Steve Bruce was last night considering the prospect of a lucrative offer from Wigan Athletic after Birmingham City indicated that they would allow their manager to talk to their Barclays Premier League relegation rivals should compensation terms be agreed.

David Gold and David Sullivan, the Birmingham co-owners, initially rejected Wigan’s approach for Bruce, as they did when Bolton Wanderers wished to interview the former Manchester United captain before Gary Megson was appointed last month, but increasing uncertainty over Birmingham’s future has persuaded them that Bruce should be allowed to consider seeking alternative employment.

Bruce has been in charge at St Andrew’s for almost six years, but Birmingham have lost five of their past six league games and Bruce has admitted that the hold-up over the club’s takeover has proved unsettling.

Bruce, who briefly worked for Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, who is expected to return from holiday next week, when leading the North West team into the play-offs of the third tier in the spring of 2001, held “positive talks” with Carson Yeung, the club’s prospective new owner, a fortnight ago — coincidentally after Wigan lost 3-2 at St Andrew’s — but knows he could be out of work should the Hong Kong businessman complete his takeover next month.

After Paul Jewell’s proclamation that he would not return to the JJB Stadium, despite the offer of a £2 million annual salary, bookmakers yesterday stopped taking odds on Bruce leaving Birmingham for Wigan, who are nineteenth in the table. Bruce, 46, was yesterday due to begin a brief holiday during the international break but has accepted that the time may be right to leave the club.

Joe Royle and Graeme Souness had previously been touted to take over at the struggling club, while Stuart Pearce, the England Under-21 head coach, is also on Wigan’s radar. However, should Bruce, who is working on a rolling one-year contract at St Andrew’s believed to include a £1 million compensation clause, decide against joining Wigan, who have three fewer points than Birmingham and attract smaller crowds, it is thought Whelan’s contingency plan could include turning to a younger manager.

Pearce would be loath to leave the FA but odds for Steve Cotterill, who departed from Burnley last week, to take over at Wigan fell as low as 6-1 yesterday before Bruce’s name entered the frame. It is thought that Whelan has made indirect contact with Cotterill, 43.

Yeung has refused to sanction Bruce’s new contract, inviting speculation that he would seek his own choice of manager in the new year should he invest the remaining £30 million required to complete his takeover.

“It’s frustrating because we’re left in limbo with the situation,” Bruce has said. “Mr Sullivan has given \ a deadline of December 23 and I know for a fact he will not move on that.”

Chris Coleman’s future as coach of Real Sociedad was thrown into doubt last night when the Spanish second division club’s board announced that it was stepping down to call elections for January 3. The former Fulham manager had said that he would leave if the board and María de la Peña, the club president who took him to San Sebastián, were replaced.

Coleman rejected an offer from Bolton Wanderers to take charge of Sociedad shortly after they were relegated from the Primera Liga last season. Sociedad are at present thirteenth in the second division.