Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton has said that the players at the club deserve a chance to be in the play-offs given the way they have performed this season.

Birmingham have been hit by a number of financial problems this season mainly due to their Hong Kong owner.

The very existence of the club has been in doubt, but Chris Hughton has managed to prevent the uncertainties on the financial front to transfer to the football front. As a result, the players have been able to perform exceptionally well in the Championship this season. Birmingham are currently in a position where they could compete in the play-offs this season.

With only one match in the regular season remaining, Birmingham are currently fifth in the Championship table.

Their place in the play-offs position has not been guaranteed yet, as they could still fall below the sixth position. They are in a race with clubs like Cardiff city and Middlesbrough to finish in the top six of the Championship. Blackpool have recently overtaken Birmingham to the fourth position, which means that they are unlikely to face West Ham in the play-offs. West Ham were one of the favourites to get automatic promotion, but they were let down by the late dip in form. Birmingham will not want to face West Ham in the play-offs.

“We have had so many games this season nobody was quite sure what to expect. Would we have settled for a play-off position at the start of the season? Yes, we would have done. There were plenty of comings and goings, we’ve brought in some really good players to this football club and add to that we’ve had a lot of players who have had to play a lot of games,” said Hughton ahead of their only remaining match against leaders Reading.