Birmingham City have paved the way for Jermaine Pennant to play for them again this season, despite the winger being given a prison sentence for driving offences this week. The 22-year-old, who is on loan from Arsenal, has been jailed for three months for driving offences, a sentence that would effectively end his season.

To be at loggerheads with one chairperson could be construed as unfortunate; to fall out with two, as Gary Megson did at West Bromwich Albion, suggests he either has a penchant for confrontation or resents figures in authority. Megson, however, denies he is a control freak.