Birmingham City have lost patience with the prospective takeover by Carson Yeung and are to push on with their search for a new manager to replace Steve Bruce. The club’s directors have satisfied themselves that, legally, there is nothing to prevent them from appointing Bruce’s successor.

David Sullivan, the club’s plc chairman, and David Gold, the club chairman, are keen to fill the void as soon as possible. Eric Black, Bruce’s erstwhile assistant, will take charge in the interim, starting with the Barclays Premier League match at home to Portsmouth on Saturday.

However, Black is expected to follow Bruce to Wigan Athletic once Birmingham have a full-time manager in place. With Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, wanting the switch to be completed quickly, Sullivan and Gold have been assessing the options. Martin Jol, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager, has turned down the post.

It was assumed that Yeung, the Hong Kong businessman who has acquired 29.9 per cent of the club’s shares, would be part of the consultation process. Sullivan and Gold have given him a deadline of December 20 to complete the takeover.

However, it is believed that, as Yeung struggles to raise the extra funds needed to take control at St Andrew’s, the co-owners have decided to “go it alone”. “A massive doubt now hangs over the takeover,” a source said last night.

With Birmingham in fifteenth place in the Premier League, only two points outside the relegation positions, Sullivan and Gold do not want the situation to deteriorate and for the club to be in limbo. They are also mindful that it was Yeung’s apparent prevarication in awarding Bruce an extended contract that contributed to the manager’s abrupt departure.

At least Birmingham received £3 million in compensation from Wigan. Much of it will be used to entice a “big-name” replacement — hence Sullivan’s attempted courtship of Jol — and the new appointment is likely to become the best-paid manager in the club’s history.

Glenn Hoddle, Graeme Souness and Joe Royle have been linked to the club, but Paul Jewell, the former Wigan manager who has held informal discussions about the vacant Ireland manager’s position, distanced himself from the job yesterday.

The future of Alex McLeish, the Scotland manager, was uncertain after Scotland lost 2-1 to Italy at Hampden Park on Saturday and failed to qualify for the European Championship finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer, but he plans to stay on.

With time of the essence, Birmingham could be forced into using some of the settlement from Wigan in the same manner — paying compensation for an attached manager. Adrian Boothroyd, of Watford, Paul Ince,

of Milton Keynes Dons, or Gary Johnson, of Bristol City, could enter the equation. It is likely that Birmingham will opt for Premier League experience, with Boothroyd having managed at that level, albeit unsuccessfully, with Watford last season.

Despite reports to the contrary last night, it is understood that the board is not considering a move for Chris Coleman, the former Fulham manager who is in charge of Real Sociedad. Neither will David O’Leary get the nod. Even though he is still “in between” jobs, appointing a former manager of Aston Villa, Birmingham’s bitter rivals, would appear unthinkable.