Knighthead slammed for big Birmingham City decision - 'Chris Davies is the issue' | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham fan pundit feels that Craig Gardner's departure was a safe option, following a disappointing campaign

Birmingham City are undergoing a personnel shuffle behind the scenes at St Andrew's this summer, as the Blues look to kick on from what they believe to be a disappointing campaign.

Despite a top-10 finish as a newly promoted side in the Championship last term, Birmingham had expectations in-house of perhaps following in Ipswich Town's footsteps and following up their record-breaking League One campaign with another promotion into the Premier League.

Ambitious owner Tom Wagner outlined last June that the top flight in the 2026/27 season was "certainly the goal," but after falling short at the first attempt, there'll be a little more of a requirement to get there this time next year.

This summer, the Blues will be searching for a new director of football, as the club announced that Craig Gardner has left his position. This brings an end to five years in the background for the former midfielder, following a four-year stint as the club's technical director.

Birmingham City fan pundit disagrees with Craig Gardner decision — feels that Chris Davies "is more the issue"

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There's been plenty of debate among fans as to who is truly to blame for an underachieving season, whether it's down to manager Chris Davies' tactics or if the problem lies higher up the pecking order.

With Gardner's role as the director of football seeing him responsible for the set-up at the club across the first-team and academy sides, it's been decided that he'll be the one to be replaced by the Knighthead ownership, rather than the man in the dugout.

FLW's Birmingham fan pundit, Jason Moore, disagrees and believes that Gardner has been left to be the fall guy for the previous campaign's perceived disappointment.

"Someone was going to have to take the brunt for the, quote, unquote, 'poor season,'" he said. "For me, I guess you just have to thank him for his service.

"He's done a lot here, to be fair. He's worked under some really bad ownerships, and he steadied the ship for Knighthead. He moves on with a lot of well wishes.

"For me, it's probably a bit harsh. I think Chris Davies is more the issue. But you go and get someone now who has real quality, someone who is proven in that role, and that's what Knighthead advertises, isn't it? The best of the best."

Ultimately, Moore is confident in the ownership's ability to bring in someone who could be an upgrade on Gardner in the director of football position, but felt that replacing him was the safe choice over sacking Davies.

Birmingham fans are still haunted by the decision by the ownership in the early days of their time at the club to sack John Eustace, with the club in sixth, in favour of Wayne Rooney, who ultimately led them on an almighty slide down the table, which resulted in their relegation.

There's always the possibility that sacking someone like Davies, a young manager with real promise in the dugout, could backfire as it did with Eustace.

"Someone has to take the brunt, and Gardner's probably the safer option after the whole John Eustace fiasco," Moore continued.

"He'll leave with nothing but well wishes, but it's probably the wrong call out of the two, for me."

More eyes will be on Chris Davies to get it right at Birmingham City next season

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The expectation next season for Chris Davies will be to get Birmingham promoted to stay on track with the overarching ambition of the club, which includes the move to the 62,000-capacity 'powerhouse' stadium, ideally by 2030.

The Blues will need to be well established in the Premier League with eyes on potentially breaking into Europe to warrant playing in such a stadium. For that to happen, they need to get out of the Championship soon.

With a new direction above him and the expectation that the new director of football will be a clear upgrade to Gardner, there won't be many other people outside the manager who can have the fingers pointed at them if things don't go to plan.

There's arguably more pressure on the shoulders of the Birmingham boss than any of his second-tier peers ahead of the new season, and all eyes will be on whether the club can improve with better direction at the top, or if their struggles this past year were down to the direction in the dugout.