London, Oct 8: Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce fears for his job if the prospective takeover by Chinese businessman Carson Yeung goes through.

Bruce, one of the longest-serving managers in the Premier League having taken over in 2001, has been offered a new contract by the current board but after defeat by Blackburn Rovers yesterday said he did not know where he stood.

''I'm disappointed because I agreed something four or five months ago and (chairman) Mr Sullivan to be fair to him agreed that and tried to make it go through,'' Bruce told City's Web site (www.blues.premiumtv.co.uk).

''But at the moment it doesn't look like it's going to so I accept that. I'm very disappointed about it.

''The new regime have come back negatively on it so we'll see what develops over the newxt few months. I'm always aware that a new broom might want to sweep clean and I understand that.'' Birmingham are 13th in the Premier League with eight points from nine games.

The 47-year-old Yeung, based in Hong Kong, became the club's biggest shareholder in August when he acquired a 30 per cent stake through investment firm Grandtop for 30.5 million dollars.

At the time he said he was happy with the management structure.

Reuters>