Birmingham City suffer blow in search for Craig Gardner replacement | OneFootball

Craig Gardner departed as sporting director following Birmingham City's 10th place finish

Birmingham City didn’t quite have the return to the Championship that the owners were hoping for.

Knighthead Capital have expressed their ambition to return the Blues to the Premier League as quickly as possible.

The Midlands outfit returned to the second tier with promotion from League One in 2025, but were only capable of 10th place in the table.

Chris Davies’ side missed out on a top six finish by nine points, which has led to some scrutiny over his position as head coach.

One major change made behind the scenes following the end of the season was the departure of sporting director Craig Gardner.

Birmingham will be keen to find his replacement quickly, given the importance of that role to the recruitment process.

Birmingham City suffer blow in sporting director search

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It has been reported by the Sunderland Echo that Birmingham target Kristjaan Speakman is set to move to Danish club Copenhagen.

The former Sunderland chief departed the club in February of this year, but he played a key role in their rise from League One to the Premier League.

He was instrumental in the appointment of Régis Le Bris, who oversaw a seventh place finish in the top flight this year after leading the Black Cats to promotion in 2025.

Speakman has earned a positive reputation within the game, and was one of three names linked with a move to St. Andrew’s following Gardner’s exit.

However, Birmingham are now set to miss out on his appointment, with the sporting director set for a move to Denmark.

The 47-year-old is understood to be in advanced talks with the European club after weighing up his options following his exit from Sunderland earlier this year.

Birmingham have also been linked with Dan Ashworth, who previously worked with the Football Association, Brighton and Manchester United.

He is also a free agent, having departed Old Trafford in the early months of the campaign.

Mike Rigg is another name that has been mentioned for the vacancy, and he currently holds the role of academy director at Birmingham.

With the transfer window officially open, Birmingham will want to make a swift appointment in order to get their business up and running.

The Championship side will have their sights set on a stronger promotion push next season, particularly with the play-offs expanding to include two more teams from 2027.

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Kristjaan Speakman could’ve been a strong appointment for Birmingham

Speakman earned a lot of credit for his role in developing Sunderland into a Premier League side.

His appointment could’ve been a real coup for Birmingham, so it is a real blow that they’ve now missed out on that opportunity.

However, Ashworth similarly has a positive reputation and has done well with the FA and Brighton, and he didn’t get enough time to show what he can do with Man United.

Promoting Rigg would be a left-field move, but given Birmingham’s strong academy output over the years it might not be a bad idea to bring him into the sporting director role either, so there are still options with Speakman off the table.