Birmingham City's next opponents appoint new boss hours after sacking previous

Birmingham City's next opponents Rotherham United have appointed Steve Evans as their new manager, hours after sacking Leam Richardson.

Blues travel to the New York Stadium in what is a huge match in their season. Birmingham are outside of the relegation zone after defeating Coventry City 3-0 at St Andrew's last weekend.

The hosts who were relegated earlier this month decided to part ways with their head coach and have taken no time in naming Richardson’s successor. Evans returns to Rotherham immediately, departing his role as Stevenage boss.

“On behalf of everyone at Rotherham United, I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Steve Evans and Paul Raynor back to the football club,” said chairman Tony Stewart on the official club website.

“Leam and Rob’s departure was not something we took lightly, but following extensive conversations at Board level, it was unanimously agreed that a change of direction was needed to give us the best possible chance of bouncing back to the Sky Bet Championship at the first time of asking.

“Finally, I would like to place on record my thanks to Leam Richardson and Rob Kelly for their efforts and it goes without saying that they leave with the very best wishes of everyone here at Rotherham United.”

Rotherham’s relegation to League One was confirmed two weeks ago, but he was allowed to take two over two more games. He only took over from Matt Taylor in December after he was also sacked, but won just two of the 24 games in charge and his reign lasted just 128 days.

Evans’ predecessor Richardson only saw victories against Middlesbrough on Boxing Day and then Millwall on April 1. His last act was to oversee a 1-0 defeat to Swansea City last weekend. At the time of his departure and Evans’ appointment. Rotherham are a whole 21 points off of Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday who occupy the other two relegation places.

Former Wolves midfielder Rob Kelly will also be departing the club. Kelly joined as assistant head coach in mid-December. The 59-year-old had worked alongside Richardson during their time together at Wigan Athletic where they won the League One title.