Birmingham City boss Chris Davies makes Krystian Bielik feelings clear before Wembley
Krystian Bielik looks likely to miss out on a starting place at Wembley when Birmingham City take on Peterborough United in the Vertu Trophy final
Chris Davies has praised the way Krystian Bielik has handled not playing in Birmingham City’s run-in and insisted the captain has ‘always been supportive’.
Bielik came in from the cold to start the 2-1 win at Peterborough United on Tuesday which saw Blues promoted back to the Championship at the first attempt.
Ben Davies was given a rest and Bielik was drafted in for only his third start since New Year’s Day.
The 27-year-old acquitted himself extremely well and led the celebrations post-match with the 4,000 Blues fans who made the trip to Peterborough.
But in a candid post-match interview Bielik admitted his performance has probably done little to change Davies’ mind over selection for Sunday’s Vertu Trophy final at Wembley.
“I’m not crazy, I see players have taken their chances and they deserve to play. I don’t think that game will change much, but I’m so happy to be part of it,” Bielik said.
The mutual respect between Davies and Bielik was clear when they embraced post-match on Tuesday and the manager has talked up his skipper on the eve of Wembley.
Davies said: “It’s not easy, I’ve had to make decisions at times. He’s suffered with niggles but when he has sometimes not been in he’s always been supportive.
“One of the first conversations I ever had with a player here was to convince him to stay because there were many clubs above this level that would have taken him and he was looking at things.
“He’s been a really important player, a good captain and a good leader.
“He has stayed with it all the way through. To be fair to him, to come back in and play like that, and have that moment with supporters afterwards was excellent.”