It may not set the pulses racing.
And it may not fuel the seemingly desperate need for transfer rumours and demand for a more ins and outs than the Hokey Cokey.
But continuity is an important factor for a successful side.
Blues now have more of a settled look going into the 2026/27 season. There hasn’t been the requirement for a turnover of 20-odd players, like in the previous two years.
And in the dugout it counts, too.
Chris Davies is the first manager since Lee Clark (2012, 2013 and 2014) to start and finish three successive pre-seasons.
“I did an interview the other day and I was thinking at this stage going into my very first game, in my first two seasons, we’ve probably had 10 new faces in the building at least,” reflected Davies.
“This season it’s three new faces I’ve never met before I don’t know and you are having to kind of get to know.
“I think continuity is the word. I have sensed it, the players have sensed is, the staff have sensed it. I know them, they know me, they know what I want, the language, the terminology, the behaviours.
“It’s taken a good few months for some players to get to know that and perhaps because of the momentum in League One, and the success we were experiencing, it was a lot more seamless to learn on the job in the sense of people getting to know, as you are winning, how this train functions, how this machine functions.
“But when you are blipping up and down and there’s changes and things it’s quite hard for them to get to grips with that, in such a volatile league.
“That continuity has made us have a really good pre-season. That’s all I do know. I always say that the first start for a really good season is a really good pre-season. I have been happy with the ones we have had previously; this one has been a really good one.
“We have had a good work ethic, we have enjoyed our work, we have looked competitive in the games, we have won our games. And now we are ready to go.
“Yes, of course we want to bring in players that make our starting eleven better, not just the squad better. As always, there’s that constant push to progress the squad.
“But continuity also has a great strength.”
Blues have signed five players this summer, two of whom were already on board last season in Jhon Solis and James Beadle. Six have moved on.
After relegation and ahead of the League One campaign, 17 summers signings were made and 13 players moved on. In the summer of 2025, it was 14 in, 13 out.
“If you compare this season to my first two pre-seasons, they’ve always been (with us) in a new division,” said Davies.
“The club was adjusting to League One when I first came in. A whole new set of players want to be there, don’t want to be there. Then you go up to the Championship and that’s another change of division. So you have got a lot of moving parts.
“Now we are in the same division again, so that sort of links in to how settled the transfer window has been in that regard. And, yes, I take great pride that in such a volatile industry as football management I have been entrusted to keep this machine going, growing and progressing for as long as I have.
“I have got great confidence in my ability to do that. For us to really push on. And it is really, truly about having the right type of characters. There are lots of good players there but it’s keeping the wrong ones out and getting the right ones in. That’s half the battle.
“So we have got to make sure we have got players who want to be a Birmingham City player. Know what it means. They are going to run. They are going to fight. They are going to do everything that we want them to do with that blue shirt on and then we can have success.”
