Birmingham City’s hopes of securing an immediate return to the Championship could be heavily influenced by the outcome of two tough away games this month.
The Blues are scheduled to visit League One promotion rivals Wrexham and Huddersfield Town in a six-day period towards the end of January.
If City emerge unscathed from those two fixtures, their position as the favourites for promotion with Betway would be significantly strengthened.
Birmingham will be backed by 1,284 fans at Wrexham after selling out their allocation for the game, and will have almost double that number behind them at Huddersfield.
Manager Chris Davies will be grateful of the support as his team strive to complete doubles over two teams who could accompany join them in the second-tier next term.
Davies has done a stellar job since joining the Midlands club from Tottenham Hotspur on a four-year contract in June 2024.
While the club invested heavily in the summer transfer window, there was no guarantee that Davies would be able to mould the squad into a successful unit.
However, he has used the experience he gained as part of Brendan Rodgers’ staff at several clubs to establish a managerial style which relies heavily on analysing opponents.
“I studied coaches, teams constantly and learned so much working with a good manager like Brendan,” Davies told Birmingham Live.
“It’s a great role. I saw then how valuable it was. Know thy enemy. If you know what the opposition are going to do and you know what they’re thinking because you’ve analysed them so much, you’re in a really strong position. It’s strategy, basically.”
Davies’ attention to detail borders on obsessive, with the manager admitting that he watches each opponent at least ten times before his team plays them.
He formulates a game plan based on what he sees, which is designed to exploit weaknesses and give City’s players the edge each time they cross the white line.
Birmingham have big screens in their meeting rooms at St Andrew’s and their training facility, which Davies uses to get his message across to the players.
He says the buy-in from the squad has been crucial in firing Birmingham into contention for promotion, particularly with regards to understanding tactics.
“The players have got better from when I started at taking information on board, a lot better,” Davies added. “They can sit through a meeting now and they can listen.
“A lot of them have been educated at academies now and it’s completely different to how it was before. They have meetings and understand the game tactically a lot more.”
“Players now want the information, whereas back in the day it was ‘don’t give them too much’. You can’t give them too much but I’ve found that they want guidance.”
Although the manager’s methods have worked the oracle up to this point, City cannot afford to take anything for granted during the second half of the season.
Wrexham and Huddersfield are firmly in the mix, while Wycombe Wanders are showing no signs of fading away after forcing their way into contention.
Wycombe are scheduled to visit St Andrews at the start of March for a fixture which could become a title decider if City get the job done against their other promotion rivals this month.
Davies says he will be leaving no stone unturned in his quest to guide Birmingham back into the Champiionship at the first time of asking.
“I only feel fully confident going into a game if I’ve done a thorough analysis,” Davies said. “I’ve spoken to some coaches who prefer to go into the game a bit blind or get a feel for it as the game’s going on, but if I go in like that I’m not prepared, I need to know everything about the opposition.
