CURTIS Davies has revealed he was determined to nail down a regular place at Blues this season – regardless of the competition.

The sale of Roger Johnson and Martin Jiranek’s release boosted Davies’ chances.

But he bristled at suggestions that opportunity only came knocking because others were out of the reckoning, and increased with the eventual departure of Scott Dann.

Davies made three starts last season after joining in a £3.5million deal from Villa in January.

Alex McLeish went with the Johnson-Jiranek combination when he could in the wake of Dann’s hamstring injury, and although Davies had a troubled start to his Blues career, his performance on the final day at Spurs was immense and showed his capabilities.

He has carried on from where he left off at White Hart Lane, alongside Steven Caldwell, for Chris Hughton’s remodelled side.

“That’s what happens in football,” said Davies, recalling the last campaign. “Managers make decisions, managers pick teams. You have to respect what the managers do.

“This year, maybe with losing a few players, it has made the manager’s decisions a bit easier.

“But coming into this season, whoever was here, I needed to play football.

“Regardless of whether Roger Johnson was here, Scott Dann, Steven Caldwell – whoever – I needed to play football and the main thing for me now I’ve started the season is to hopefully keep myself in the team, get my momentum and help the club push on up the league.”

Davies had a loan spell at Leicester City before moving to Blues. He was frozen out at Villa, it wasn’t a case of sitting on the sidelines injured, he made clear.

“People say I have to stay fit. Last season I was fit, I only missed a game at Leicester with a hamstring injury and the last year I just didn’t play.

“Sometimes if you’re not playing people think you’re injured, just because you’ve not been involved.