Birmingham City must assess where they were and where they are to determine whether Chris Davies is the right guy to lead them forward following a peculiar few years since John Eustace’s departure.

Birmingham won League One with the most EFL points ever, 111, in the 2024-25 season, after spending heavily in the summer following their shocking relegation from the Championship.

That summer, City also hired Chris Davies, and while some fans were sceptical about Davies’ ability to lead them forward, the club’s patience with the rookie coach must be maintained once more.

Birmingham are more or less where they were when they decided to part ways with John Eustace in October 2023 – and rather than ripping things up to go in a different direction and risk sliding backwards, sticking by the man they have trusted to pick up the pieces is the right thing to do.

Birmingham has regained their previous position.

After beating midland rivals West Bromwich Albion by three goals to one at St Andrew’s, Birmingham found themselves fifth in the table and in the play-off places heading into the October international break of the 2022-23 season.

Surprisingly, and now even more bizarrely, the club’s hierarchy chose Wayne Rooney to replace John Eustace as manager, with the purpose of not just having a better style of play but also, undoubtedly, having a huge name linked with the club.

Rooney was fired a few days into the New Year following only two victories in his 15 games in charge, leaving City 20th in the standings.

Steve Spooner took command on an interim basis until Tony Mowbray was appointed a week later, however Mowbray was forced to take medical leave in mid-February, and Mark Venus served as interim manager for a month before Gary Rowett was appointed.

Rowett, who had been ousted by a different ownership group at Birmingham a few years earlier while in the play-offs, was unable to save City from being relegated on the final day of the season.

In their efforts to propel Birmingham to new heights, the Knighthead Group and chairman Tom Wagner unintentionally harmed the city with their policies.

Birmingham must stick with Chris Davies.

Birmingham then made another bold but brave decision, which paid off in June 2024 with the hiring of Chris Davies, who was given an incredible budget to work with.

Birmingham made significant investments, including the club-record acquisition of Jay Stansfield, but it is never easy for a young manager to lead such a large club with such high expectations.

Chris Davies’ Birmingham statistics

Games

Won Drawn.

Lost

122

68

29

25

Furthermore, it would have been difficult to establish an identity within a recently relegated giant that had brought in 17 new signings in the summer and three more in the winter transfer window.

Birmingham, on the other hand, dominated the division and scored 111 points on their maiden try to return to the Championship.

Having been by far and away the best team in the League It proved difficult for Davies and Birmingham to adjust to the Championship, where the higher level may invalidate their own strategy while penalising them more than they had in the third tier.

Those teething problems in the second tier resulted in a frustrating campaign in which they managed to scrape into the top half, but which, in retrospect, must now be viewed as a much-needed period of learning and transition – and one in which City have laid a solid foundation for the coming season.

Birmingham could accelerate further following the January transfer window.

In fact, three years and a few days after Eustace’s departure, Birmingham are back in the play-offs after defeating West Brom and Preston North End.

They have only lost one game in nine, and their improvement since the end of the season has allowed them to regain the same levels of control as in their League One title-winning campaign, while also finding more efficiency in the final third, scoring 1.70 goals per game compared to 1.23 last year.

Another factor to consider is that, despite only three transfer windows back at the level and having sorted things out a little more, Birmingham still has owners’ wealth that would be the envy of the great majority of the division – and another push in January might be pivotal.

Having climbed their way back to where they once were, sticking with Davies’ still expanding and developing coaching would be the smarter and more sustainable choice than risking the Snakes and Ladders strategy of a few years ago.