Birmingham City Line Up Two Ex-Premier League Bosses as Chris Davies Pressure Mounts

According to TEAMTalk, intermediaries have offered Birmingham the chance to consider Scott Parker and Sean Dyche as possible replacements for Davies.

The developments come with Birmingham struggling to find consistency at the beginning of their latest Championship campaign.

The Blues suffered their first league defeat of the season against Norwich City in midweek and are now winless in three matches, having recorded just one victory from their opening six league games.

Davies remains publicly backed by Birmingham's hierarchy, but pressure is beginning to build around the manager once again.

Two promotion-winning managers emerge

Parker is one of the names being touted to Birmingham after his departure from Burnley following their relegation from the Premier League.

The former England international has previous experience of Championship promotion, having guided Fulham into the Premier League in 2020.

Dyche is also reportedly being offered to the Blues.

The 54-year-old has been without a club since leaving Nottingham Forest in February and has considerable Championship experience from his time at Burnley.

Dyche guided the Clarets to promotion to the Premier League in 2016 and subsequently established them as a regular top-flight side.

Neither manager has been confirmed as a formal Birmingham candidate, but their availability adds an interesting dimension to the growing scrutiny surrounding Davies.

Why the pressure is mounting on Davies

Birmingham's expectations have changed significantly since their promotion back to the Championship.

The Blues finished 10th in their first season back in the second tier, but the ambition from the club's ownership is now firmly centred on challenging for promotion.

After six league matches this season, Birmingham have collected seven points from a possible 18.

Their record currently stands at one win, four draws and one defeat, leaving them 15th in the Championship table.

The 6-1 Carabao Cup humiliation against Brentford has also done little to ease concerns around the club.

For Davies, the problem is therefore not simply the Norwich defeat. It is the feeling that Birmingham have yet to turn their considerable resources and expectations into consistent results.

Derby and Middlesbrough could be huge

The timing of the reported managerial developments is particularly significant.

Birmingham travel to Derby County on Saturday before hosting Middlesbrough a week later.

Those two matches represent an early opportunity for Davies to change the mood around the club.

A strong run could quickly settle the questions surrounding his position.

Further dropped points, however, would inevitably increase the attention on the manager, particularly given Birmingham's stated ambition of competing for promotion.

The expanded play-off places this season provide another incentive for the Blues to get themselves into contention rather than allowing the leading sides to establish too much distance.

Birmingham's recruitment has not made Davies' job easier

There is another factor behind the scrutiny of Davies: Birmingham's recruitment has attracted considerable attention during the club's rise back up the EFL pyramid.

The first summer of the current ownership's League One project was hugely successful.

Jay Stansfield, Alex Cochrane and Christoph Klarer all arrived with experience of playing at a higher level and became important parts of Birmingham's promotion-winning side.

Stansfield in particular has become a major figure for the club, producing 48 goals and 12 assists in 146 appearances according to the figures provided.

But subsequent recruitment has been more mixed.

The big-money deals have increased the expectations

The summer of 2025 brought several successful additions, including Phil Neumann, Patrick Roberts, Demarai Gray and Tommy Doyle.

However, those successes were accompanied by expensive moves for Marvin Ducksch and Kyogo Furuhashi that failed to deliver the impact Birmingham had hoped for.

That has created a difficult backdrop for Davies.

When a club invests heavily in its squad, the manager inevitably faces greater pressure to turn that talent into results.

The early signs from this summer's recruitment have also been less convincing, with fewer players arriving and relatively few making an immediate impact.

That does not necessarily mean the new arrivals will ultimately prove unsuccessful, but it leaves Davies with little room for a prolonged period of adaptation.

Davies still has a chance to change the narrative

Despite the growing speculation, Birmingham have not publicly withdrawn their support for Davies.

That distinction is important.

The reports surrounding Parker and Dyche currently point to potential alternatives being presented to the club rather than Birmingham having decided to sack their manager or formally approached a replacement.

For Davies, that means the next two matches could be an opportunity rather than simply a threat.

A victory at Derby would immediately change the conversation, particularly after the Norwich setback.

Then comes a home meeting with Middlesbrough, another side expected to have promotion ambitions.

Two positive results could put the recent criticism firmly behind him.

Two poor results would make the reported interest in experienced promotion-winning managers considerably more significant.

What happens next?

For now, Chris Davies remains Birmingham City's manager and the club's hierarchy continues to back him publicly.

But the reported availability of Parker and Dyche shows that the wider managerial market is already being discussed around St Andrew's.

The Derby trip is therefore about more than simply recovering from defeat to Norwich.

It could be the first major opportunity of the season for Davies to prove that Birmingham's promotion ambitions can still be delivered under his management.