Carson Yeung and Peter Pannu were today beginning the process of identifying Birmingham City's new manager.

And the early indications were that Gianfranco Zola, Roberto di Matteo and Chris Hughton were all under serious consideration.

The new man will be Yeung’s first managerial appointment as he inherited Alex McLeish from the previous Sullivan-Golds regime.

And ironically, they would certainly have gone for Sam Allardyce to replace McLeish had he been available and not taken the West Ham United job.

McLeish’s shock decision to quit caught the board on the hop. But they were wasting no time in assessing potential candidates today.

Billy Davies, who was sacked by Nottingham Forest just as we broke the news of McLeish’s resignation, has been placed among the early favourites with bookmakers. And Dave Jones has also been mentioned in the running, while Roy Keane could have an outside shot.

Alan Curbishley would be keen on taking over at the helm of his former club, while Steve McClaren could have been an intriguing possibility.

Villa went cold on McClaren after gauging fans' reaction and he replaced Davies at the City Ground today.

Neither Mark Hughes or Martin O’Neill are likely to be heading to St Andrew’s.