Birmingham City could finally be closing in on a new manager after their drop to England's third tier was confirmed.
Blues suffer final day heartbreak
Heading into the final day of the Championship season, Birmingham City knew that they needed at least a draw to have any chance of survival, but that their Championship status depended largely on Plymouth Argyle, who began the day a point ahead of the Blues.
However, a season in which it all went wrong for Birmingham had one final cruel hand to play as Plymouth beat Hull City 1-0 to ensure their survival and condemn Birmingham to League One next season.
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Their managerial situation did little to help matters. John Eustace was sacked by the Blues to be replaced by Wayne Rooney, who oversaw a dramatic decline in form and was ultimately sacked after just 15 games in charge, with the club slipping from 6th to 20th under his stewardship.
In an ironic twist of fate, he has since been appointed Plymouth coach and will be hoping for more success in the south than he managed in England's second city.
Tony Mowbray's return to the helm was complicated by a medical issue which forced him to undergo surgery and step away, which resulted in Gary Rowett taking charge on an interim basis, though he could not prevent them from relegation despite an upturn in form.
Birmingham City's managerial merry-go-round 23/24
John Eustace
Wayne Rooney
Tony Mowbray
Gary Rowett
Games
11
15
8
8
Wins
5
2
4
3
Points
18
10
10
11
Points per game
1.64
0.67
1.67
1.38
Now with both having stepped down, the Blues are on the hunt for a new manager and may have just found their man.
Alex Neil in pole position for Birmingham job
That comes as Football Insider claim that Alex Neil is in pole position to take the vacant hot seat at St Andrews after what appears to be a productive interview.
Most recently at Stoke City until he was sacked in December, Neil has worked at Norwich and Preston as well as helping Sunderland back to the Championship. Now, he could be on his way to Birmingham with the report claiming he has been interviewed and has moved into "pole position" for the role on a permanent basis, and he has been "earmarked" as the man to help the Blues back into the second tier of English football at the first time of asking.
That move would come as good news to midfielder Alex Pritchard, who worked with Neil at Sunderland to help the Black Cats out of League One and who spoke highly of him back in 2022.
"When he came in he stamped his authority on the place, he tightened things up and stopped us conceding so many goals. There were also a lot of good things here as well so he could look and say 'I don't need to do anything with that'.
"We had got a lot of things right under Lee Johnson, but it was just a case of making a few adjustments and you can see that Alex Neil has done that. He's a great manager and you can see what he has done since he has been here."
If he can replicate that at St Andrews, he may well prove a savvy choice for Birmingham City.
