Birmingham City could be buoyed by ‘two strange seasons’ to make Knighthead’s wish come true

Every club of a certain size unlucky enough to drop down to League One now wants to do an Ipswich. Birmingham City have taken a step in that direction by handing Chris Davies his first managerial role after a stellar coaching career at the highest level.

Ipswich have been richly rewarded since appointing Kieran McKenna in December 2021. In each of McKenna’s full seasons in charge, Ipswich have exceeded 90 points and secured automatic promotion.

The Tractor Boys became the first team to win back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League since Southampton achieved it in 2012. Blues owners Knighthead are hoping Davies can become their McKenna – a managerial newcomer whose coaching talent has allowed him to outperform his more experienced colleagues.

The Blues are looking to bounce back to the Championship in a season, however, and Davies only has pre-season to prepare. Ipswich needed four years and McKenna had the second half of the 2021/22 campaign to lay the foundations.

READ: Birmingham City players told what to expect from Chris Davies’ training sessions

READ: Donley and fellow Spurs wonderkid Chris Davies could sign for Blues

That time proved crucial for McKenna, as Ipswich fan and YouTuber Benjamin Bloom explained on the Keep Right On Podcast: “There was a certain amount of tidying up that needed to be done. Funnily enough, the first thing he did was play three at the back and sort out the defence.”

A solid defence was McKenna’s foundation, but Ipswich married that with an excellent scoring record in the season they won promotion back to the second tier. The numbers are extraordinary: 46 games, 28 wins, 14 draws, four defeats, 101 goals and just 35 conceded. Ipswich had the best defence and the best attack – and still didn’t win the league.

Such was the pace that eventual 2023 League One winners Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday had set that Ipswich needed an impressive run of results to leapfrog the Owls into second place. Ipswich won 13 of their last 15 matches, drawing the other two, to finish on 98 points.

It was after a drab draw at Bristol Rovers’ Memorial Stadium in mid-February that McKenna realised what was needed to get out of League One. Bloom said: “It’s a bit of a Valentine’s Day of that season, Ipswich go to Bristol Rovers and draw 0-0, Sam Morsy is having a bit of a tough time with the away fans who aren’t being very polite towards the end of the game, and we’re looking at that thinking we’ve got to be careful not to drop out of the play-offs here.

“We had a bit of a dodgy run. I say dodgy run but it was an absurd standard that Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth were setting. What you might find interesting is that he really had to embrace League One a bit more and understand that you have to run, you have to fight and you have to be able to play direct at times.

“I think he realised that halfway through the season. He realised the hybrid style you have to play in League One. As much as Birmingham try to be easy on the eyes, you have to defend long balls, you have to see out the first 15 minutes of a game, sometimes poor shots.”

Even if the Blues can tick the first box of ‘doing an Ipswich’ and win promotion at the first attempt, achieving that in their first season back in the Championship would be a long shot. Knighthead, however, wants the Blues to be in a position to compete immediately when they return.

Bloom concluded: “What I just want to say to Birmingham fans is that yes, the parallels are huge – American investment, big club in League One. Arguably, Ipswich weren’t the biggest club in League One because Sheffield Wednesday were there. I think Birmingham will be the biggest club in League One. What I’m trying to say is don’t be crazy enough to think that because there are so many parallels that the same thing is going to happen.

“It’s very sensible to say, right, what’s working, what’s the trend, how can Birmingham better follow the lessons that Ipswich have learned? It’s sensible to look at what’s happened and what’s worked, but it’s not sensible to look at a complete outlier of two strange seasons of incredible management work. Kieran McKenna is probably the best performance manager in English football over the last two seasons.”

Check out our full podcast with Benjamin Bloom HERE