As Blues prepare for life back in the Championship, there’s growing anticipation about how far this team can go under Davies’ leadership. We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to get a sense of the mood following their emphatic League One title win.
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00:00as blues prepare for life back in the championship there's growing anticipation
00:08about how far this team can go under chris davis's leadership their success this season has
00:14been built on a strong reliable core who delivered when it mattered most that dominant form has
00:21sparked hope that birmingham won't just aim to survive in the second tier but may have the tools
00:26to compete near the very top with momentum on their side and the right additions in the transfer
00:32window the big question now is will the owners invest again and how much support will davis have
00:37to build a squad capable of making a real impact we spoke to charlie haffenden of birmingham world
00:44to get a sense of the mood following their emphatic league one title win
00:48and looking at birmingham city now obviously um since we last caught up that they have won the
00:56lead they have confirmed that they're placing the championship let's just take a little review
01:00um in terms of their season i mean such an impressive rise we mentioned obviously chris davis wasn't a
01:06an out-and-out manager before this season he's been unbelievable and you know yes they've been
01:11competing at a lower level yes we sort of predicted that this would be the outcome but they have still
01:15had to go and achieve this feat um you know over 90 points a fantastic season for the blues and
01:21and their fan base as well so what would you sort of made of of this refreshing season i mean league
01:27one for birmingham city i think it's been a blessing in disguise being relegated down to league one in all
01:32honesty um that sounds strange to say any relegation should be absolutely heart-wrenching it should be
01:37devastating for a football club but the way they've picked themselves back up again the way that chris
01:42davis has come in for his first managerial job the way that they've reinvented the squad yes they've
01:47spent a lot of money unprecedented amounts you would expect them to go straight back up but it
01:52still takes that cohesion it still takes a manager to bring everyone together and to stay motivated as
01:57well there's a lot of characters that have dropped down divisions to be in this position who've been
02:01convinced by the project and they've decided that they want to stick on with it they want to train hard
02:06every single day that's something i've been speaking to davis about recently is how do you keep that
02:10motivation high when you know that you're going to win the title you know you're going to go up
02:14you know you're going to wembley etc and he's just said that he wants everyone to work hard every day
02:19otherwise they're not going to be part of his future plans and i think the players have really
02:22bought into that rotation as well has played a key part even someone like christian bilik the club
02:27captain who last season and the start of this looks so so important he's hardly been able to get a
02:32game because there's just so many players in that squad capable of playing in this level and then up
02:36into the championship as well it's been seriously impressive um it's unfortunate they couldn't add
02:40that silverware at wembley being beaten by peterbury united certainly devastating but having
02:45that day out as well nearly 50 000 blues fans it's just great for the morale and hopefully they can
02:50have many days like that in the future yeah tom wagner was was quite vocal in terms of um you know saying
02:56his this blue side won't let fans down again and you know he can't overstated the the disappointment
03:03of the wembley trip obviously not going to plan on the pitch um you know you've got to look at the
03:08bigger picture in terms of competing in higher stakes games they're going to have to go and compete
03:12um you know when it matters most in the championship next season their their ambitions are not going to
03:17be to settle in the championship there's no bones about it you know we've learned enough about the the
03:23ownership the project now but to to realize that that's going to be the goal is to really compete
03:28towards the top six you know we've seen multiple times the likes of west brom how close
03:32um the playoff race is do you feel birmingham have enough do you feel they they can really compete
03:37and look to head uh look ahead to sort of going up and really making sure that they're making a
03:43great sort of steps towards progress in the championship next season yeah i don't think
03:49that people can be expecting to be promoted straight away i don't think that's realistic that
03:52the championship is so so competitive we've seen that especially this season the likes of
03:57coventry city being in and amongst the relegation contenders and then frank lampard comes in
04:01within a few months they're suddenly playoff contenders promotion contenders anything can
04:05happen and blues can't be naive even they saw it when they were sixth under john eustace he goes
04:11wayne rooney comes in and then they drop away and they are relegated it's one of the most
04:16unpredictable divisions in the world let alone just in england so they can't take anything for
04:20granted they've got to work hard i think the concern is of wembley can they deal with these big
04:25occasions are they able to compete when the pressure is on them i think it was a one-off
04:30maybe maybe the pressure did get them slightly they just weren't quite at the races but
04:34at the end of the day two goals from outside the box one was a free kick so i think once
04:39it gets the championship it won't be a walk in the park but i think they'll be able to deal with it
04:43just fine
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