Birmingham City are reportedly ‘considering replacements’ with Aitor Karanka ‘set’ to be sacked, reports TEAMtalk.
Birmingham City fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Millwall last night. Former Blues manager Gary Rowett got one over on his former side and he could be the man who deals Karanka his final defeat as manager.
The Spaniard has led a hugely contested reign which has only worsened. His side sit in 23rd-place of the Championship table after a run of one win in 13 league outings, with just the one point separating them from safety.
But that single point remains illusive for Birmingham City and relegation into League One is becoming a more profound fear by the day.
Blues travel to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Whether Karanka will be gone before that game remains unlikely but more likely is the fact that the Spaniard has this game to save his tenure.
Anything less than a win against fellow relegation candidates Sheffield Wednesday could result in Karanka’s departure, and it’d further cement into place those relegation fears.
With that in mind, should Birmingham City look to replace Karanka with a League One manager?
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It’d be a show of acceptance from the club to appoint a League One manager whilst they remain in the Championship. A run of two or three wins would lift them out a give them a fighting chance but under Karanka, Birmingham City look nowhere near winning a football match.
Their demise has been brewing for a number of seasons. Mismanagement from top-to-bottom has landed them in this hot mess and the time might be right to start from scratch.
Appointing a fresh manager with League One experience wouldn’t be the stupidest move from Birmingham City right now. Sometimes it takes dropping down a league for clubs to regain some footing and as much as it might pain Blues fans, a season or two in League One might be just what they need to completely rebuild the club.
But of course there’s the chance that Birmingham City will fall into the Bolton/Portsmouth category, go one step further and drop into the fourth-tier which makes bidding for Championship survival this time round all the more important.
The club faces a hugely difficult decision now; Karanka is all but gone and so the importance lies in who they replace him with. Do they bring in a Tony Pulis-type figure to try and 1-0 their way to Championship safety, or do they go on the lookout for a prominent League One manager – Paul Cook for example?
