BIRMINGHAM are ready to hand Lee Clark a route back into management.
And that means Town will go head to head with their former boss in the Championship next season.
The sides will meet at St Andrews on Saturday, October 6 and the Galpharm on Saturday, January 12.
Town chairman Dean Hoyle axed the 39-year-old in February, then brought in Simon Grayson, who led the club to last month’s League I promotion play-off final win over Sheffield United at Wembley.
Clark, handed his first managerial post by Hoyle in December 2009, had twice led Town to the play-offs, with the two-legged semi-final defeat by Millwall in 2010 followed by the 3-0 final loss to Peterborough at Old Trafford in 2011.
His reign also featured a Football League record 43-match unbeaten run.
Now the former Newcastle reserve coach and Norwich assistant manager will succeed Chris Hughton at the West Midlands club, who are preparing for their second season in the second tier after relegation from the Premier League in 2011.
Hughton led them to the play-offs before taking over at Norwich following Paul Lambert’s move to Birmingham’s city rivals Aston Villa.
Clark, who played for Newcastle (two spells), Sunderland and Fulham, has beaten off competition from Alan Curbishley, Roy Keane and Phil Brown to land the job after impressing Birmingham’s acting chairman Peter Pannu over two rounds of talks.
Clark is expected to sign a rolling contract, with former Town assistant manager Terry McDermott and development coach Steve Watson likely to join him.
He is believed to have received assurances that the transfer embargo currently imposed on Birmingham will be lifted shortly.
The club were hit with the embargo after filing their accounts late, while their chairman Carson Yeung is also facing five charges of money laundering in Hong Kong.
Players could also be sold this summer to raise funds – midfielder Jordon Mutch has already left for Cardiff in a £3m deal while keepers Jack Butland and Ben Foster, defender Curtis Davies and midfielder Nathan Redmond are also likely to go.
Clark becomes the fourth new managerial appointment in the West Midlands this summer after Lambert, Steve Clarke at West Brom and Stale Solbakken at Championship side Wolves.
He will be the third man to boss both Town and Birmingham after Lou Macari and Steve Bruce.
Macari was at the helm in 1991 and bossed Town between October 2000 and June 2002 after succeeding Bruce, who had been manager from June 1999.
Bruce bossed Birmingham from December 2001 to November 2007, twice leading them to promotion to the Premier League.
Birmingham’s other former bosses include ex-Town winger Pat Beasley, who led Blues to the European Fairs Cup final in 1960, when they lost 4-1 to Barcelona over two legs.
Originally from Stourbridge, Beasley played for Arsenal before a £750 transfer to Town in October 1936.
He made 123 appearances and scored 27 goals in three seasons at Leeds Road, making his sole England appearance against Scotland at Hampden in 1939.
