What next for Birmingham City? Why Davies is changing his approach

Birmingham City is a football club transformed. Over 20,000 season tickets have been sold for the forthcoming Championship season, with 14,000 more on the waiting list. Fan parks surround St Andrew's these days. The buzz around the place is palpable. <p>There are grand plans to reconnect England's second city to the club that bears its name, unlocking its true potential. Supporters clubs are springing up around the world, a product of Tom Brady's presence. And all the talk is of trying to be Premier League ready.</p><p>Given this context, with an ambitious ownership and a success-starved support, it is understandable if Birmingham are in a hurry. Excitement brings expectation, not just internally but externally. There is the sense of a club going places. But it takes time.</p><ul><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/TransfersSkySportsApp" target="_blank"><strong>Transfer Centre LIVE!</strong></a><strong> | </strong><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/EFLblogarticles" target="_blank"><strong>Latest Championship news and rumours</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://www.skysports.com/championship-table" target="_blank"><strong>Championship table</strong></a><strong> </strong>| <a href="https://www.skysports.com/championship-scores-fixtures/2026-08-01" target="_blank"><strong>Championship fixtures & scores</strong></a></li><li><strong>Got Sky? </strong><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/EFLwatcharticles" target="_blank"><strong>Watch EFL games LIVE on your phone</strong></a>📱</li><li><strong>Not got Sky? </strong><a href="https://www.sky.com/tv/sports?dcmp=Ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank"><strong>Latest Sky Sports deals</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://www.nowtv.com/membership/watch-sky-sports/football/efl?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank"><strong>stream EFL games with no contract</strong></a>📺</li></ul><p>On reflection, maybe last season was a moment for the club to breathe rather than a case of lost momentum. After all, you must go back 14 years to the 2011/12 season, when Birmingham were in Europe, for a better finish than the 10th-place effort of 2025/26.</p><p>"It was our first season back, which people found hard to remember at times," Birmingham manager Chris Davies tells Sky Sports. He is not talking about the club's supporters - "they have been great" - but <em>everyone</em>. This is a man carrying a lot of hopes and dreams.</p><p>"One thing I did learn was that I can handle it," he says. "I can handle the ups and downs." There had not been too many of the latter as Birmingham won the League One title with a record-breaking 111 points, their possession football proving utterly dominant.</p><p>Last season was more testing. "You can know about the Championship but to <em>feel</em> it is something different." England's second tier asked different questions. Davies and his team did not always have the answers. Plan A worked only some of the time.</p><p>"We came up from League One playing total football, having 80 per cent possession with a lot of circulating the ball, a lot of dominating the ball. It was really effective for us because we just controlled games pretty much the whole way through," he explains.</p><p>"In the Championship we were very technical in our recruitment of some smaller players, more technical players, and we tried to use that style. It had really good days and it had days where we just didn't have enough punch, especially away from home."</p><p>In that context, opening the season with a hard-fought Carabao Cup win at Swansea in which Birmingham scored the only goal having had 39 per cent of the ball was more than just satisfying. It suggested that his Blues side have added different elements to their game.</p><widget id="3"></widget><p>The scorer, August Priske, is a robust young target-man added in January who looks to have benefited from that half-season in the Championship. The 22-year-old Dane also netted the opening goal against Barcelona in front of a packed St Andrew's last month.</p><p>"Jhon Solis, Carlos Vicente and August came in at the same time and that little six months that they did have is their initiation to what English football is like, what the Championship is like, and now they are ready to go. They have all done very well."</p><p>Vicente, a combative Spanish winger, provided the assist for Priske's goal at Swansea. Solis also scored against Barcelona with the Colombian already proving a popular figure with the fans. He adds presence to Birmingham's midfield just as Priske does up top.</p><p>"When I reflected on the season, I thought for us to take the next step and progress, physicality is going to be really important. The game now is a lot of man-to-man pressing, a lot of set-piece emphasis. You need the physical capacity to deal with it."</p><p>That thinking has shaped Birmingham's summer too. Supplementing those winter additions, the club have brought in Dael Fry. The expectation is that a 6ft 4in centre-back with nearly 300 Championship appearances to his name will be able to adapt quickly.</p><p>The intention is to add to what Davies has already built, rather than pivot completely. "As a team that can keep the ball, it is a lot easier to then move into a more pragmatic or direct style than being a team that only knows how to play pragmatic or direct football."</p><p>That change actually began during the closing weeks of the last campaign. Birmingham were in 17th place in mid-April, but Davies used the brief international break in the spring to make some of these adjustments to their style of play. They went more direct.</p> <widget id="2"></widget><p>"I started thinking about being a little bit more flexible with the shape we were using and how we were positioning ourselves, but focusing more on more direct play, more transitions and more set-pieces if possible. So we sort of finished the season that way."</p><p>Birmingham ended the campaign on a five-game ...

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