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Blues Appoint Gianfranco Zola As Manager
15 December 2016, 06:24 | Updated: 15 December 2016, 06:34
Birmingham City FC appoint Italian and former West Ham and Watford boss Gianfranco Zola
Just hours after sacking Gary Rowett - Blues have appointed a new manager!
Former West Ham and Watford boss Gianfranco Zola has agreed a two and half year deal - his backroom team also join him in the move to St Andrews.
The club says his "pedigree, philosophy and ambition" fits with what they wanna achieve moving forward.
New owners Trillion Trophy Asia Limited have described Zola as the ideal man to lead Blues forward in a new direction.
Joining Gianfranco at Blues are Pierluigi Casiraghi and Gabriele Cioffi as First Team Coaches, Kevin Hitchcock (Goalkeeper Coach) and Sebastiano Porcu (Video Analyst).
Football fans have taken to Twitter, with their reaction to the news:
Garry rowett is a blue is a blue is a blue #ZOLA #gianfrancozola
— Jacob Brown (@jacob5brown) December 14, 2016
Zola's still a Blue, albeit in Birmingham ⚽️#gianfrancozola #BCFC
— Barry Campbell (@OffbeatBarry) December 14, 2016
Club Director Panos Pavlakis said:
"We are delighted to welcome Gianfranco and his backroom team to the Club.
"His pedigree, philosophy and ambition fits with what we would like to achieve as we move in a new direction.
"Gianfranco has a wealth of top-level experience as both manager and player and we are extremely excited about his appointment."
