Birmingham City may have struck gold by luring figure away from Spurs | OneFootball

Chris Davies has made an impressive start to life in his first managerial role at Birmingham City.

It has been an excellent start to the season for Birmingham City in League One.

Blues are playing in the third tier of English football for the first time in almost 30 years after their relegation from the Championship last season, but they look to be in a strong position to bounce back at the first attempt.

The ambitious Midlands outfit reportedly spent a total of around £24 million during the course of the summer transfer window, including £15 million on Fulham striker Jay Stansfield, and after such heavy investment, many have tipped them to comfortably win the title this season.

It has been a frustrating few weeks for Birmingham, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Northampton Town at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park last Saturday, with Mitch Pinnock's stoppage time equaliser rescuing a point for the Cobblers after Jay Stansfield had given the hosts the lead earlier in the second half.

The Blues have lost their place at the top of the League One table to Wycombe Wanderers, but they are only two points behind the Chairboys with a game in hand, and they will be looking to return to winning ways when they make the trip to bottom side Shrewsbury Town next weekend.

It has been a turbulent year on and off the pitch for Birmingham since Tom Wagner's takeover last summer, and managerial instability was a big factor in their relegation last season, with six different managers, including caretakers, taking charge of the team in total during the campaign.

The Blues were forced into another change in the dugout this summer as Tony Mowbray stepped down due to health reasons, but the club's decision to appoint former Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Chris Davies has proven to be a masterstroke so far.

Chris Davies appointment was a gamble for Birmingham City

Davies has made an excellent start to life at Birmingham in what is his first managerial role, but it could all have turned out so differently.

The Blues reportedly considered over 1,000 coaches and held talks with 40 candidates during their manager search before appointing Davies, with experienced names such as Alex Neil and Paul Heckingbottom believed to have been in contention.

After being forced to retire from playing at a young age due to injury, Davies moved into coaching, and he had spells at Swansea City, Liverpool, Reading, Celtic and Leicester City, working with Brendan Rodgers for much of that time, before making the move to Tottenham Hotspur last summer.

Davies was named as an assistant coach to Ange Postecoglou at Spurs, and as his reputation continued to grow, he attracted Championship interest during his time in North London, with Swansea said to have been interested in the 39-year-old in December following the sacking of Michael Duff.

While Davies turned down the opportunity to take charge of the Swans, he decided to take his first steps into management with Birmingham, and given his strong coaching credentials, he certainly looked to be an exciting choice for the Midlands outfit.

However, the appointment of Davies also came with big risks for the Blues, and with the club making no secret of the fact that promotion was their target, opting for someone with no previous managerial experience could have backfired spectacularly.

It is fair to say that Birmingham owner Wagner and CEO Garry Cook have received plenty of criticism over the past year, and their decision to replace John Eustace with Wayne Rooney last October when the club were sitting in the Championship play-off places was particularly baffling.

Wagner and Cook were largely to blame for the Blues' relegation, but the pair deserve significant praise for the appointment of Davies, and their bravery in taking a gamble on an inexperienced coach is being rewarded.

Davies inherited a team with a losing mentality, and while there was a huge influx of new signings over the summer, the culture change he has implemented at the club in a short space of time has been impressive.

Of course, Birmingham do have a squad that is significantly more expensive and has much more quality than their League One rivals, but the third tier can be incredibly tough, as the likes of Sunderland and Ipswich Town have found over the years, and Davies should be given credit for the way his side have seamlessly adapted to the division.

17 players arrived at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in the summer, and many of the new additions came from clubs at a higher level, so it could have been difficult for Davies to keep his large and high-profile squad happy, but there have been no such issues so far.

After winning seven and drawing one of their first eight league games, it has been a slightly trickier period for the Blues of late, with a defeat to Charlton Athletic and draws against Mansfield Town and Northampton over the past month.

There is no reason for Birmingham to panic at this stage, and they are still in an excellent position, but Davies is now facing the biggest test of his time at the club so far as he looks to keep his side's promotion push on track.

Wagner claimed in September that his ambitions for the Blues will "blow people’s minds", and with the board likely to be targeting a return to the Premier League in the not-too-distant future, there will be constant pressure on Davies to deliver over the coming years, even if he achieves promotion this season.

Whether Davies can be the man to lead Birmingham back to the promised land remains to be seen, but on the early evidence, he certainly looks like a manager that could grow with the club, and it seems as though Wagner and Cook have unearthed a managerial gem.