Birmingham City have stormed their way back to the Championship—and they’ve done it in style. Under Chris Davies, Blues not only secured promotion but set a club record for points in a single season, wrapping up the League One title with games to spare.
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to understand how Birmingham got it so right—and what it means for the club’s future in the second tier.
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to understand how Birmingham got it so right—and what it means for the club’s future in the second tier.
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00:00Birmingham City have stormed their way back to the Championship and they've done it in style.
00:08Under Chris Davis, Blues not only secured promotion but set a club record for points in a single season,
00:14wrapping up the League One title with games to spare.
00:17From the recruitment of experienced leaders to the emergence of key young talents, everything clicked.
00:24Davis instilled an identity that combined structure and freedom and the results followed.
00:30Fans have bought into the project and now there's real belief this momentum can carry over.
00:36The next step, investment, smart recruitment and ensuring this progress isn't a one-off.
00:42Can Birmingham build a side ready to thrive, not just survive in the Championship?
00:47We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World to understand how Blues got it so right
00:53and what it means for the club's future in the second tier.
00:59And looking at Birmingham City now, obviously, since we last caught up, they have won the League.
01:05They have confirmed their place in the Championship.
01:07Let's just take a little review in terms of their season.
01:10I mean, such an impressive rise.
01:12We mentioned, obviously, Chris Davis wasn't an out-and-out manager before this season.
01:16He's been unbelievable.
01:17And, you know, yes, they've been competing at a lower level.
01:20Yes, we sort of predicted that this would be the outcome, but they have still had to go
01:24and achieve this feat, you know, over 90 points.
01:27A fantastic season for Blues and their fan base as well.
01:31So, what have you sort of made of this refreshing season in League One for Birmingham City?
01:36I think it's been a blessing in disguise being relegated down to League One, in all honesty.
01:40That sounds strange to say.
01:42Any relegation should be absolutely heart-wrenching.
01:45It should be devastating for a football club.
01:47But the way they've picked themselves back up again, the way that Chris Davis has come in
01:50for his first managerial job, the way that they've reinvented the squad.
01:55Yes, they've spent a lot of money, unprecedented amounts.
01:57You would expect them to go straight back up.
01:59But it still takes that cohesion.
02:01It still takes a manager to bring everyone together and to stay motivated as well.
02:05There's a lot of characters that have dropped down divisions to be in this position,
02:08who've been convinced by the project, and they've decided that they want to stick on with it.
02:12They want to train hard every single day.
02:15That's something I've been speaking to Davies about recently,
02:17is how do you keep that motivation high when you know that you're going to win the title?
02:21You know you're going to go up.
02:22You know you're going to Wembley, etc.
02:24And he's just said that he wants everyone to work hard every day,
02:27otherwise they're not going to be part of his future plans.
02:29And I think the players have really bought into that.
02:31Rotation as well has played a key part.
02:33Even someone like Christian Bielek, the club captain,
02:35who last season and the start of this looks so, so important.
02:39He's hardly been able to get a game because there's just so many players in that squad
02:42capable of playing in this level and then up into the Championship as well.
02:46It's been seriously impressive.
02:47It's unfortunate they couldn't add that silverware at Wembley,
02:50being beaten by Peterborough United.
02:52Certainly devastating.
02:53But having that day out as well, nearly 50,000 Blues fans,
02:56it's just great for the morale.
02:57And hopefully they can have many days like that in the future.
02:59Yeah, Tom Wagner was quite vocal in terms of saying this blue side won't let fans down again.
03:08And he can't have overstated the disappointment of the Wembley trip,
03:12obviously not going to plan on the pitch.
03:15You've got to look at the bigger picture in terms of competing in higher stakes games.
03:19They're going to have to go and compete when it matters most in the Championship next season.
03:24Their ambitions are not going to be to settle in the Championship.
03:27There's no bones about it.
03:28You know, we've learned enough about the ownership, the project now,
03:32but to realise that that's going to be the goal is to really compete towards the top six.
03:37You know, we've seen multiple times with the likes of West Brom how close the playoff race is.
03:42Do you feel Birmingham have enough?
03:44Do you feel they can really compete and look ahead to sort of going up
03:49and really making sure that they're making great sort of steps towards progress
03:53in the Championship next season?
03:54Yeah, I don't think that people can be expecting to be promoted straight away.
03:59I don't think that's realistic that the Championship is so, so competitive.
04:03We've seen that especially this season, the likes of Coventry City being in amongst the relegation contenders.
04:08And then Frank Lampard comes in within a few months.
04:10They're suddenly playoff contenders, promotion contenders.
04:13Anything can happen and Blues can't be naive.
04:15Even they saw it when they were sixth under John Eustace.
04:19He goes, Wayne Rooney comes in and then they drop away and they are relegated.
04:23It's one of the most unpredictable divisions in the world, let alone just in England.
04:27So not just in England and Wales, but also across the world of the whole documentary in America.
04:32All the big names coming over, David Beckham and Tom Brady and Ryan Reynolds and Co.
04:36So they dealt with that fine.
04:38So I think once they get to the Championship, it won't be a walk in the park.
04:42But I think they'll be able to deal with it just fine.