Birmingham City show 'interest' in former Championship head coach

Birmingham City drew 1-1 at home to Derby County last time out. Jack Robinson got their goal against the Rams on Boxing Day. The Midlands outfit are winless in their last five league games and pressure is starting to grow on head coach Chris Davies.

The Blues are back in action on Monday with a tricky clash on their own patch against Southampton. Davies’ side are sat down in a disappointing 15th place in the Championship table after 23 fixtures. They are six points off the play-offs behind Bristol City in 6th.

Birmingham City eye Michael Carrick as potential Chris Davies replacement

Michael Carrick is a ‘leading contender’ for Birmingham if they decide to part ways with Davies, according to Football Insider. They are showing ‘interest’ in the 44-year-old at this moment in time. He has been out of the game since the summer and has been weighing up his options over recent times.

Carrick, who made 34 caps for the England national team, spent his playing days with the likes of West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. He went on to make 706 appearances in all competitions as a midfielder and scored 34 goals. The North East-born man won the Premier League title on five occasions.

He delved into the coaching world at Old Trafford after hanging up his boots in 2018. The Red Devils placed him in caretaker charge back in 2021. Middlesbrough then came calling in 2022 and he went on to win 46.3% of matches in charge during his spell at the Riverside Stadium.

Why was Michael Carrick sacked by Middlesbrough amid new Birmingham City links?

Carrick guided Middlesbrough into the top six once in his first campaign. They were beaten at the semi-finals stage over two legs by Coventry City that year. Boro then missed out in his first two terms which ultimately cost him his job.

Following their decision to sack him back in June, BBC Radio Tees journalist Mark Drury delivered his verdict, as per BBC Sport: “Middlesbrough's decision to sack Carrick may surprise some outside Teesside but one thing it can't be described as is a knee-jerk reaction. A month has passed since Boro's 2-0 defeat at Coventry on the final day of the Championship season.

“That loss was their 18th of a desperately disappointing season and was followed by the head coach insisting "I'm carrying on" in his BBC Radio Tees Sport post-match interview. Many Boro fans had come to the conclusion he would be doing just that as the days and weeks ticked by without any sign of white smoke from the club's Rockliffe Park training ground. However, that silence was not indicative of inaction.”

He added: “Boro's hierarchy had let it be known they would be conducting an in-depth review into the reasons a season where promotion had been targeted and budgeted for ended in a failure to reach the play-offs despite an unusually low points total – the lowest for a decade - being required to make them.”