Former Celtic coach admits Birmingham City sacking fear he's always had at Blues as pressure mounts
The former Celtic coach is now a manager at Birmingham City in the English Championship.
A former Celtic coach has admitted he’s always feared for his Birmingham City boss position after coming under more pressure at the weekend.
Defeat to Derby County where his side performed poorly has all but ended their promotion ambitions in the English Championship. Birmingham City owners, Knighthead, are keen to bring the club back to Premier League status and splashed out an initial £15m on six signings in January as they sought a play-off spot that now looks lost. They sit 11th, 10 points outside sixth spot, with seven games to go.
Away form has proven wretched with 12 defeats out of 20, and overall, the Blues have lost four out of the last six. Chris Davies moved to Celtic in 2016 with Brendan Rodgers and helped coach the Hoops side that won Trebles under the Irishman, becoming a manager in his own right during 2024 at Birmingham City. He won League One and admits he’s always had worries of the sack due to the constant pressure at his current team.
Will Chris Davies be sacked by Birmingham City?
Asked if he fears for his job after a costly defeat, Davies said: “I’ve worried about my own future since the day I got the job to be honest with you. I knew when we were in League One if I wasn’t top of the league and winning pretty much every game I was going to be under pressure, so I’m just used to it.
“It’s been like that the whole time I’ve been here and it hasn’t changed since we’ve come up to the Championship. It’s always the same for a manager, I always feel that. My focus is on finishing the season strong. I’ve always said the fans are great, they aren’t the problem, it’s what’s happening on the pitch. That’s my responsibility.
“For them to share and vent their frustration is fine. I think the fans are brilliant. Everyone knows my position on this season, expectations and what we needed to do – I’ve made that clear in the last few press conferences and that’s been consistent with me throughout the whole season.
Chris Davies on Birmingham City form
“I’ve never changed on that and I won’t change on that because it’s what I believe. We lost 1-0 away at Derby who are having a very good season. It can happen. The performance wasn't good enough, that’s the truth of it. We’ve got seven games to finish as high in this table as we possibly can and that’s what we’ve got to focus on now.
“If I knew why I would fix it straight away (the away form). It’s very frustrating and bewildering at times because the same players can look very different home and away. For most of this season we haven’t changed our attacking spirit, our attacking style, or intent. (Derby) was a little bit different. We tried to be solid defensively.
“But a lot of the time we’ve gone in with a really attacking mindset to the games. We’ve struggled to score away from home, that’s been a big issue for us. We haven’t been threatening enough away from home.”
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