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New manager watching brief : Chris Davies, Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic & Leicester City

Thursday, 25th May 2023 07:30 by Keith Haynes

It’s another report in our watching brief series, this time it’s Chris Davies who for some will be remembered from his time at Swansea City working with Brendan Rodgers. Then as a very young coach he was thrust in to the changing temperatures of championship football, and then of course in to the premier league.

Chris is currently out of work after Brendan Rodgers dismissal from his job at Leicester City in April. However, a coach and his development never stops. He has a huge pedigree of coaching and managerial experience under his belt. His name won’t be seen in the betting just yet but you can be rest assured it will feature. This is Chris Davies, and this is his watching brief on Swansea Independent.

We should start at the beginning with his time at Swansea City.

We were fortunate that we had a patient fanbase and understanding people in charge of the club. They all knew that if we made 15 passes before making an attempt to penetrate through the opposition, that was fine. There weren’t groans in the stands when we made a sideways pass. And the success we had meant that everyone saw the benefits of playing the way we did. Chris Davies.

Even back when Rodgers came to Swansea with Chris they both knew that a particular style of football was being demanded by the loyal Swans fanbase. And as Chris says of the time. “We were determined to prove we could play that way, and we had a brilliant core of British players, playing under a homegrown manager, who gained respect at the top level for playing that way. That has helped British football catch up other countries, because we were behind the likes of Spain, Italy and Germany for a long time before that. A few coaches, including Brendan, led that”

Chris first met Brendan Rodgers when he was at Reading, however at the age of nineteen he had the devastating news a foot injury was not going to enable his career in to full time first team professional football. Already capped for Wales up to under 19 level Chris had no choice but to look for alternative avenues of employment. That took him across the globe and he learned a variety of coaching methods especially maintaining possession during a game of football. Futsal taught Chris the necessity to not only keep possession but to manipulate the opposition whilst remaining in control of the game.

The biggest call of his life came from Brendan Rodgers when Chris was just twenty five, Rodgers wanted a coach to concentrate on opposition analysis and the tactical side of the game. Chris jumped at the opportunity. He recalls those times vividly. “We had a great time at Swansea. Winning the playoffs was so memorable, and then finishing eleventh in our first season, just one goal off the top half in the Premier League and that got us a lot of attention. At the end of that season, I was offered the job with the club’s reserve team. I was excited about that, but then Brendan’s success led to a call from Liverpool. They wanted him to take over there, and he wanted to take me with him. It was too big an opportunity to turn down”

Chris then followed Brendan to Liverpool, then Celtic and finally to Leicester City.

On Liverpool it was pretty much success all the way, but they did miss out on the title at the last gasp. “The second season we were there – the 2013/14 season – was memorable because of how close we came to winning the title. We created a team that could score goals in three different ways. We could create chances in open play through our possession and combination play, but we also had a really dangerous counter-attack led by Luis Suárez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling.”

Chris found his way to Reading as assistant to Brian McDermott but the call came again when Rodgers joined Glasgow Celtic. The Scottish side bought Chris out of his Reading contract and he moved his family north. It was a hot bed of passionate football from day one. Chris was encouraged to enhance his media skills, and as he says it was a complete success all round. “We were totally dominant. Celtic were a team that were used to dominating, but we were able to take their control of games a step further. We went the entire domestic season unbeaten, completing what they called the ‘invincible treble’. We won all three trophies without losing a single game”

As we know Brendan left Celtic and took Chris with him to Leicester City where again success was immediate. They led the Foxes to an FA cup triumph in their second season. “At both Celtic and Leicester, it was my job to lead training on a day-to-day basis, managing the other coaches and working closely with the sports science department to implement our periodisation model. The training sessions were based on a combination of our core principles and the specific game plan for the next fixture. The day before the game was when Brendan would deliver his tactical session to finalise the game plan.I also did lots of individual development work with players, which I really enjoyed. This was both on the grass, after the team session had finished, and then inside with the video analysts”

Regardless of what anyone believes, the likes of Chris Davies and the now departed Russell Martin at Swansea City all have a similar mindset. It surrounds possession of the ball and dominating games. Chris knows what he wants when he goes in to management, and that now could be his next step. “I’ve always been open about my desire to be a manager. The next step will naturally be into a role as a head coach or manager, but of course it has to be the right fit for me. I want an organised club that can be aligned with my vision. I feel I’ve proven myself as an assistant at the top level, and now I’m ready to make that next step into an exciting future. Alternatively, I may continue as an assistant for a while longer, depending on what opportunities arise”

The thing is, and we know and appreciate that the Swansea City majority ownership want to aim really high this time regards their appointment of a new manager and coaching team. The reality just has to be aim high and the likes of Chris could come on a rolling scale after that. No disrespect, but remember Brendan Rodgers came to Swansea as hardly first choice. And let’s not forget, he is also out of work, and Chris Davies would be looking to support him if a new role for Brendan came along.

However, at only thirty eight he does have many good years ahead of him to adapt what he knows already at some of the biggest clubs in the country. “As coaches we are all guided by the game model the manager puts in place. We know what sort of team we want to create, so there are specific details we are trying to cover each day. I’ve built up a huge database of session plans that are all bespoke, which is so useful. In the last few years, for logistical reasons, I’ve transferred from handwritten sessions to computer database sessions and it saves me hours ! The challenge for myself and for all coaches is to make sure we are adding variety. You must stay open-minded to other types of sessions and learning from other content, so we can keep bringing new things to the table. If players have seen it all and your repertoire is used up, things can go stale”

It seems that Chris Davies has learned such a lot of things in his thirteen year coaching journey from Swansea to Liverpool and then from Celtic to Leicester. This is his watching brief, and one we think Swans fans should take good note of.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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