Former Celtic figure backed by Birmingham City amid disgruntlement as Hoops hero sees Blues woe continue
There are several former Celtic faces in the ranks at Birmingham City.
Birmingham City have backed a former Celtic coach amid a testing start to the season - as frustrations deepen for a Hoops hero in blue.
The American-backed side at St Andrew’s earned promotion from League One last season but have hit a sticky patch upon their return to the Championship. They are managed by Chris Davies, who was previously a coach at Parkhead during Brendan Rodgers’ first stint at the club. This is his first gig in management and his work last term en route to title glory was widely praised.
Ambitious Birmingham City owners are targeting promotion to the Premier League this season and arrived at Wrexham on Friday having lost four of their last six. That ended 1-1 and chairman Tom Wagner was in attendance in Wales for their most recent clash, speaking on Sky Sports pre match. Amid rising tension over Davies’ ability to lead the club forward, he emphatically backed his manager.
Chris Davies future at Birmingham City
He said: “I think it’s probably a bit of luck, probably a bit of new players coming into the squad and getting adjusted to the way Chris wants to play, recognising that no one stands still so some adjustments needed to be made. Chris has the complete and total confidence of the board. Period. Full stop.
“We are focused on process and I am confident the process he is pursuing will pay dividends and we will be competitors. The vast majority of people understand that.”
One former Celtic man also going through it at Birmingham City is Kyogo. After a calamitous six month stint at Rennes after achieving hero status in Glasgow after a goal-laden stint, he has netted just once in 11 games and zero over nine games in the Championship. He scored an offside goal against Wrexham after coming off the bench but amid his early woes in England, Davies has backed the Japanese international.
Kyogo backed at Birmingham City
He had said before kick-off: "Kyogo gets himself into some great positions. When one of those [shots] goes in, his whole confidence will lift from there. I love his energy, I love the way he moves and the runs he makes. He's just got to keep working. When that first [goal] goes in he'll flourish from there."
Davies also said: “The theory that we were entitled to walk into the Championship and stroll it is deluded. We are a team that has to compete and earn everything we get at this level. We're not a team like in League One where we've gone out and ultimately put a squad together that should win the league.
“The expectation following that, therefore, should be: ‘Yes, you should go and win that league'. And I'd say: ‘I completely agree, we should win that league'. But, when you're going into the Championship where teams like Wrexham - like many other teams - have heavily invested, then we have to compete, we have to earn it.