Birmingham City to continue Colin Calderwood pursuit

Birmingham City will continue their pursuit of Hibs boss Colin Calderwood despite having had a £300,000 compensation offer rejected by the Easter Road outfit.

City manager Chris Hughton is determined to have Calderwood, his assistant at Newcastle United until the former Scotland defender's move to Edinburgh last October, back at his side in time for the start of pre-season training on Monday.

But he could now face competition from Championship rivals with Nottingham Forest, who were first to declare their interest in making Calderwood Steve McClaren's No.2, having made an official approach to Hibs for permission to speak to the 46-year-old.

Forest's move will be as unwelcome as that of Birmingham's for Hibs chairman Rod Petrie and his fellow directors, but the vast majority of Easter Road fans are now resigned to losing a manager, their eighth in only ten years, after only a matter of months at the helm.

Calderwood himself did little to still the speculation over his future in refusing to distance himself from moving on, insisting everyone had to keep their options open in life.

Although their first offer was knocked back, Birmingham are certain to return with a further bid with talks said to be "ongoing" although the situation has been complicated somewhat by the news that the owner of the Midlands club Carson Yeung has appeared in court in Hong Kong on money laundering charges.

However, acting chairman Peter Pannu has ensured it's been business as usual at the Midlands club with Inverness Caley striker Adam Rooney, a one-time target of Calderwood's, clinching a move to St Andrews while midfielder Craig Gardner was sold to Sunderland - who face Hibs on August 6 in the Capital - for 6 million.

Throughout, Hibs, other than stating approaches for Calderwood would not be welcome, have refused to comment while the manager himself has remained in Edinburgh supervising pre-season training at East Mains and overseeing a closed-doors match there against Morton yesterday.

Hibs supporters, though, will be watching with interest to see if he is in the dug-out at Shielfield Park tomorrow as the Capital outfit make their first public appearance of the summer as they face Third Division Berwick Rangers, an opportunity to see Garry O'Connor and Ivan Sproule back in a green and white shirt and a first look at Sean O'Hanlon who could well be Calderwood's last signing for the club.