Knowle midfielder George Seeley predicts Birmingham City's future and admits continuity is key amid Aston Villa chaos
Aston Villa-supporting George Seeley spoke highly of Birmingham City after Knowle's 2-1 victory at Rugby Town
Knowle midfielder George Seeley says Birmingham City deserved their win at Wrexham on Friday night - but believes Chris Davies won’t be the manager to lead them to the Premier League.
Davies received his fair share of scrutiny after his side’s 6-1 drubbing by top-flight Brentford in the Carabao Cup, but that noise turned to silence when Blues outwitted Wrexham in every department to secure their first league win of the season.
Blues failed to look a serious threat on set pieces last season but they hired specialist coach Scott Fry over the summer and have reaped the rewards since.
German defender Phil Neumann twice headed home to ensure Blues brought maximum points back to Birmingham - and even Aston Villa-supporting Knowle midfielder Seeley thought the win was deserved.
“I watched the game yesterday actually, and I thought you were well worth the win to be fair,” he admitted, after his post-match interview following Knowle’s dramatic 2-1 victory at Rugby Town.
“You won it with two great set pieces but (Jay) Stansfield had to score that open goal.”
Seeley’s assessment isn’t wide of the mark - unlike Stansfield’s miss that got everyone talking.
A delightful team move resulted in £7m winger Carlos Vicente teeing up Stansfield perfectly, but with Wrexham goalkeeper Anthony Patterson floored and the goal at his mercy, Blues’ record buy put it wide.
Despite Stansfield’s inability to find the net for just the third time since November, Blues did go on to seal a convincing win - but Seeley isn’t quite so convinced about their manager.
Davies is in his first managerial job and, whilst he has already overseen a record-breaking season in League One and the club’s highest Championship finish since 2011/12, every day is still a learning day.
Offering his very fair opinion, Seeley said: “I think Blues’ problem is that I don’t think the gaffer is up to the level of where Birmingham City want to get to.
“I think if you’re going to get into the Premier League, you need a manager who’s been there, done that and actually got sides out of the Championship.”
It was then put to Seeley that, as he can see first-hand at Knowle, continuity is key. Six of the starting XI against Rugby were around when Knowle were playing Step Seven football just 16 months ago, and they now sit second in Step Five with five wins from their first five league matches.
Continuity is a model that Blues have also followed to a certain degree. Only two changes were made to the team that drew with Portsmouth on the final day of last season for this year’s opener at Swansea City - and both players who didn’t feature had left the club by then anyway.
But Villa have taken a very different route. Europa League heroes Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and talismanic striker Ollie Watkins have all walked through the exit door at Villa Park - and that cavalier approach ultimately culminated in a bruising 4-0 demolition at Brighton & Hove Albion on the season’s opening weekend.
Manager Unai Emery has replaced them with nine new faces and counting, and Seeley admits he might need to read up on Villa’s new stars before they entertain reigning Premier League champions Arsenal on Monday night: “I might buy a programme so I can look at all the players’ names!”
And he could even see Konsa debut for Arsenal if he’s lucky. I’m sure he’d like to see a former Villan doing well.
