Blues dropped to the npower Championship after a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on a tense rollercoaster of an afternoon at White Hart Lane.

Birmingham were on course to maintain their top-flight status after going in goalless at half-time before Roman Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring for the Londoners after the break to put the visitors in the drop zone.

Craig Gardner then dragged Birmingham above water but they soon found themselves destined for relegation again when Stephen Hunt scored in the 87th minute of Wolves' game against Blackburn.

That goal meant Mick McCarthy's side climbed out of the bottom three at Birmingham's expense.

McLeish then sent his entire team on the attack looking for the equaliser that would have kept them up, but Pavlyuchenko added a second to seal the visitors' demise.

It was the second time that McLeish had gone down with Birmingham, but he said that this year's relegation was the worst moment in his 17-year managerial career.

"It's probably the worst moment of my career because I have been in charge of the team the whole year," McLeish said.

"They're my lads. I picked them. I built the squad and it's a low for me in my career but it's not a fail. I will bounce back."

Birmingham hardly created a chance in the first half but responded well to Pavlyuchenko's opener and had opportunities to snatch all three points in the second period.

Blues owner Carson Yeung sat in the stands at White Hart Lane wincing with every chance Birmingham missed.

McLeish will meet with the Hong Kong businessman this week to discuss his future but the former Scotland manager insists he wants to remain in charge at St Andrew's.

"I have a good contract. As far as I'm aware I will be honouring that," McLeish said.

"I will chat with the owner during the week and we will see what the game plan is with everybody."

McLeish now finds himself in the bizarre situation of being in charge of a team who qualified to the Europa League but will be playing in England's second tier next year.

The Birmingham boss admits having to rely on other teams' results meant the nature of the club's relegation was hard to take.

"I was in a bit of trance with everything that was going on," McLeish said. "It's hard to describe the emotions."

The 52-year-old saw his side's form nosedive after their Carling Cup final win over Arsenal, winning just one of the following 13 matches.

He admits that injuries to key players like Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins in the second half of the season cost them dear.

"They were mitigating circumstances. Everyone has had injuries but I think we had it worse than most," he added.

"But had that goal not gone in at Wolves this would have been the greatest season in Birmingham's history."

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp admitted that he felt mixed emotions at the result.

Redknapp was proud of his players for cementing the fifth-place finish, but conceded that seeing a fellow colleague drop down a division was hard to stomach.

"I get on great with their manager. I think he is a top-class fella'," Redknapp said.

"The last thing I wanted was to put him down.

"To be honest with you I didn't know what they were doing pushing (defender Roger) Johnson forward at the end when it was 1-1. I said to Alex, 'Is a draw not good enough for you?' and he said 'No, we need a win because Wolves scored'.

"It was all changing minute by minute. Ian Holloway has gone down and what an amazing job he has done at Blackpool. It's hard on him. How did Wolves stay up when they were 3-0 down?"

Redknapp has never hidden his dislike of the Europa League and admitted that he may field a second-string team in the competition to ensure that the club have the best possible chance of claiming a top-four position next season.

The 64-year-old is relieved, however, to have made the competition through the league and not through the fair play table, which would have seen Spurs have to play their first qualifier on June 30.

He said: "That would have been ridiculous. It kills your Premier League season. It's the last thing you ever want if you are looking to have a push again so that was important that we didn't go into that."

Peter Crouch could be a doubt for England's Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland next month after coming off in the first half following a clash of heads with Curtis Davies.

"Crouchy had a bit of concussion I think," Redknapp said.

"He got a terrible black eye. I don't know if he'll be fit for England. They (the medical staff) are looking at him now."