.
"The idea is that if you can circulate the ball and stretch the opposition, and do that at a good speed, then the gaps inside will eventually open up. We see it so many times, it does take until around the 60th or 70th minute to see those gaps open up."
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The impact on the players has been instant.
Players talk and Davies' reputation within the game precedes him. Even if it didn't, the sessions are such a step up that it would soon become apparent. Ethan Laird, the marauding right-back, loves the new approach, noting the transformation in training.
Krystian Bielik realised after the first meeting that he had never worked with a coach like this before and agreed to stay. He has spent much of his time in midfield but will likely become a ball-playing defender under Davies, indicative of the change in thinking.
This new head coach is demanding more from them. "Training intensity, everyday standards, these are really important." But it is because he believes, as many of them did, that these players are capable of much more than they had been showing.
"The kind of football that we are playing and how we are training is only because they are good enough to do it, basically. That is kind of the reason I came. I knew they were good enough to do it and with some additions, we could get even better.
'I try to put the pressure on'"They are absolutely capable of playing this football. Every day I try to put the pressure on everyone in training and around the place to make sure that the demand is really high. So, therefore, when it comes to the game, things flow a little bit easier.
"They realise that they are going to have good training sessions, they are going to work hard, they are going to get fit. But the result of that is that they are going to play a football where they dominate the ball and I think all players enjoy that."
There was an alarmingly heavy defeat to Paderborn first time out but they have since beaten Rangers in the Trevor Francis Memorial match as well as Walsall. More pertinently, there was a comfortable 2-0 win over League One rivals Shrewsbury Town.
Speaking to Shrewsbury head coach Paul Hurst about that experience, he tells Sky Sports: "It was like we were playing a team from a different league." The hope for Davies and Birmingham is that this gulf in quality will prove to be a sign of things to come.
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Still, there will be those wondering whether this football can work in League One. They used to say that it was not possible to pass your way out of the Championship until teams proved otherwise. Perhaps that still applies in English football's third tier?
Is there any point, for example, in pressing the opposition if they intend to boot the ball forward anyway? "I always think there is a benefit to it," argues Davies. "I never want us to just wait for those long balls. I want us to be proactive and move the line up."
And besides, League One is evolving. "The game has changed a lot in the last 15 years in this country. It is not going to be 23 teams kicking it long and just us trying to play our football. But there will be a mixture of tactics and we have to be ready for that."
'Must have enough physicality'He adds: "We have to respect, for example, the importance of set pieces. We cannot have a team that is really small and think that is just going to survive all the time. We must have enough physicality to cope with some of the challenges we will face."
Some of the signings reflect that. In midfield, there is Willum Willumsson, brought in from Go Ahead Eagles. He is 6'3" and looks bigger. "He is unusually big as a No 10. That gives us a good presence on the pitch. He is capable in the air and very technical."
Physicality, then. But still a technician.
"Our game will not change. It will be about dealing with counter-attacks and set pieces. We have to manage that if we want to dominate the ball. But I think this is the most effective way to play. It is what I believe in and it will not change while I am in this job."
Birmingham's owners and supporters will be encouraged by that clarity, just as they are excited about what lies ahead. Their team is odds-on to be promoted back to the Championship. It is perhaps the biggest concern for the man in his first managerial role.
"I think for us, it is going to be managing expectations and making sure that we stay very focused and disciplined and just repeat what we do. Do not try to change. Of course, those challenges are going to come. They always do. But I will be ready to face them."
Right now, that sums up the mood of everyone at Birmingham City.
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