Former Birmingham captain Martin O’Connor believes Chris Hughton’s departure was inevitable and says that Blues should have had a contingency plan to find a replacement.
The ex-midfielder, who made 186 appearances during six years at St Andrew’s, says the club’s directors must act quickly to find a Hughton’s successor.
O’Connor suggested Wolves handling of Mick McCarthy’s departure midway through last season is the benchmark of how not to expedite a planned succession.
And while he doesn’t accuse Blues of being equally slipshod, neither does he detect the back-up strategy that would have avoided the current situation where Birmingham are still looking for a boss just a few weeks before pre-season begins.
Birmingham’s search for a manager is progressing, with Lee Clark still the favourite.
However, Hughton left the club two weeks ago and O’Connor feels the current scenario should have been anticipated.
“It is an inevitable situation,” he said. “When Chris Hughton was here the club was not in a strong position with rumours rife and with the season the club had on the football pitch, it was inevitable Hughton was going to go, his stock went up so much.
“Anyone who knows anything about football knows Chris Hughton would be linked with other jobs. I look back to the debacle at Wolves where there was rumour the manager was going and you have to sort out a plan B and I do not think that has been the case.
“It is a difficult situation and I hope it resolves quickly.
“You need to have something in place so if a manager goes you get someone else in.
“Someone with the experience of dealing with the problems that might be at Birmingham.”
