SHA
Small Heath Alliance
09:10, Sun 12 Jul
Chris Davies sat down with BirminghamLive's Alex Dicken for an exclusive interview at Birmingham City's camp in Portugal
[www.birminghammail.co.uk]
[www.birminghammail.co.uk]
Chris Davies interview: Birmingham City's new mantra, key Portugal meeting and 'hybrid' plan
Birmingham Mail 09:10, Sun 12 Jul
Replying to Birmingham Mail
09:24, Sun 12 Jul
Very good read, that
nick_p
1
Replying to Fat Buddha OBE
09:30, Sun 12 Jul
Yes, good work from Alex and good words from Davies. He’s still learning, making mistakes and evolving. I want that to be with us. Longer, slower burns are usually more sustainable…
Replying to nick_p
09:50, Sun 12 Jul
There is a different atmosphere inside Birmingham City’s bubble this year.
Less of the brash, unashamedly ambitious, Premier League dreaming talk that created expectations Chris Davies says were ‘really unrealistic’. Instead, Blues are going about their business more quietly at the second attempt.
The pressure wasn’t a privilege for Blues, it was draining for all concerned in a season where the Championship humbled a group of players who had talked about back-to-back promotions.
None more so than their manager. Davies led Blues to a 10th-placed finish and the club’s best points tally since 2011/12, but faced questions over his future more than once.
Sitting pitchside in Lagos, Portugal, having just put his players through their final training session of the week, Davies appears refreshed and recharged, ready to give it another crack on his own terms.
“I have learnt so much since I’ve been a manager,” he said. “It’s funny because I knew what it is having been so close to it for so long. If I go back to my very first day I could explain exactly what I’ve seen so there’s nothing that’s surprised me, but dealing with the emotions and pressure and everything – you are only able to learn about that when you go through it.
“I’ve learnt that the Championship is going to be like that whether you like it or not. Even Coventry had a spell. It can quickly feel like it’s unravelling.
“I was really pleased with how I managed to guide everyone through it last year. I felt there were challenging periods personally, I know the players did, the team did, and we had the Tom Wagner situation so there was a lot going on.
“I had a feeling at the time that I was pleased with the way I was handling it and I look back and I’m pleased that through those challenging periods I handled it in a way that I’m happy with.
“I didn’t get everything right, God no, but I’ll be better for that experience this year. I feel like I’ve been a manager for 20 years already. It’s knowing how to use my energy because I’m that kind of person that never switches off – knowing how to use my energy as I gain more experience, especially here where people know me now.
“I don’t need to obsessively impose because they are almost like a machine now. I’ve built something and now I’ve built something I need to maintain it, whereas when I first walked in I was doing everything.
“I was just trying to build something and make my name, now it’s about me trying to maintain this and make it stronger.
“It’s going to be incremental, that’s what I have to understand. We’re not going to suddenly walk out next season and look like a Premier League team because we’re not going to spend that sort of money.
“We aren’t able to do that despite this idea that Birmingham are super rich – that’s not true and the evidence will say that.”
The fact that Blues are having to cut their cloth financially was clearly a message Davies wanted to transmit in this interview.
They spent more than £25million in League One and forked out on wages for some big-name signings last year. In January Blues committed to another £15m for Carlos Vicente, August Priske and Kai Wagner and Jhon Solis has just joined for £6m.
Even with growing revenue figures that chief executive Jeremy Dale was happy to boast about at the club’s awards dinner in May, they can’t just keep throwing millions at it.
Davies is having to prioritise for the first time and Ibrahim Osman – who Brighton are demanding a pretty penny for – is understood to be top of his wish-list.
Osman’s speed and direct wing play was integral to the shift in style we witnessed over the final month of last season and Davies is convinced a continuation of that is Blues’ best route forward.
“We definitely need to have more physical prowess and I’ve been quite clear on that,” he said. “Stylistically, what changed was our first third really. That build-up. Our pressing was the same, the last two thirds was always about trying to get crosses in and get the ball forward, but then that first third, particularly in League One and at the start of the Championship season was to turn back to the goalkeeper and control the ball.
“The last six or seven games was let’s not do that, let’s get the ball forward earlier, quicker to try and gain territory.
“What I would like to get to is ultimately a bit of a hybrid of those two where we’re able in certain games to control the ball a little bit more, but we have to score more goals.
“Defensively we were as good as anyone in terms of the numbers that we posted. The way we played we gave very little away and always looked solid, but we need to score 70 goals – we scored 57.
“How do we get 13 more goals? That’s why we’re looking at set pieces. Can we gain six, seven, eight goals from that? Another six, seven, eight goals from open play and all of a sudden you’ve got your 70 goals and that makes you really competitive scorers.
“That all ties into the style, I just felt that apart from that flurry of four-goal wins we had around November time that we just didn’t look threatening enough, particularly away from home.
“I wanted to bring the power and the speed in to have more transitions and counters and more directness and territory. To be more effective, basically.
“I think it’s a lot easier to shift towards that way from the base we’ve had for two years of knowing how to keep the ball. If I had just walked in the door I would be quite reluctant (to do it). I’m confident we’ve got good principles in place now.”
Two years ago, when Davies presided over his first pre-season camp in Austria, ‘press to score’ was the key message drilled into players on the training pitches. That hasn’t changed, but Blues’ new style has led to new buzzwords.
“Press to score is huge. I don’t want to lose that, there’s no need to lose that. ‘Switch to cross’ is another and we’ve worked on that since I’ve been here.
“‘Play forward run forward’ was the mantra for the last seven games. That is where we’re going with it this season.
There was little delegation two years ago, as Davies alluded to earlier. His was the dominant voice.
That is still the case, but the appointment of Scott Fry as set-piece coach is further evidence of Davies learning and adapting.
Blues were average on dead-ball situations last season, and they have hired Fry, who built English football’s most effective set-piece team at Lincoln City, to change that.
Fry’s voice could be heard loud and clear in Portugal as he coached set pieces the day before Blues’ 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town.
It won’t just be the day before a game that Fry takes the lead, Davies insists, with Blues committed to set pieces.
“Scott did a set-piece introduction meeting at the hotel, and he will do it throughout the week,” explained Davies. “The old classic one is matchday minus one, 20 minutes lads, everyone doesn’t want to be there.
“You don’t go to the park when you’re young to do wide free-kicks. That is not what we fall in love with.
“But when you understand what the game is, set pieces are very important.
“With Scott, he does unopposed work and opposed work and he does it 11 v 11, in isolation with individuals, he does it in small-sided games. It’s something that needs to become part of how we work and needs to be throughout the week.
“What I love about Scott is that he’s got energy and enthusiasm. He has the knowledge, but it’s all well and good having the knowledge, you need to be able to engage people because there are so many coaches with great knowledge, but they can’t hold a pitch of players.
“I think even the best players in the world are still that little boy that loved playing football, so you have to be able to engage them, that’s what Scott does with set pieces, he makes it interesting and engaging.
“He’s got something he wants to build and I need to give him the space to put that in place. It can’t be five minutes, 'Go on Scott make us start scoring from corners'. The challenge is, as I said to him last night, can we go and score six to eight more goals from set pieces, then that pushes us up.”
Equally important will be Davies’ ability to build a team spirit that was tested under the strain of last season, which is why he is focused on recruiting the right personalities.
He is taking it upon himself to do due diligence on prospective signings to ensure the wrong characters don’t find their way into the building.
“I think there was a combination of really unrealistic expectations last year and a huge churn of players, and to build a spirit under that situation was challenging. We just about got there by the end of the season but it was a rocky road.
“I heard that (Thomas) Tuchel with England has 15 what he would call starters and then 10 very good players who are essentially training players, good characters, and that helps the environment so I think it’s important.
“We had too many surplus players last season because of the churn and they then ended up getting disillusioned and it becomes quite difficult in that situation to really have what we had in League One.
“It’s something that I’m really conscious of, having that togetherness. It’s always hard when they’re not playing but it’s really important.”
That explains why everyone bar Ethan Laird, who was left at home for treatment to an injury, initially travelled to Portugal.
Even Marc Leonard, sporting a protective boot after rupturing his Achilles while on loan at Hearts, was present for team bonding purposes.
Ending our conversation, Davies stressed: “Togetherness is everything. I was saying to someone at the club that we’ve got a lot of words around the training ground, so many words, and I’ve stripped it all back.
“One thing I’ve always kept up is the thing I’ve had in their dressing room since the day I came which is, ‘We are the hardest working team in the world’, because I’ve always wanted them to think that is the ultimate thing.
“If there’s one word that is the most necessary in a Championship season it’s togetherness. The teams that are most successful are that.
“Tonight I will be doing a meeting with the players about what we actually value, us, not anyone else on the outside, not your agents, what we as a team value. What do we think a successful team does?
“It’s not to come up with gimmicks, it’s to come up with meaningful things that can anchor them in a long season.
“It took me six months to get to know half the squad last summer, I know them all now apart from Dael (Fry). They know me and I know them.”
Less of the brash, unashamedly ambitious, Premier League dreaming talk that created expectations Chris Davies says were ‘really unrealistic’. Instead, Blues are going about their business more quietly at the second attempt.
The pressure wasn’t a privilege for Blues, it was draining for all concerned in a season where the Championship humbled a group of players who had talked about back-to-back promotions.
None more so than their manager. Davies led Blues to a 10th-placed finish and the club’s best points tally since 2011/12, but faced questions over his future more than once.
Sitting pitchside in Lagos, Portugal, having just put his players through their final training session of the week, Davies appears refreshed and recharged, ready to give it another crack on his own terms.
“I have learnt so much since I’ve been a manager,” he said. “It’s funny because I knew what it is having been so close to it for so long. If I go back to my very first day I could explain exactly what I’ve seen so there’s nothing that’s surprised me, but dealing with the emotions and pressure and everything – you are only able to learn about that when you go through it.
“I’ve learnt that the Championship is going to be like that whether you like it or not. Even Coventry had a spell. It can quickly feel like it’s unravelling.
“I was really pleased with how I managed to guide everyone through it last year. I felt there were challenging periods personally, I know the players did, the team did, and we had the Tom Wagner situation so there was a lot going on.
“I had a feeling at the time that I was pleased with the way I was handling it and I look back and I’m pleased that through those challenging periods I handled it in a way that I’m happy with.
“I didn’t get everything right, God no, but I’ll be better for that experience this year. I feel like I’ve been a manager for 20 years already. It’s knowing how to use my energy because I’m that kind of person that never switches off – knowing how to use my energy as I gain more experience, especially here where people know me now.
“I don’t need to obsessively impose because they are almost like a machine now. I’ve built something and now I’ve built something I need to maintain it, whereas when I first walked in I was doing everything.
“I was just trying to build something and make my name, now it’s about me trying to maintain this and make it stronger.
“It’s going to be incremental, that’s what I have to understand. We’re not going to suddenly walk out next season and look like a Premier League team because we’re not going to spend that sort of money.
“We aren’t able to do that despite this idea that Birmingham are super rich – that’s not true and the evidence will say that.”
The fact that Blues are having to cut their cloth financially was clearly a message Davies wanted to transmit in this interview.
They spent more than £25million in League One and forked out on wages for some big-name signings last year. In January Blues committed to another £15m for Carlos Vicente, August Priske and Kai Wagner and Jhon Solis has just joined for £6m.
Even with growing revenue figures that chief executive Jeremy Dale was happy to boast about at the club’s awards dinner in May, they can’t just keep throwing millions at it.
Davies is having to prioritise for the first time and Ibrahim Osman – who Brighton are demanding a pretty penny for – is understood to be top of his wish-list.
Osman’s speed and direct wing play was integral to the shift in style we witnessed over the final month of last season and Davies is convinced a continuation of that is Blues’ best route forward.
“We definitely need to have more physical prowess and I’ve been quite clear on that,” he said. “Stylistically, what changed was our first third really. That build-up. Our pressing was the same, the last two thirds was always about trying to get crosses in and get the ball forward, but then that first third, particularly in League One and at the start of the Championship season was to turn back to the goalkeeper and control the ball.
“The last six or seven games was let’s not do that, let’s get the ball forward earlier, quicker to try and gain territory.
“What I would like to get to is ultimately a bit of a hybrid of those two where we’re able in certain games to control the ball a little bit more, but we have to score more goals.
“Defensively we were as good as anyone in terms of the numbers that we posted. The way we played we gave very little away and always looked solid, but we need to score 70 goals – we scored 57.
“How do we get 13 more goals? That’s why we’re looking at set pieces. Can we gain six, seven, eight goals from that? Another six, seven, eight goals from open play and all of a sudden you’ve got your 70 goals and that makes you really competitive scorers.
“That all ties into the style, I just felt that apart from that flurry of four-goal wins we had around November time that we just didn’t look threatening enough, particularly away from home.
“I wanted to bring the power and the speed in to have more transitions and counters and more directness and territory. To be more effective, basically.
“I think it’s a lot easier to shift towards that way from the base we’ve had for two years of knowing how to keep the ball. If I had just walked in the door I would be quite reluctant (to do it). I’m confident we’ve got good principles in place now.”
Two years ago, when Davies presided over his first pre-season camp in Austria, ‘press to score’ was the key message drilled into players on the training pitches. That hasn’t changed, but Blues’ new style has led to new buzzwords.
“Press to score is huge. I don’t want to lose that, there’s no need to lose that. ‘Switch to cross’ is another and we’ve worked on that since I’ve been here.
“‘Play forward run forward’ was the mantra for the last seven games. That is where we’re going with it this season.
There was little delegation two years ago, as Davies alluded to earlier. His was the dominant voice.
That is still the case, but the appointment of Scott Fry as set-piece coach is further evidence of Davies learning and adapting.
Blues were average on dead-ball situations last season, and they have hired Fry, who built English football’s most effective set-piece team at Lincoln City, to change that.
Fry’s voice could be heard loud and clear in Portugal as he coached set pieces the day before Blues’ 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town.
It won’t just be the day before a game that Fry takes the lead, Davies insists, with Blues committed to set pieces.
“Scott did a set-piece introduction meeting at the hotel, and he will do it throughout the week,” explained Davies. “The old classic one is matchday minus one, 20 minutes lads, everyone doesn’t want to be there.
“You don’t go to the park when you’re young to do wide free-kicks. That is not what we fall in love with.
“But when you understand what the game is, set pieces are very important.
“With Scott, he does unopposed work and opposed work and he does it 11 v 11, in isolation with individuals, he does it in small-sided games. It’s something that needs to become part of how we work and needs to be throughout the week.
“What I love about Scott is that he’s got energy and enthusiasm. He has the knowledge, but it’s all well and good having the knowledge, you need to be able to engage people because there are so many coaches with great knowledge, but they can’t hold a pitch of players.
“I think even the best players in the world are still that little boy that loved playing football, so you have to be able to engage them, that’s what Scott does with set pieces, he makes it interesting and engaging.
“He’s got something he wants to build and I need to give him the space to put that in place. It can’t be five minutes, 'Go on Scott make us start scoring from corners'. The challenge is, as I said to him last night, can we go and score six to eight more goals from set pieces, then that pushes us up.”
Equally important will be Davies’ ability to build a team spirit that was tested under the strain of last season, which is why he is focused on recruiting the right personalities.
He is taking it upon himself to do due diligence on prospective signings to ensure the wrong characters don’t find their way into the building.
“I think there was a combination of really unrealistic expectations last year and a huge churn of players, and to build a spirit under that situation was challenging. We just about got there by the end of the season but it was a rocky road.
“I heard that (Thomas) Tuchel with England has 15 what he would call starters and then 10 very good players who are essentially training players, good characters, and that helps the environment so I think it’s important.
“We had too many surplus players last season because of the churn and they then ended up getting disillusioned and it becomes quite difficult in that situation to really have what we had in League One.
“It’s something that I’m really conscious of, having that togetherness. It’s always hard when they’re not playing but it’s really important.”
That explains why everyone bar Ethan Laird, who was left at home for treatment to an injury, initially travelled to Portugal.
Even Marc Leonard, sporting a protective boot after rupturing his Achilles while on loan at Hearts, was present for team bonding purposes.
Ending our conversation, Davies stressed: “Togetherness is everything. I was saying to someone at the club that we’ve got a lot of words around the training ground, so many words, and I’ve stripped it all back.
“One thing I’ve always kept up is the thing I’ve had in their dressing room since the day I came which is, ‘We are the hardest working team in the world’, because I’ve always wanted them to think that is the ultimate thing.
“If there’s one word that is the most necessary in a Championship season it’s togetherness. The teams that are most successful are that.
“Tonight I will be doing a meeting with the players about what we actually value, us, not anyone else on the outside, not your agents, what we as a team value. What do we think a successful team does?
“It’s not to come up with gimmicks, it’s to come up with meaningful things that can anchor them in a long season.
“It took me six months to get to know half the squad last summer, I know them all now apart from Dael (Fry). They know me and I know them.”
Rags
-6
Replying to Birmingham Mail
10:14, Sun 12 Jul
So he's listened ... thank feck for that.
I said all along "i don't want Davies to go, i want him to change" ... and Davies says ...
"“I don’t need to obsessively impose because they are almost like a machine now. I’ve built something and now I’ve built something I need to maintain it, whereas when I first walked in I was doing everything.
“I was just trying to build something and make my name, now it’s about me trying to maintain this and make it stronger."
Yes Chris ... it's not ALL about you
I said all along "i don't want Davies to go, i want him to change" ... and Davies says ...
"“I don’t need to obsessively impose because they are almost like a machine now. I’ve built something and now I’ve built something I need to maintain it, whereas when I first walked in I was doing everything.
“I was just trying to build something and make my name, now it’s about me trying to maintain this and make it stronger."
Yes Chris ... it's not ALL about you
I hope he gets that mixed style right - I thought we went too long too often in those last few games, you have to mix it up more.
Having two ways to win games is better than one.
Needs to finish in the play offs though.
Having two ways to win games is better than one.
Needs to finish in the play offs though.
Fingers crossed it’s lessons learned, rifts healed and push on together. We live in hope. As it stands it’s good to read/hear but proof will be once that ball is kicked. Encouraging nonetheless
PJ1966
0
Replying to George Smith
17:23, Sun 12 Jul
Thanks George , KRO
Le Mod
2
Replying to George Smith
20:00, Sun 12 Jul
Excellent interview that, he’s more self aware and reflective than most managers we’ve had.
Replying to George Smith
20:23, Sun 12 Jul
I'm cautiously optimistic having read that
Being the manager/number 1 is a different thing but Davies has worked as first team coach with world class players and was first team coach when Spurs got 4th followed by 2 years of shit when he left so he has something, and we shouldn't be too quick to ditch. He could be good.
Being the manager/number 1 is a different thing but Davies has worked as first team coach with world class players and was first team coach when Spurs got 4th followed by 2 years of shit when he left so he has something, and we shouldn't be too quick to ditch. He could be good.
Ahh .. the Steve Cotterill argument
... constantly disproven
Ha! The Albion fella maybe, although he was unlucky I think, and also behind Davies at Spurs. Pep at Blues definitely a better coach than manager, but I think Davies could be learning to be a manager, he definitely has the coaching ability at least.
Replying to George Smith
22:47, Sun 12 Jul
Great interview that, I really hope it works out for Chris and the fans don’t instantly get on his back when things don’t go perfectly.