Birmingham City manager Garry Monk has revealed that the primary aim for the club remains to stay in the Championship.

The Blues were a pre-season tip for relegation before the start of the season with many bookmakers, but currently sit closer to the play-offs than they do to the relegation zone.

"Every point at this moment in time is to safety," Monk revealed to the club's official Twitter account.

"Our ambition at the start of the season was to make this Club finish in a much more comfortable position that we have been in previously.

"That would be a huge achievement in itself if we could do that this year."

Birmingham currently sit in ninth place on 30 points, just four behind Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, who currently occupy the final two play-off spots.

But having finished 19th last season it is perhaps understandable that Monk is not shifting his attention to a play-off push just yet.

This Saturday sees the Blues face off with Bristol City at St. Andrew's as they look to continue their unbeaten home record.

A win could see them close the gap on Chris Wilder and Aitor Karanka's sides to just one point and pull one step closer to safety.

The Verdict 

This is wise from Monk.

He will know that the chances of them going down now are incredibly slim but saying the opposite keeps everyone in and around the club very grounded.

If he had come out and said they were pushing for the Premier League people would go into meltdown.

Thoughts? Let us know!