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Birmingham City enter a pivotal season back in the Championship, carrying the weight of high expectations following significant investment in the squad.
We spoke with Charlie Haffenden from the BirminghamWorld, who provided insight into the club’s summer strategy—where Birmingham are targeting further additions, the tactical shifts underway, and how Eustace is navigating the club’s ambitious plans ahead of a season that could define their trajectory.

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Transcript
00:00Birmingham City enter a pivotal season back in the Championship carrying the weight of
00:07high expectations following significant investments within the squad. Manager Chris Davis embarks
00:14on his first full campaign in the second tier with a clear mission of building a competitive
00:19side challenging for promotion and ending years of inconsistency. Davis has overseen
00:25huge changes at the club blending talent with experienced recruits to create a balanced
00:30squad. The tactical approach is evolving too with an emphasis on quicker transitions and greater
00:36possession control aiming to dictate matches rather than respond to opponents. The challenge
00:43for Blues lies in integrating new signings while maintaining squad harmony and meeting the high
00:49standards set by both fans and the ownership. We caught up with Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham
00:55World who provided insight into the club's summer strategy where Birmingham are targeting
01:01further additions, the tactical shifts underway and how Davis is navigating the club's ambitious
01:07plans ahead of a season that could define their trajectory.
01:13Charlie on Birmingham City let's just touch on Chris Davis now obviously you know across the
01:18campaign we've mentioned their incredible job Blues and the investment etc but they still had to go
01:23and complete the job. Chris Davis has come in his first managerial job you know and then he wins
01:30League One Manager of the Year deservedly so. New League One points record as well beating their
01:35neighbours Wolves to that record. Obviously he didn't go to plan in the Virtue Trophy final but
01:40just as a whole a League One season you know we mentioned before that you know very very start of the
01:45season that it could this is exactly how they wanted it to go and it has panned out to pretty much
01:50perfection. How impressed with Chris Davis have you been and him galvanising this group and believing
01:56in a project for the future?
01:58I've been very impressed. I think it's difficult to come in as your first manager's job with so much
02:03pressure on your shoulders and the football club didn't help with the levels of pressure with the
02:07amount of money they spent so that helped Davies in the long run with having a better squad to deal
02:12with and having a likelier be likely to get promoted and to win the League One title but it did bring
02:19that added pressure on and weight on his shoulders. I think he's dealt with that really well he's kept
02:23level-headed throughout he's focused on the basics first first and foremost making his team the fittest
02:29in League One was one of his big demands at the start of the season he wanted to make sure he had two
02:35players in his position capable of stepping up if there were injuries taking hold at any point which
02:41at that point they did the likes of Tomoki Iwata, Pei Singh Ho, unavailable Lieber Cannon as well having
02:47some serious injuries at left back even Jay Stansfield out for a little patch, Lyndon Dykes, Alfie May etc
02:52some key players getting injured and that was anticipated by Chris Davies in the transfer window
02:57and also just the way he's kept them motivated when they look destined to win the title look destined for
03:03promotion he made sure that every single week every single day in training that they were staying
03:08dedicated to the course they weren't letting anything slip that's just that is very impressive
03:13I think motivation wise just to keep that level going so so consistently throughout such a long
03:19season then to go and break the League One points record I mean is there are there many better
03:23achievements in the EFL from a manager's first ever season as a manager I'm not too sure really truly
03:30remarkable what he's done in the football club and it's exciting to see what he can do in the
03:33championship. Yeah just on the championship obviously you know a lot of clubs even just to
03:38tread water have to spend millions every campaign and you know there's no secret that investment does
03:44get you far in today's game but in terms of their summer how do they approach the championship how do
03:50you see them going about their spending because you know with them and Wrexham as well obviously joining
03:57them with promotion you know these owner situations it could affect them in terms of they've got to be a bit
04:02more careful in the championship next season and to ensure that they are you know keep them within
04:09compliance and you know really going for what could be a fantastic season for them.
04:14Absolutely I think the investment will continue in the summer potentially a new striker I know that
04:19Alfie May played fantastically in League One at times maybe a little bit inconsistent this season
04:24but probably not strong enough to be in the championship week in week out behind the teams that have
04:30been recently relegated from the Premier League anyway Blues will be able to match those in the
04:35playoff fight so I think they can go on and spend not as much as they want but a decent chunk again
04:40and make sure that they are ready to get promoted in the next couple of years.

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