Ex-Birmingham City whizzkid makes move as burning questions for Blues takeover raised

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Birmingham City fans who happen to stray onto coverage of the League Two play-off final between Port Vale and Mansfield Town will probably already be alive to the presence of a Blues player in the Stags line-up. Young midfielder Ryan Stirk will be hoping to round-off what has been a promising first season in senior football with an appearance on the Wembley pitch.

The Wales youth international has played 36 times for Nigel Clough’s team this year and at this stage in his career, the 21-year-old is set for a relatively early introduction to the sport’s most famous stadium. After being a regular for most of the campaign Stirk has been confined to bench duty in the last month.

However, Blues will have an interest in the Port Vale team too, in the shape of young goalkeeper Aidan Stone who is a Birmingham City supporter and by his own admission will be playing at Wembley for the first time – having only ever previously been to the venue as a fan: “Only to watch the mighty Birmingham City against Arsenal in the Carling Cup final, but I’ve never played there. So, I feel fortunate to be in a position to go and play there,” he told StokeOnTrentLive.

Stone was born in Stafford, grew up in Hednesford and played a lot of his junior football around Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent as well as representing Staffordshire at Under-16s. He was called up to the England schoolboys U18 team and picked up by Burnley but had plenty of competition there with England internationals, Nick Pope, Tom Heaton and Joe Hart all above him.

Former Birmingham City whizzkid Ronan Hale has signed for Danske Bank Premiership runners-up Cliftonville ending two years at Larne. The 23-year-old is once