Chris Davies confirms Birmingham City fringe player 'will definitely get starts' in final six
Birmingham City begin their League One run-in against Crawley Town today
Grant Hanley will be rewarded with league starts in Birmingham City’s final six matches, Chris Davies confirmed on the eve of today’s meeting with Crawley Town.
Scotland international Hanley has been forced to wait for his full league debut since arriving in January due to the form of Christoph Klarer and Ben Davies.
The centre-back has only made one start for Blues – a 70-minute outing in the Vertu Trophy quarter-final victory at Stevenage in early February.
Hanley, 33, has made 10 substitute appearances in League One – for a total of 43 minutes – to help Blues close out victories on their way to the title.
Now that the league is sewn up, Davies will give some of his fringe players chances in the run-in and Hanley is at the front of the queue.
Asked about the former Norwich City captain’s starting chances, Davies said: “I spoke to Grant about how pleased I am actually, because I know what Grant has been offering around this place – in the changing room, leadership, things that maybe people don’t notice.
“He’s played a really critical role in this run that we’ve been on. He might have only come on the pitch for two or three minutes and seen the game out at times, but every day at training how he’s helped support the lads, I brought him in because he’s not only a very good player but he’s been promoted three or four times already and he knew what it would get like.
“Grant will definitely get starts between now and the end of the season, which he deserves, but he knows also that Ben (Davies) and Chris (Klarer) have been an exceptional partnership this season.
“It’s hard to force a pair like that out when they compliment each other so well and play really well together.
“I’m looking forward, for Grant’s sake, for him to get some more meaningful game time.”