Chris Davies hits back at 'deluded' Birmingham City, Premier League theory | OneFootball

Davies believes his Blues side are doing just fine ahead of a crunch clash with Wrexham on Friday

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has quietened the noise around Blues by labelling as ‘deluded’ anyone who thought the club was on a fast pass to the Premier League.

Social media was awash with upset City supporters after the final whistle blew on a 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday - a team that is threadbare in squad numbers due to transfer restrictions - in midweek.

Pictures of owner Tom Wagner, sat in the stands with a stony-face, did not go unnoticed either, as Davies’s side rescued a point at the death thanks to Demarai Gray’s acrobatic finish in the 99th minute of the contest.

Chris Davies hits back at Birmingham City pressure following Sheffield Wednesday draw

After eight Championship matches, Birmingham sit in 11th position in the table, having won just one of their last five league matches, and that has seen some start to become unsettled, given the expectations that they were going to mount a promotion push due to the nature of their transfer business.

And with many eyes set to be viewing their trip to Wrexham on Friday evening, a defeat to last season's League One runners-up would be a big blow for their early season ambitions - but head coach Davies himself thinks that his side are doing just fine for now.

Davies said ahead of the trip to North Wales: “The theory that we were entitled to walk into the Championship and stroll it is deluded.

“We are a team that have to compete and earn everything we get at this level.

“We're not a team like in League One where we've gone out and ultimately put a squad together that should win the league.

“The expectation following that, therefore, should be: ‘Yes, you should go and win that league'. And I'd say: ‘I completely agree, we should win that league'.

“But, when you're going into the Championship where teams like Wrexham - like many other teams - have heavily invested, then we have to compete, we have to earn it.

“Any idea that it was going to be a stroll through the Championship, was incorrect,

“You know the last time this team was in this division, it finished 22nd.

“It's been 10 years since the team's been in the top 10, I believe.

“So this is just a reality - we have to understand that it's a hard league, arguably the most unforgiving league of them all in terms of the competitiveness of all the teams.

“So, what we have to do is stay in there, stay in the games, be competitive, we'll win, we'll lose, we'll draw, that's football.

“By the end of the season, I've got no doubt we will be sitting in a position we're very happy with.

“But we're going to have to understand that it is a very challenging league and not just for us, for everyone.”

Chris Davies claims that Birmingham City have already fulfilled his pre-season wishes

High-profile additions such as Demarai Gray, Kyogo Furuhashi, Tommy Doyle and others meant that many pundits and fans were looking at Birmingham as a sure-fire automatic promotion contender.

It's been an indifferent first part of the campaign so far, but they will aim to go into the October international break on the back of a win over Wrexham, who themselves have spent a lot of money over the summer to strengthen.

And Davies admitted that the ‘seas haven’t always been smooth’ but said that his side had fulfilled his pre-season wish - that Birmingham had been competitive.

Davies added: “ We've had a few periods within games that have been below our normal level, but we've been competitive in others and had taken nothing from it.

“So again, we needed what we need to do is make sure that we keep the back door shut. That there are no silly mistakes, there’s nothing that goes in that shouldn't go in

“From there, we use our possession, use our football and take one of our chances and we'll turn what has been signs of good performances away from home into results.

“Overall, I’ve really liked how we have approached it.

“I still think for the way we've played, there's probably two or three more points out there that we should probably have got right now.

“And if we've got those two or three points, then we’d be sitting in a very strong position.”