Birmingham City have confirmed that CEO Xuandong Ren has resigned from his position at the club.

Ren has come under continued pressure from Blues fans in months gone by and reports suggested that he was fully behind keeping Aitor Karanka at St Andrew's in March despite his poor run of form.

He arrived at the club in 2017, with his experience in football beforehand being working alongside the Luis Figo Academy in China as the CEO of Winning League Sports Technology, according to BirminghamLive.

Ren came to prominence at the Blues as the man who hired, and eventually fired Harry Redknapp after he went on a summer spending spree in 2017 that didn't bring results in.

It has been a series of relegation battles and bottom-half finishes under Ren's leadership and the calls for his axing have been getting stronger and stronger even with fans not allowed into stadiums, with protesting supporters travelling to Blackburn at the weekend to voice their disapproval of his work.

They've finally got their wish now as Ren has seemingly departed of his own accord and it could signal the start of a new era at St Andrew's.

The Verdict

This will be music to Birmingham fans' ears as many have wanted Ren out for a while.

There's been hardly any good times since he became the CEO and it could be the case that he was the bad apple that needed to be rooted out of the club in order for them to succeed.

Trillion Trophy Asia still remain as the owners, but the root of the problem in the eyes of many supporters has now been ousted and maybe now the Blues can progress into being a top-half Championship side.