Birmingham City fans plan protest march against Championship club's owners

Birmingham City sit 18th in the Championship - nine points clear of the relegation places

Birmingham fans are planning a protest march before Saturday's home game with Barnsley aimed at the running of the Championship club by their owners.

Blues, who changed owners in 2016, are part of Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd, led by Chinese businessman Paul Suen.

They currently lie 18th, in their 11th straight season in the Championship - and Blues fans are unhappy at a perceived lack of investment.

Birmingham manager Lee Bowyer is aware of the fans' planned march.

"If the fans are protesting all I ask is that when they get to the stadium they put all their support behind the team, which I am sure they will," he told BBC Radio WM.

"If anything it might even get them that annoyed that they get behind the players even more so."

Bowyer's Blues have a nine-point gap between themselves and the Championship bottom three.

But the next three games are all against sides in that bottom three - Barnsley, then Peterborough United on Tuesday night, followed by a Sunday away date at bottom club Derby County. And Bowyer wants to ensure that there are no distractions.

"All I can control is the football side," he said. "All I can control is the players, to ensure that they are mentally and physically ready for the game.

"I try not to get caught up in things that go on off the pitch. These are things I can't control."