John Eustace is in line to become new Birmingham boss but the future ownership of the club is still yet to be finalised as rival groups bid for control.
Brum hope to make a quick decision with pre-season underway after axing Lee Bowyer on Saturday. Eustace, 42, is available after recently leaving QPR - where he was assistant manager - after Michael Beale was named Rangers' new head coach.
Eustace knows Troy Deeney well from their playing days at Watford and has the backing of Birmingham’s club captain. Brum’s senior players had concerns over going into the new season under Bowyer, who finished last term in 20th with just one win in 10 games, including a 6-1 drubbing at Blackpool.
But the decision over Bowyer’s future was delayed amid protracted takeover negotiations behind the scenes over the future of the club. Controversial ex-Watford chairman Laurence Bassini revealed last month he had an agreement to buy out Blues’ largest individual shareholder Vong Pech, who has a 21.64% stake.
His deadline has since expired but Bassini still remains keen to still get control at St Andrews in a two-stage takeover totalling £36.6million from Far East owned Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited.
Bassini has not yet got FA and EFL approval for his plans which concerned investors including West Ham chairman David Sullivan, who used to co-own Brum. Bassini, who was declared bankrupt in the past, has previously served a three-year ban from football and failed to take over Oldham , Charlton and Bolton. A rival group headed by Birmingham fan and fashion investor Paul Richardson , whose business partner is ex-Argentina striker Maxi Lopez, have also made an offer for the club and are waiting to hear back from City’s Far East owners.
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Eustace joined QPR as assistant manager under Steve McClaren in the 2018 and took temporary charge of the first team when McClaren left in April 2019, overseeing the final seven fixtures of that campaign where he picked up seven points as the club came 19th.
He then continued as assistant when Mark Warburton took over ahead of the 2019/20 season. He is seen as a respected coach who deserves a chance to prove himself in the Championship after previously going close to landing the Swansea job. Eustace is in line to take charge this week ahead of City’s opening game on July 30 at Luton.
But the battle for control at St Andrews remains on-going. Bassini’s bid raises the intriguing prospect of Sullivan potentially getting involved with Blues again as the West Ham chief has the future option to sell the rest of his Hammers’ shares to Czech billionaire and shareholder Daniel Kretinsky. At present he cannot have stakes in more than one club under rules.
While Richardson and Lopez’s bid comes with the lure of attracting some exciting South American talent to Blues using Lopez’s connections.
