![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_SOCCER_Birmingham_17315293.jpg\")
Chris Davies during his time at Tottenham(Image: PA)<\/p>\nBirmingham City face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Wednesday evening in a game that will see two former Tottenham colleagues go head to headChris Davies during his time at Tottenham(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
Ryan Mason admits he hopes to get one over his friend Chris Davies when West Brom face Birmingham City <\/a>on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n The local derby between Albion and Blues sees the visitors in far better form, having won five of their last eight, scored four goals at home for three straight matches and in ninth place in the Championship.<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s eight spots \u2013 but only three points \u2013 ahead of the Baggies who gave up a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Coventry City at the weekend and who have won just two of their last eight.<\/a><\/p>\n Another subtext will be the fact the match pits Mason against Davies who were coaching colleagues under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur until the latter left to take over at Blues.<\/p>\n Both are in their first managerial jobs and while Davies is thriving, Mason has had a tough start. The West Brom boss believes Davies is benefitting from being a year-and-a-half into the job.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be disciplined and not act emotionally. It\u2019s important to use the energy and emotion, but we have to stay calm and trust what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he told the club website.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe know in local games like this there will be plenty of intensity and energy. It\u2019s important to manage that, while also using it to our advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not surprised by how well Chris Davies has done at Birmingham<\/a>. I consider him a friend, but definitely not tomorrow.<\/p>\n “I have massive respect for him as a human first of all, and I think the job he has done there speaks for itself. Our teams are competing against each other on Wednesday and we\u2019re both desperate to win.<\/p>\n \u201cBirmingham are a good team and they play with intensity. They\u2019ve had a manager in place for coming up to 18 months, which I think is really helpful for them. We understand it\u2019ll be a difficult game, as they all are in this division.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we\u2019re at home and we\u2019re playing in front of our fans. We have belief in ourselves and we\u2019re looking forward to it. This group, and everyone here, is super determined to give back as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Mason has also reacted to what he perceives as negativity from outside the club: “I’ve got to be honest, it doesn’t bother me what other people think, the most important people are anyone and everyone associated with the Albion,” he said.<\/p>\n “I’ve always said regardless of how many games I’ve managed, I’ll always be learning – in football if you stand still and don’t want to learn, then the game passes you by.<\/p>\n “I’m determined more than ever to change the feeling, which is ultimately to win more games of football.”<\/p>\n What XI should Davies pick to face the Baggies? Have your say here<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. 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Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Wednesday evening in a game that will see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,8372,393,4884,91935,16,15,12462],"class_list":{"0":"post-593497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-chris-davies-football-coach","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-ryan-mason","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-west-bromwich-albion-fc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115612171782128636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}