Aitor Karanka only took charge in July 2020 but his team are teetering above the Championship relegation places following defeat to Bristol City; it is unclear whether he has been sacked, resigned or they have mutually parted ways
Monday 15 March 2021 10:47, UK
Aitor Karanka is no longer the manager of Birmingham City, Sky Sports News has been told.
It is unconfirmed whether the Spaniard has been sacked, resigned or they have mutually parted ways - but on Saturday Karanka vowed there was "no chance" he would quit the role.
Senior executives at Birmingham are due to discuss the managerial situation on Monday. The squad are due to train later in the day ahead of their Championship game against Reading on Wednesday.
Karanka leaves with the Blues embroiled in a relegation battle after a run of just three wins in 19 Sky Bet Championship matches, which has left the club 21st in the table.
He took over at St Andrew's last summer on a three-year contract, after Pep Clotet was dismissed, but has been unable to improve the club's fortunes.
Birmingham lost 3-0 at home to Bristol City on Saturday, and though they sit three points above 22nd-placed Rotherham United, the Blues have played four more games than the club currently occupying the final relegation spot.
After the match, Karanka said: "I know the answer for me, to keep working in the way that I am working and to keep trying to do the things I can control.
"I can't go to the pitch, I can't score goals, I can't defend, it is just to try to organise the training session as well as I can, as I am doing, to try to show them to prepare the games as well as I can and to motivate them as much as I can.
"In my career I never gave up and here isn't going to be the first place. The season could have been so different if we would have done our things and we had not made the mistakes we have made. Not just this game, the season could have been completely different.
"It's always the same, you can record my press conference, you can put one day and the following Saturday and the following Saturday and the following Saturday because it is always the same."
