{"id":882423,"date":"2026-04-09T12:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/882423\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T12:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:49:14","slug":"birmingham-learn-lee-carsley-stance-on-being-named-manager-as-chris-davies-and-craig-gardner-fight-for-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/882423\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham Learn Lee Carsley Stance on being Named Manager as Chris Davies and Craig Gardner Fight for Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-Insets-Alternative-2-1-1140x641.jpg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"England U21s manager Lee Carlsey with Birmingham manager Chris Davies inset\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 20%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: Imago<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wayne-Veysey-headshot-150x150.jpg\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" alt=\"Wayne Veysey\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p> Thu 9 April 2026 12:54, UK <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/efl-championship\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Championship<\/a> side Birmingham City have identified Lee Carsley as a top contender to replace the under-fire Chris Davies,<strong> sources have told Football Insider. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The England Under-21s manager is a close ally of director of football Craig Gardner, who also finds himself under significant pressure. <\/p>\n<p>Carlsey previously rebuffed interest from Birmingham, but he is now believed to have warmed to the possibility of managing the club he was previously an assistant with.<\/p>\n<p>Blues had high hopes for this season, after a record-breaking campaign in League One last season that had seen the EFL points record smashed.<\/p>\n<p>But Birmingham have struggled to adapt to the Championship, sitting 16th and 13 points away from the play-off spots.<\/p>\n<p>MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n<p>  Chris Davies fights Birmingham pressure<\/p>\n<p><strong>Football Insider<\/strong> exclusively revealed in December that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/exclusive-michael-carrick-in-contention-to-be-next-birmingham-city-manager\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Carrick was considered by Birmingham<\/a>, as they assessed the future of Davies.<\/p>\n<p>Decision-makers ultimately decided to back the Welshman, and Carrick returned to Manchester United, where he looks likely to be named permanent manager.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>Chris Davies<\/td>\n<td>Birmingham City<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wins<\/td>\n<td>60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Draws<\/td>\n<td>20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Losses<\/td>\n<td>25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Scored<\/td>\n<td>171<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Conceded<\/td>\n<td>110<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Davies had inspired huge confidence at St Andrew\u2019s last season, with his side scoring at will and seemingly unable to stop winning. <\/p>\n<p>But this season has been a reality check. Despite a number of new arrivals, Birmingham have struggled to find any consistency and have lost six of their last eight games in the Championship.<\/p>\n<p>A disappointing season has been made even more frustrating due to the success of Wrexham, who finished 19 points behind Blues last season. <\/p>\n<p>The Welsh side look as if they may narrowly miss out on the play-off spots, but they have remained in contention throughout the season and are 11 points ahead of Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>The two sides will clash at St Andrew\u2019s on Sunday, with defeat likely spelling the end for Davies.<\/p>\n<p>Carsley set for club management return<\/p>\n<p>Carsley has been linked with several clubs since his brief stint in charge of England in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>The 52-year-old took over following the departure of Gareth Southgate, and won five of his six games in charge on an interim basis before Thomas Tuchel was appointed. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Coaching future stars \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f<br \/>Best Blues memories \ud83d\udc99<br \/>Jude &amp; Jobe \ud83d\udcab<\/p>\n<p>Tap to watch My England &amp; Birmingham Journey: Lee Carsley<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BCFC\/status\/1994462039516094686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>View Tweet<\/p>\n<p>The former Ireland international held positions at Coventry City, Brentford, Manchester City and Birmingham before he delved into international management, but he is yet to take on a permanent job.<\/p>\n<p>Carsley is a well-regarded tactician and has enjoyed significant success in charge of England\u2019s U21s, winning the European Championships consecutively.<\/p>\n<p> \ud83c\udfc6 Championship Insider Access <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 20px 0; color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; opacity: 0.9;\">Get the full story from across the EFL with our dedicated expert hubs:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0; font-style: italic; font-size: 12px; color: #caac5c;\">Updated 24\/7 with expert analysis from across the EFL Championship.<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Imago Thu 9 April 2026 12:54, UK Championship side Birmingham City have identified Lee Carsley as a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,12905,748,9030,29405,393,4884,23597,16,15],"class_list":["post-882423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birmingham","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-city","tag-britain","tag-championship","tag-chris-davies","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-lee-carsley","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116374835728371372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882423","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=882423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}