Harry Redknapp takes charge as Blues fight relegation

Harry Redknapp has been appointed manager of Birmingham City until the end of the season, with the club fighting to stay in the Championship.

The former Tottenham and Portsmouth manager takes over after Gianfranco Zola resigned, with Blues in 20th place and just three points above the relegation zone with three games left to play.

A dramatic slide

The appointment caps a turbulent season at St Andrew's. In December, with the team sitting just outside the play-off places, manager Gary Rowett and his backroom staff were sacked, two days after three new directors had joined the board. The decision stunned many supporters, who had seen Rowett lead the club to two successive tenth-place finishes.

Zola, the former Chelsea forward who had managed West Ham United and Watford, was named as his successor on the same day. But the Italian's four months in charge brought just two wins, and the team slid steadily down the table.

Earlier in the season, Blues had looked like play-off contenders. In September, they were fourth in the table, and they went into October unbeaten away from home.

New owners

The change of manager came in the first season of new ownership. In October, Trillion Trophy Asia completed its takeover, owning just over half of the club's parent company. The club has been through several changes of ownership over the years, and supporters had hoped the new era would bring stability.

An experienced hand

Redknapp is one of the most experienced managers in English football. He won the FA Cup with Portsmouth in 2008, and took Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League, reaching the quarter-finals. He has a reputation for lifting struggling teams quickly, and the club will be counting on that experience in the final weeks of the season.

He has been appointed initially only until the end of the campaign, so his future beyond the summer will depend on whether he can keep the club up.

Three games to save the season

With so few matches remaining, there is little time for Redknapp to make changes. Blues will need points from their final three fixtures, which end with a trip to Bristol City on the last day of the season, and results elsewhere may also decide their fate.

The stakes are high. Relegation to League One would be a severe blow to a club that was playing Premier League football as recently as 2011, the same year it won the League Cup at Wembley.

For supporters who began the season dreaming of the play-offs, the fight against the drop has come as a shock. The coming weeks will show whether one of the game's great survivors can steer them to safety.