Birmingham City have appointed Scott Fry as their first designated set piece coach, a move driven by manager Chris Davies' pursuit of marginal gains. The Championship side scored 16 goals from set pieces last season while conceding 17, a record they aim to improve upon. The appointment comes as set piece specialists become increasingly prevalent in English football, with the four winners of England's professional leagues last season all topping their respective divisions in set piece goals.
Lincoln City's Set Piece Success
Lincoln City, who will play in the Championship next season after winning League One with 103 points, scored 30 goals from set pieces in each of the last two seasons. In 2023/24, they netted 13 and conceded 14. The turning point came in summer 2024 when goalkeeping coach Scott Fry was appointed as the designated set piece coach, equipped with extensive data and AI to devise plans.
BBC Radio Lincolnshire's Rob Makepeace explained on the Keep Right On Podcast: "They realised under Michael Skubala that they couldn't win by playing the best football, because they didn't have the best budgets, they therefore didn't have the best players in League One. What Lincoln did was really focus on set pieces and they were really clever with set pieces."
Fry's Impact at Lincoln
Makepeace highlighted Fry's dual expertise: "He knows what goalkeepers should be doing on defensive set plays, but he also knows when it comes to attacking set plays what goalkeepers don't like and what unsettles them." This knowledge contributed to Lincoln's defensive solidity, conceding only 14 set piece goals in 2024/25 despite a less fluent playing style.
Fry's innovative approach extended to kick-offs, as Makepeace recalled: "One of the stranger ones was we played Chelsea in the League Cup and from the kick-off he did a keepy up and whacked it long, and it was to get pressure on the Chelsea back-line early doors to get the home fans going. Chelsea players talked about it after the game, not being able to settle because Lincoln were up and at them."
Blues' Set Piece Record
Birmingham City's set piece performance last season was modest. Championship winners Coventry City scored 29 set piece goals and conceded just 12, despite having only four six-footers in Frank Lampard's typical lineup. Blues' record of 16 scored and 17 conceded leaves room for improvement. Coaches Ben Petty and Jonathan Grounds previously oversaw set piece training, but Fry will now lead.
Davies' side experienced Lincoln's set piece threat firsthand two years ago in a League One match at Sincil Bank. Blues won 3-1 but trailed within a minute when Tom Hamer's long throw was prodded home by Bailey Cademarteri. The incident underscored the need for specialists.
Recruitment and Specialists
Makepeace stressed that set piece success requires appropriate recruitment: "It's all right doing these things but you've got to have recruited players for that style. It's all right having a player with a really good long throw, but if you've not got two or three players who are going to win that first contact or the second contact, there's no point doing it. Lincoln recruited to the way they wanted to play on set pieces."
Birmingham have previously struggled with long throws; Marc Roberts' attempts at St Andrew's drew unease from fans, and Jack Robinson's efforts last season were similarly ineffective. Fry's appointment signals a strategic shift towards specialisation.
Fry's Career Path
Fry, 33, hails from Walsall and began as a goalkeeping coach in Wolverhampton Wanderers' academy before moving to Lincoln's first team. He quickly specialised in set pieces, impressing Rangers boss Danny Rohl enough to be taken to Ibrox in November 2024. A managerial change at Rangers, with Derek McInnes replacing Rohl in the summer, allowed Blues to appoint Fry.
The question now is whether Fry can improve Blues' output enough to make a tangible difference in the Championship table. With a proven track record at Lincoln, where he presided over the best set piece record in England, expectations are high.
