Birmingham manager Chris Hughton was adamant the aftermath of his team's npower Championship play-off semi-final heartache at the hands of Blackpool was no time to discuss his future.

Blues hit back to claim an absorbing 2-2 draw in last night's second leg at St Andrew's, but it was the Tangerines who progressed to the final against West Ham at Wembley on May 19 having triumphed 1-0 in the first leg last Friday.

In the build-up to that encounter, Hughton said media talk linking him as the successor to England-bound Roy Hodgson at West Brom was just that.

And his stance had not wavered after Birmingham's 62-game season came to an end.

"It's very difficult for me to comment on anything because anything's that's been mentioned at all has always just been speculation," Hughton said.

"And I think it's probably not fitting at this moment."

He added: "I'm sitting here and everything that's been said about me has very much been speculation. It's certainly not the right moment because it's about a group of players. I'm as devastated as they are because we've got so close."

Hughton has performed superbly in his first campaign in charge at Birmingham, battling the club's well-documented cash-flow problems and putting together a new-look side which went on to perform strongly both domestically and in Europe.