Birmingham boss Trevor Francis has abandoned his bid to sign Bradford City defender Peter Atherton.

Jim Jefferies had heard reports that the St Andrew's club were still interested in signing the right back, despite crashing out to Preston in the promotion play-offs.

But Francis, who went away on holiday today, has given up on trying to change the mind of the Birmingham board, who are against a move on wage and age grounds.

Francis was keen on bringing in 31-year-old Atherton, but the board are adamant they would only consider releasing the funds if Birmingham had been promoted to the Premiership.

Atherton, who last played for the Bantams against Aston Villa on February 3, was in line for a shock return in Claret and Amber colours last weekend at Coventry, but injured his knee in the play-off second leg two days before.

Jefferies said: "Peter is our player again and, with all the injuries we had, I would have considered him. But he had to come off for Birmingham at half-time after damaging his knee so he definitely couldn't have played."

Meanwhile, Lee Sharpe is on the brink of completing his move to Portsmouth.

Sharpe has been offered a two-year deal and is expected to sign after City offered to waive the £500,000 transfer fee.

Speaking from his holiday in Dubai, Sharpe said: "I want to come to Pompey but things are still getting sorted.

"I'm just waiting to speak to my solicitor so I can't say too much at the moment.

"The money side is being negotiated and hopefully we can have it all resolved as soon as possible. Then I can just forget about it and look forward to pre-season."

City chairman Geoffrey Richmond said: "Portsmouth have been promised an answer by the end of the week and they are quite confident."

Pompey boss Graham Rix said: "We are fairly close on a deal with Lee. He wants to come so let's get him down here and playing for us. The lad's obviously got real ability and now he's got his desire back."

Jefferies and chairman Geoffrey Richmond will appear together for a supporters forum at Valley Parade next week. The club will finalise the date shortly.