This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City have made the decision to put the club's Senior Professional Development Coach Steve Spooner alongside Craig Gardner in charge of the Blues for their clash v Stoke on Sunday.

This news comes after Pep Clotet's decision to end his spell at the Blues, with the club still at threat of relegation to the third tier.

Do you think this management duo is the right decision for the short-term?

The team here at FLW discuss....

George Harbey

I think it's probably a wise decision.

Both of them have been heavily involved in the first-team this season and they have a close relationship with the players, and they will be hoping that that can be key as they look to pick up all three points against Stoke at the weekend.

This could be a perfect opportunity to appoint a new manager for good, though. If they bring in a replacement for Pep Clotet now, then he could get to know the majority of his players and get to grips straight away, which could bode him well ahead of pre-season and next season.

I wouldn't be against the idea of them appointing a caretaker boss either, though, as Blues aren't clear of relegation just yet and they need someone to steady the ship.

They will look to bring fresh ideas to the table and help pick Blues up after a couple of disappointing results since the season's restart.

Do you know what shirt number each of these 14 Birmingham City players wear? Have a go now!

George Dagless

I think so.

With so little time between matches, it makes sense to just go with this set-up at the weekend and then look to get someone else in ready for the final games of the campaign.

To be honest, if they get a result at Stoke I could see the pair staying in charge to see the campaign out and then the Blues will assess things in the summer.

The club needs a manager to come in and really set the foundations for long-term success but with the way the club is ran at the moment it strikes me that not many established names will fancy it.

Alfie Burns

The pair have been around the club for a decent period now and it makes sense for them to just oversee things for a short time, but is this a sign of things to come at St Andrew’s?

The decision that sees Clotet leave Birmingham isn’t much of a surprise given he was set to go at the end of the season, with Spooner and Gardner tasked with just steadying the ship a little in the coming games.

A fresh pair of eyes on the job might work well for Birmingham and I’ve got this funny feeling that if we see a positive end to the season, the pair might be involved in the talk surrounding Clotet’s permanent successor.

Birmingham have hardly made good process in regard to searching for Clotet’s replacement yet and they might stumble across a duo that sit right under their nose.

I question whether a Spooner-Gardner combination is the right thing moving into next season, but you can’t have too many complaints with them given a chance.