Nottingham Forest 2 Birmingham 2

Yann Kermorgant silenced the jeers of the Leicester fans by firing Charlton to their first npower Championship win of the season, 2-1, against one of the favourites for promotion.

Birmingham 2 Blackpool 2 (Blackpool win 3-2 on aggregate)

Curtis Davies’ unfortunate own goal gave Blackpool a slender advantage over Birmingham in the first leg of their npower Championship play-off semi-final last night.

Blackpool 1 Birmingham 0

Ricardo Vaz Te’s 89th-minute penalty salvaged a point for West Ham but it is now seven home games without a win after drawing 3-3 with Chris Hughton’s Birmingham last night.

West Ham 3 Birmingham 3

Birmingham 3 Middlesbrough 0

Rickie Lambert struck his fourth hat-trick of the season as Southampton staged a late fightback to defeat Millwall and remain top of the npower Championship standings.

The King is dead, long live the king. That was how Ken Bates, Chelsea’s controversial former chairman, greeted the arrival of Ruud Gullit as manager when Glenn Hoddle left to take over the England team nearly 15 years ago.

Birmingham boss Chris Hughton is backing under-fire FA Cup rival Andre Villa-Boas to stamp his own mark on Chelsea and revive their fortunes – if given time to do so.

NIGEL ADKINS would prefer for people to be talking about his Southampton team’s style of play instead of Luke Chambers’ red card after the Saints defeated Nottingham Forest on Saturday to stay at the summit of the npower Championship.

Millwall 0 Birmingham 6

Birmingham 2 Ipswich 1

KAGISHO DIKGACOI’S late header secured a first home win for Palace since October and left Birmingham’s European adventurers empty-handed.

BIRMINGHAM paid the price for Nikola Zigic’s early saved penalty as a narrow defeat in Braga left them facing an uphill battle in their bid to progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

Birmingham 2 Burnley 1

Club Brugge 1 Birmingham 2

CHRIS HUGHTON praised Jean Beausajour for providing the spark to give his Birmingham side a vital 2-1 win over Leicester in yesterday’s midlands derby.

AN inexperienced Tottenham side came through a nail-biting finish to leave the cauldron of the Toumba Stadium with a hard-fought point in last night’s Europa League Group A clash against PAOK Salonika.

Jonathan Spector has become Birmingham’s sixth free transfer signing of the summer.

Birmingham acting chairman Peter Pannu has criticised Alex McLeish for walking away from the club and vowed the Scot will not be allowed to move on without a fight.

Birmingham’s search for a new manager starts today – with former boss Alex McLeish tipped to take over at city rivals Aston Villa.

ALEX McLEISH resigned as manager of Birmingham City yesterday — by email — and was immediately tipped to defect to cross-city rivals Aston Villa.

THE flurry of transfer activity has continued apace as Newcastle have snapped up France international Yohan Cabaye on a five-year deal.

Striker Marlon King has joined Birmingham after turning down a new contract with npower Championship rivals Coventry.

LEEDS halted Reading’s eight-game winning run, but the point gained was not enough to lift them back into an npower Championship play-off place.

Cardiff, Norwich and Swansea all scored late goals today to boost their respective bids for automatic promotion from the npower Championship.

Birmingham 3 Coventry 2

WAYNE ROUTLEDGE marked his second QPR debut with a goal as the npower Championship leaders came from behind to sink Coventry yesterday.

QPR 2 Coventry 1

Marlon King has made his return to professional football after finally completing his protracted move to Coventry, penning a deal until the end of the season.

THE woman groped and punched by Premier League footballer Marlon King waived her right to anonymity yesterday to call for his life ban from the game.

PAUL HART has been forced to play the role of firefighter for much of this tumultuous season, but the Portsmouth manager now finds himself dealing with more trivial concerns.

Gordon Taylor insists the players' union will support disgraced footballer Marlon King.

DISGRACED footballer Marlon King will be signed by another club when his jail sentence is finished, his agent insisted yesterday.

Marlon King’s agent expects the Wigan striker to launch an appeal after he was jailed for 18 months.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce admits Marlon King’s jail sentence “doesn’t help” the public image of the modern professional footballer.

Premier League footballer Marlon King was facing the end of his playing career today after being jailed for 18 months for breaking a young woman’s nose after she spurned his “disgusting” advances.

PREMIER League footballer Marlon King has been jailed for 18 months for groping a young woman in a nightclub and then breaking her nose after she spurned his “disgusting” advances.

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has confirmed Marlon King will never play for the club again after he was jailed for 18 months today.

Marlon King was facing jail today after being found guilty of groping a young woman in a nightclub and then breaking her nose when she spurned his “disgusting” advances.

The jury trying a Premier League footballer for allegedly groping a young woman and then breaking her nose after she spurned his advances retired to consider its verdicts today.

PREMIER League footballer Marlon King groped a young woman and then broke her nose when she rejected his advances at a celebrity nightclub, a court heard yesterday.