Chris Davies 'sick and tired' of opposition antics after incurring Birmingham City ban
Chris Davies says his frustration at Peterborough United’s time-wasting antics led to the booking that will see him banned from the Birmingham City touchline for a game.
The Blues manager is due to serve a touchline ban when his team face Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night after collecting his third booking of the season. Referee Thomas Kirk booked Davies midway through the second half of Blues’ 3-2 comeback victory over Peterborough.
Davies commented: “It’s my responsibility to make sure that I don’t pick up these yellow cards, but what I would say is every time I have been booked the opposition manager has also been booked on the same day. There’s going to be a lot of this going on.
“From my point of view, what I was trying to do is retrieve the ball to get the game going. I have actually done that before and I didn’t realise it would constitute a yellow card because I was fully aware that I was on two yellow cards.
READ: Blues player ratings after Krystian Bielik seals stunning Peterborough comeback
READ: Chris Davies explains Emil Hansson change and team talk that inspired comeback
“It’s something I have to be aware of moving forwards because I want to be down there with the team. Where it comes from is the opposition delaying the game with time-wasting, that’s where it comes from. The reason I ran to retrieve the ball is because I’m sick and tired of oppositions taking so long with everything – whether it’s going down, taking throw-ins, they take an age to take a goal-kick. I feel like nothing is being done about it and then you take it into your own hands, which is to run and get the ball to speed it up, and that’s what happens.”
Asked why Kirk showed him a yellow card, Davies added: “I think it was going into the other (technical area) to get the ball. I don’t think they had a problem with it. It is what it is.
“What’s more important is that when we arrive on Tuesday night we are ready as a team to go and play. Wherever I am, whether that’s down on the touchline or somewhere else, the most important thing is making sure they are ready.”