Birmingham appoint Chris Hughton as their new manager
- Published
Hughton won promotion from the Championship with Newcastle in 2010
Chris Hughton has been confirmed as Birmingham City manager after completing a deal to fill the vacant post at St Andrew's.
The former Newcastle manager had been out of football since he was sacked by Newcastle in December.
He won promotion to the Premier League with the Magpies and Blues owner Carson Yeung expects him to repeat the task.
Hughton told the club's website: "It is what I regard as a real football club with extremely passionate supporters."
The former Tottenham coach is believed to have been preferred to Roberto di Matteo to succeed previous Blues boss Alex McLeish.
He added: "I am absolutely delighted.
"To be joining a club of the stature of Birmingham, with the history it has, is a pleasure.
"We are going into an extremely competitive Championship and with the players set to return for pre-season training very soon I need to get into the job straight away."
A club statement said: "Following productive talks acting chairman Peter Pannu felt that Hughton was the perfect candidate to take charge.
"Pannu was particularly impressed by Hughton's vision and footballing theories of garnering youth and playing attractive and effective football."
The club have not confirmed the length of Hughton's contract or the make-up of his backroom staff.
Hughton is Yeung's first managerial appointment since taking control of Blues during the early part of the 2009-10 campaign.
McLeish resigned on 12 June before switching across Birmingham to replace Gerard Houllier at Aston Villa.
Hughton has previously been an assistant manager for the Republic of Ireland and Tottenham.