Prospective Birmingham owner Carson Yeung has expressed his "shock" at Steve Bruce's decision to quit as manager and join Wigan.
Bruce left Birmingham after almost six years in charge after failing to receive assurance from Hong Kong businessman Yeung - who has until late December to push through a takeover of the club - that he would be given a new deal.
However, Yeung remains surprised by Bruce's exit and told The Times: "I would have let him stay, but unfortunately he left. This is a shock, a bit of a surprise."
Eric Black is in temporary charge at St Andrews, with Scotland manager Alex McLeish among the favourites to take on the job full-time as uncertainty persists surrounding Yeung's takeover.
He has been set a deadline of December 20 by Blues co-owner David Sullivan to complete the buy-out, and Sammy Yu, the chief operating officer of Yeung's Grandtop International investment company, is confident the takeover is on track.
"We want it to be done as soon as possible," Yu said.
"They (Birmingham) could do a lot. You can see they cannot even settle themselves down. They have problems with Steve Bruce regarding the image rights, so perhaps they are in a difficult time.
"We don't want to push them too hard (in the takeover process) but we have hope they can help when they can."
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