EXCLUSIVE BY LAURIE WHITWELL: Birmingham City are set to undergo further change with Kristjaan Speakman expected to step up from his role as academy manager.

Birmingham are close to completing a deal to sign Dan Crowley from Willem II for a fee starting at £650,000. Crowley has blossomed during two-and-a-half years in Dutch football.

Chelsea defender Jake Clarke-Salter will spend the season on loan at Birmingham after signing a new contract with the Premier League club.

TOM FARMERY AT GRIFFIN PARK: Brentford manager Thomas Frank will wonder how his side didn't score at least three times in their opening day defeat to Birmingham.

Jude Bellingham became Birmingham's youngest ever player when he was handed his debut against Portsmouth on Tuesday night. The teenager beat the record set by Trevor Francis in 1970.

Jota insists Aston Villa are a big club as they look to fix their wretched home record. Villa have won just 22 of their previous 95 home Premier League games over the last five seasons.

Bez Lubala at Crawley Town is drawing attention from Championship and Premier League scouts after his impressive start to the season.

Birmingham have been fined £42,500 after a supporter ran on to the pitch and punched Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish during the derby match at St Andrew's in March.

ADAM SHERGOLD AT ST ANDREW'S: Teenager Odin Bailey picked the perfect moment to score his first senior goal and earn Birmingham a thoroughly deserved victory.

Our scout is a top football expert searching for the next star. This week they give Sportsmail the low-down on Birmingham City star JUDE BELLINGHAM.

ADAM LANIGAN AT ELLAND ROAD: Leeds United celebrated turning 100 years old in a fitting manner by moving back into the Championship's automatic promotion spots.

The Football Association could be called in to investigate the crowd disturbances that marred the end of the Championship match between Leeds United and Birmingham City.

Clarke-Salter has made just five league starts this term but is set for an extended run in the side, with Marc Roberts likely to be out until January after suffering an ankle injury against Millwall.

TIM NASH AT ST ANDREWS: Charlie Austin was the hero as he bagged a brace to help West Brom beat Birmingham City and return them to the top of the Championship.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been stepping up his pursuit of Erling Haaland in recent weeks, and it appears he may not be the only young talent on Manchester United's radar.

Manchester United are monitoring Birmingham City starlet Jude Bellingham as assistant manager has been sent to Mike Phelan cast his eye over the talented 16-year-old.

ROSS HEPPENSTALL AT ST ANDREW'S: Marcelo Bielsa was asked afterwards how his heart had coped with such an extraordinarily thrilling encounter.

Sunjic would soon trudge back down the tunnel after tussling with Blackburn frontman Sam Gallagher inside the box, leaving referee Oliver Langford no choice but to hand him his marching orders.

The 16-year-old starlet has already attracted interest from a horde of suitors after breaking into the Championship club's first-team, according to The Mirror.

The 16-year-old midfielder has looked right at home in the Blues first team this season and has made regular appearances in the Championship. Several leading clubs are in the race to sign him.

Birmingham will be the away team at their own stadium when they face Coventry in the FA Cup fourth round after the Sky Blues' third round replay win against Bristol Rovers.

Birmingham and Coventry plan to split the gate receipts down the middle for their FA Cup tie at St Andrew's - when Blues will be the away team at their own ground.

The youngster has made 24 appearances in all competitions for the Championship outfit so far this season, and is believed to have caught the eye of the Old Trafford hierarchy.

There will be few grounds in the country this weekend where you will spot home and away fans drinking together ahead of the game, but then there are no stadiums facing a situation like St Andrew's.

KIERAN GILL AT ST ANDREW'S: Neither side could find the breakthrough on a worn turf, meaning that Birmingham will be able to call themselves the home team in the replay.

Women's teams at three of the Premier League's wealthiest clubs are being denied the use of top facilities used by the men's sides, a Sportsmail investigation has found.

Whenever 16-year-old Jude Bellingham was bulldozed off the ball by a man in a Coventry shirt, a certain tragicomedy involving Michael Owen and Neville Southall came to mind.

Manchester United's pursuit for Birmingham City's Jude Bellingham has failed with the latter 'rejecting a £20million offer' for the highly-rated midfielder.

ADAM SHERGOLD AT ASHTON GATE: Andreas Weimann spent eight years with Aston Villa so it would have stung to help gift bitter rivals Birmingham City three points in this manner.

Chelsea are willing to pull out all the stops to sign the teenager and will table a mammoth bid of £35m plus £15m in add-ons to secure his services, according to The Sun.

TOM COLLOMOSSE AT THE KING POWER STADIUM: Pereira produced a finish Jamie Vardy would have been proud of to keep alive Leicester's chance of winning a major trophy.

The Sky Bet Championship club were deducted nine points last season and had a business plan imposed on them by the EFL.

Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet has urged Jude Bellingham to remain focused despite transfer interest from Manchester United. He was driven into Carrington by his parents on Monday.

Blues asked their top earners to consider the move for a period of four months - with the outstanding money to be paid back at a later date - to help ease the financial strain caused by Covid-19.

Jude Bellingham's former youth coach believes Manchester United would be a good fit for the Birmingham teenager who looks set for a big-money move this summer.

The Bundesliga club were competing with Manchester United to sign Bellingham, who does not turn 17 until June 29, at the end of the season, and were confident of winning the race.

North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un supervised test-firings of an unspecified new weapons system today, seen as an attempt to build leverage ahead of negotiations with the United States.

The UN banned luxury goods from entering North Korea to punish the rogue state for its nuclear weapons tests, with luxury watches among the specific items named.

The Coast Guard says the short-range projectiles did not reach Japanese waters or the  Exclusive Economic Zone.

The North Korean leader is reported to have personally overseen the test of the ballistic missiles. North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released photos of the test, Sunday.

North Korea has been left begging for extra cash from Chinese backers after its missile test sight turned beach resort has been delayed again. The site was originally meant to be finished this April.

John Bolton ripped apart Donald Trump's efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula as ineffective, claiming it will get worse with time. 'North Korea isn't our friend and never will be,' Bolton said.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US has indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise with South Korea in an 'act of goodwill' toward North Korea at a press conference on Sunday.

'What I would expect is some type of long-range ballistic missile would be the gift.' USAF General Charles Brown said on Tuesday at a defense writers' breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump on Tuesday brushed aside threats of a Christmas surprise from North Korea, joking maybe he would get a 'beautiful vase' from Kim Jong Un instead of a missile test. 

North Korea has not yet confirmed any cases of the coronavirus, formally known COVID-19, but has closed the land border with China, where 254 people died yesterday from the outbreak.

Kim Jong-un visited Pyongyang's Palace of the Sun on Saturday as he commemorated father Kim Jong-il's birthday, the first time the dictator has been seen in public since January 25.

Presidential 2020 hopeful Bernie Sanders said he would use military force if warranted, both to protect US interests and to support its allies. He also said he would use force if China attacked Taiwan.

A Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile is launched in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 14, in the latest of a number of weapon launches from the country. The image was shared by North Korea.

A power vacuum left by the dictator could explode into an ugly civil war in the North Korea, which would spark 'humanitarian suffering' and a wave of refugees fleeing the violence.