Birmingham City's summer is getting worse and worse, and the departure of Garry Monk yesterday confirmed Blues' fans worst fears.

Monk had brought optimism back to a club which has struggled since dropping out of the Premier League in 2011. He played good football and produced winning results, despite being constrained by the budget.

Yet, despite that he has been sacked, the club state they want a manager with a 'fresh and modern philosophy', but it is more likely the two parties fell out about the direction the club is headed.

The direction is not a good one. Earlier this month the club sold one of its prized assets - Jota - not only on the cheap but to fierce rivals Aston Villa. That sends out a message that the manager isn't being backed and the club is not ambitious about getting back into the Premier League.

To make things worse, Che Adams also looks like he is set to leave for the Premier League this summer too, with Southampton interested. The only positive from that is it appears The Blues are holding out for quite a decent fee for a striker who has never played in the top-tier - with £16m the reported asking price.

Birmingham's inability to hold onto their best players will be met with frustration and perhaps anger by the fanbase, and rightly so. Birmingham's budget has been cut significantly in recent years and it is at a level where they can barely compete with their rivals.

Players with huge potential like Demarai Gary have been sold on in recent years on the cheap, and it seems that whenever a Birmingham player impresses they are shipped off.

Under Garry Monk, Birmingham could have built towards a play-off challenge, and the fans would have had some encouragement and something to be excited by - but they are now back at square one.

The new manager coming in will have a very difficult job on his hands. He will likely have to replace the goals lost from Adams and a key playmaker in Jota.

They may receive a great deal of money from those departures but considering the club has made a loss of £49m over the last three years that money is unlikely to be reinvested in the squad.

All in all, things are looking bleak for Birmingham fans once again. The new managerial appointment is crucial, he will need to win the fans over and get the club on the right track once again, otherwise relegation could loom.