After being beaten to a 1-1 draw at home by Derby County, Chris Davies must find a way to win when Birmingham City hosts Southampton on Monday night if he is to preserve his job.
Birmingham City dominated League One last season, scoring an EFL record 111 points in the third tier on their way to the title.
The Blues’ title charge was never in doubt, thanks to the additions of Jay Stansfield, Christoph Klarer, and Tomoki Iwata, to name a few.
Prior to this season, it was believed that the club will compete in the upper echelons for much of the season, with some even forecasting them to be among the automatic promotion positions.
However, things have not gone as planned, and after halfway through the EFL Championship season, the Blues are in 15th place, having won just one of their past six games.
Head coach Chris Davies is under intense pressure as a result of the club’s recent poor play, and their home game against Southampton currently appears to be a watershed moment in his employment.
Chris Davies must lead Birmingham City to a victory at Southampton to relieve mounting pressure.
According to Football Insider, Davies needed to lead the Blues to victories over Derby and Southampton in the club’s two successive home games.
Indeed, despite the away side being reduced to ten men in the first half, Davies has already failed to meet that goal, and if he does not win against Southampton on Monday, his fate might be sealed.
The former Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur coach performed a great job guiding the team back to the second tier in emphatic style the first time around, but despite being only six points off of the play-off places, his job appears to be hanging by a thread.
With the January transfer window approaching, Birmingham’s owners are reportedly putting together a shortlist of head coaches to replace Davies if they decide to fire him.
A significant investment has been placed into the Blues squad under Davies’ leadership, but he has failed to get the best out of his team, which might cost him his job if Birmingham fails to win three points against Southampton on Monday evening.
Former Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick has emerged as a candidate if Davies is fired, with the former England and Manchester United midfielder out of job since his dismissal from Boro at the end of the previous season.
Birmingham City are in risk of sliding from their top-six ambitions.
With the Championship as competitive as ever, practically every team, except the current bottom four of Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich City, Portsmouth, and Oxford United, may make a case for finishing in the top six this season.
Even Norwich has had a recovery in form under Philippe Clement, and they are gradually fighting their way out of relegation danger.
Ten points separate 20th and 6th place; if a team can pull together a good run of results, they could quickly advance in the division, given its volatility.
Birmingham is no exception; if they overcome Southampton, they might move within three points of the play-off places once more, if other results go their way.
However, Birmingham has lofty goals, and if the owners and fans decide Davies is not the right person to lead them there, they will not hesitate to fire him.
The Southampton game appears to be a do-or-die situation for Davies, who knows he needs three points or he would be out of employment for the start of the new year.
Carrick earned a reputation as one of the top up-and-coming head coaches in the country during his time at Boro, and if Davies is fired, he might return to the club for whom he played twice on loan in 2000.
The former midfielder may feel he has much to show in the Championship, and he and Birmingham may be a perfect fit.
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