Birmingham City’s return to the Championship in 2025/26 has been marked by inconsistency and, as a result, frustration, as expectations have been raised at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.

Chris Davies is approaching two years in control of Blues, having been hired manager by Knighthead Capital Management in June 2024. It’s fair to assume that a lot has happened in B9 throughout that time period.

In his first managerial post, the 40-year-old was able to oversee a record-breaking first season at St. Andrew’s, as Birmingham won League One by 19 points while shattering club and divisional expenditure records en route to the EFL’s all-time high total of 111.

With the club scheduled to move into its new 62,000-seater Powerhouse stadium as part of the multibillion Sports Quarter development project in East Birmingham in 2030, owner Tom Wagner has consistently stated his goal of returning Blues to the Premier League for the first time since 2011.

Although a season of Championship consolidation would generally be expected, the Bluenoses have been increasingly upset in recent weeks after watching their prospects of a play-off position dwindle due to poor performances.

As a result, all does not appear to be well on the surface following a fairly excellent start to 2026, which featured a seven-game unbeaten streak and an extremely active winter transfer window in which six new players were signed.

With that in mind, Football League World questioned our Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason Moore, about which players he believes are likely to be ‘unhappy’ with their current circumstances at the club.

Jay Stansfield and James Beadle are mentioned in a ‘unhappy’ Birmingham City player claim.

Moore spoke with FLW about two players in particular at opposite ends of the pitch: Brighton and Hove Albion loanee and goalkeeper James Beadle and club-record signing Jay Stansfield.

Beadle has had a mixed season with the Blues after signing on loan from the Seagulls, having to wait his turn until taking over from Ryan Allsop as Davies’ primary goalkeeper for the most of the season.

Moore feels the 21-year-old, who previously spent 15 months at Sheffield Wednesday, will be unhappy with his third Championship loan stay due to criticism for playing from the back.Moore believes James Beadle will be disappointed with the negative feedback from Blues fans.”I can’t imagine he’s too happy with Chris Davies constantly forcing him to play out of the back when it’s clearly not ‘his game’.”I’d be quite astonished if he’s okay with everything that’s happening. “Jay Stansfield is another player who I believe is unhappy because he receives a lot of criticism,” he continued.He gets it from every fanbase, and now he’s getting it from his own fans because he hasn’t been good enough since we defeated Norwich at home (4-1 on November 22nd). He’s been extremely poor.

“Some of the stick is a little unnecessary. I suppose that’s what you get as the ‘poster boy’ of the ‘project’.I believe neither Beadle nor Stansfield will be pleased with the situation, but that is the nature of professional sport.”

Despite Birmingham City’s present troubles, Jay Stansfield has long been the target of criticism.

As Moore mentioned, Stansfield has frequently faced criticism, owing mostly to the transfer cost paid by the Blues to recruit the striker on a seven-year contract in August 2024.

Much was expected of the England Under-21 international this season after netting 12 Championship goals during his loan spell with Birmingham, who were relegated just months before his permanent arrival, but he has only scored once since the aforementioned rout over Norwich.

However, he and Beadle still have a lot to learn in their careers, and they believe that in the long term, their current problems will help them handle situations with experience.