Hull City manager Grant McCann on imminent takeover by Acun Ilicali

Hull are reportedly close to a £30m takeover by Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali, but McCann said: “There’s been a lot of talk about it.

“I can’t control that. All I can do is control the players and the team.

“All I can do is focus on the group. We can’t control any of it. My only focus is on the team.

“We’re trying our best and trying to get better. We’re all still learning in this division.

“All I can do is focus on everyday life at Hull City. ”

Hull defeated Birmingham 2-0 courtesy of a controversial first-half George Honeyman goal that helped them climb out of the Championship relegation zone. Winger Ryan Longman appeared to have taken the ball out of play when he crossed from the left after 17 minutes. But linesman Akil Howson waved play on and Honeyman could not miss inside the six-yard box.

Birmingham’s cause was not helped on 43 minutes when Gary Gardner was shown a straight red card after a bad foul on Greg Docherty close to the halfway line.

Hull put the game to bed when Mallik Wilks headed home Keane Lewis-Potter’s smart back-post cross in the second half.

While Birmingham boss Lee Bowyer fumed about the refereering decisions, McCann focused on the performance of his Hull team.

“It’s been a pleasing day. It was a good performance from start to finish,” he said.

“It’s been difficult, with all the players that are unavailable, but for large parts of the game we were in control.

“It’s been a tough few weeks –we had all the fit defenders available that we could play here.”

On the first goal, McCann said: “You make your own luck. We got a wee bit of a break with that decision, but the most important thing was the performance.

“We don’t want to be where we are in the table, but there’s a long way to go. The players are getting better and better and I can see that.”

Bowyer blasted: “They (Hull) have been given a goal head start for nothing. It’s not acceptable. We want the right decisions.”

Hull City: Baxter, Bernard, McLoughlin, Greaves, Lewis-Potter, Smallwood, Docherty, Longman (Williams 72), Honeyman (Cannon 80), Magennis (Tyler Smith 72), Wilks. Unused substitutes: Ingram, Moncur, M Smith, Mills.

Birmingham: Sarkic, Sanderson, Marc Roberts, Dean (James 46), McGree, Woods, Sunjic, Bela, Gardner,Hogan (Aneke 78), Deeney (Jutkiewicz 61). Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Castillo, M Roberts, Oakley.

Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland).