Have Birmingham City emerged favourites to lift League One title?

As Birmingham City have started the season in wonderful fashion, will the League One title be returning to St Andrews @ Knighthead Park in 2025?

Transcript

00:00Obviously an amazing run, an amazing start to the league, something they would have hoped

00:06for this far into the season. But when preparations were going in with the new manager and the

00:11new set-up, how confident are you that they can become league winners? I know it's very

00:17early to say, but you do sometimes get a bit of a feeling at this stage of the season if

00:21there are any standout teams, and Blues are certainly looking like one.

00:25Well, if they carry on this run and seven successive wins, they'll probably have the

00:30league wrapped up by Christmas. It's ridiculous what they're doing at the moment in League

00:33One. Had it not been for that shaky opening day draw against Reading, well, it would be

00:37eight out of eight and they'd be absolutely flying, seven points clear. As it is, five

00:42points is already very impressive, and they've got a game in hand as well on Wrexham, so

00:47absolutely flying in League One. You would expect that with the money spent, but it's

00:52still a difficult job for Chris Davies, who's never been in senior management before. He's

00:56been an assistant at plenty of top clubs like Tottenham and Leicester and Celtic, and was

01:01analyst at Liverpool as well. But to step into that management role and straight away

01:05be unbeaten, win seven of your first eight league games is easier said than done. And

01:10having so many new players to adjust into a new system and changing the mentality and

01:14the whole attitude at the football club is a big challenge. But he's made it look really

01:18easy so far, and I expect them to continue their fine run.

01:22You're obviously really impressed with Chris Davies and his job so far, but looking on

01:27to the future, how attractive is the Birmingham job to stay there? If they are to get promoted

01:34back to the Championship, they're going to want to keep him. But if he carries on and

01:38continues to impress, then surely bigger clubs and Premier League status clubs could even

01:43be after him.

01:44Yes, you'd think so, especially because he's been in and around the Premier League before

01:49and he's got very big ambitions. You might see this as a bit of a stepping stone, but

01:53I genuinely think he's really committed to this project. He loves the club so far. He's

01:57got a real connection with the fan base in such a short space of time. And I mean, that's

02:02easier when you're winning games every single week. You're going to build that connection.

02:06It'll be a real test when Birmingham start losing matches and how the fan base reacts

02:11then. But from the early signs, I would expect him to be at the club for a very long time.

02:14And finally, who's been the best sort of player so far? Obviously, they've made some fantastic

02:18deals and huge signings for Ligue 1, breaking multiple records in terms of the money spent.

02:24It's difficult to pick just one, to be honest. There have been so many impressive players.

02:29The midfield partnership of Tomoki Iwata and Peik Sung-ho has got to be one of the best

02:34partnerships outside the Premier League, let alone just in Ligue 1. So I've been very impressed

02:38with them. Christian Bielik as well as the new captain, leading from the back and centre-back.

02:43Alfie May and Jay Stansfield leading the line. May, last season's top scorer in Ligue

02:481, kicking off this campaign with five goals in seven matches. And then Stansfield just

02:53blows you away the way he glides with the ball. So lots of impressive performers and

02:56it's a real team effort at Blues at the moment.