Birmingham have granted Norwich permission to speak to manager Chris Hughton, Press Association Sport understands.

The Canaries are in the market for a new boss after Paul Lambert completed a switch to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Hughton has been heavily linked to the managerial vacancy at Blues’ neighbours West Brom but the 53-year-old is now set for talks at Carrow Road.

Hughton has spent little under 12 months at St Andrew’s having replaced Alex McLeish following the Scot’s controversial move to fierce rivals Villa.

That period has been a hugely successful one for the former Tottenham coach and Newcastle boss, who guided the Magpies to the npower Championship title in 2010 before harshly losing his job in December of that year.

Hughton has become a popular figure at Birmingham and is hugely admired by supporters, who look set for a difficult summer as the club’s uncertain financial future continues to provide concern.

Despite well-documented cash-flow problems and putting together a new-look side following their relegation from the English Premier League, Birmingham impressed in both the Europa League and FA Cup in the 2011/12 season before eventually finishing fourth in the npower Championship.

Hughton was unable to guide the midlands outfit back to the top flight, eventually losing 3-2 on aggregate to Blackpool in the play-off semi-finals.

But Norwich have seen enough to convince them Hughton is the right man to take the reins from Lambert and continue their remarkable rise up the football ladder.

Lambert guided Norwich to back-to-back promotions to take the club from npower League One to the Premier League, where he clinched a superb 12th-placed finish last term.

But that impressive progress attracted a host of admirers, including Villa.

Lambert’s subsequent resignation was rejected by the Canaries last Thursday but an agreement was reached on Saturday for the Scot to make the switch.