Hughton battles to keep Blues stars

New Birmingham manager Chris Hughton today admitted he was facing a race against time to convince players to stay with Blues.

The former Newcastle boss was unveiled this afternoon at St Andrew's after signing a one-year rolling contract.

Hughton is charged with getting Blues back into the Premier League after their relegation to the Championship.

However, the 52-year-old has conceded he is facing a huge test to hang onto stars Scott Dann, Roger Johnson and Ben Foster as agents line up moves for their clients during the window.

Dann has been linked with Liverpool, Arsenal and Stoke, while Wolves and Sunderland are chasing Johnson.

Foster is attracting interest from Villa, where new manager and former Blues boss Alex McLeish seeks a replacement for Brad Friedel.

And Hughton said: "I need to speak to the players quickly. I'm only in my first day and there are a lot of issues regarding players who might not want to be here, those who might be here and I need to address those.

"I've got to speak to the team and the squad and see if they have got the desire to get promotion, so there are a lot of issues for me to address for me."

McLeish was told in no uncertain terms – before he stunned football by quitting the club – that the brief next season was promotion or bust.

Hughton, who led Newcastle to the Championship title at the first attempt 14 months ago, admitted he has been given the same ultimatum.

He said: "Yes, it will be a tough ask because of the quality of the division and I want to see a team here challenging.

"Ultimately the aim is to get Birmingham back into the Premier League and the job starts now."