Jerome came off the bench to help Blues to a 4-1 home win over Blackburn, although wins for Fulham and Reading doomed them to relegation from the Premier League.

But the England Under-21 striker had not even been named among the substitutes until James McFadden suffered a reaction to his knee injury during the warm-up.

Jerome had actually left the ground to pick up his family from the railway station.

He played the majority of the first half of the campaign in the starting line-up, often as a lone striker, but has had few opportunities in 2008.

Jerome said: "I haven't been in the team since January and, when I was in the team, we weren't in the bottom three. Football is all about opinions and the manager hasn't played me, for whatever reason, since the beginning of February.

"There is nothing I can do if I don't play. I have to look at my situation, sit down with my people and my family, and discuss it. Football is a funny game and anything can happen.

"But I've not been happy to be on the bench for the second half of the season so we will have to see how it goes. We will assess it in the summer.

"I would be prepared to play for Blues in the Championship. I have two years left on my contract and I was relatively happy here until I wasn't playing.

"If you speak to anyone in football, they will say they are not happy if they are not playing."

As for his departure from the ground before kick-off, Jerome said: "I wasn't in the 16 and I was peed off so I went to fetch my family from the station. I was on the way back when I had a call to say James McFadden was injured."