Clark Hopes To Follow In Leicester City Steps

Birmingham manager Lee Clark has stated that he is hoping that the club can do a Leicester City and do well over the next few years after only narrowly managing to avoid relegation to the League One. Birmingham escaped the drop on the final day of last season, but he is now hoping that the last day relegation survival will now be a thing of past at the club. Leicester suffered a similar fate a few years ago, but they have now been promoted to the Premier league after winning the Championship with a record points tally.

The former Newcastle United star also said that his former club are struggling after the sale of Yohan Cabaye to PSG for around £ 20 million. Since then, Newcastle United went on a very poor run of form that would have seen them relegated had they played like that for most of the season. Birmingham will be hoping to strengthen the team in the summer despite the financial problems surrounding the club. It would be very important given that the club need to sort out the absence of Federico Macheda, whose goals towards the end of the campaign proved vital. The striker has since signed for Cardiff city on a permanent basis.

“I’m hoping the next five years can be like that. When we survived at Leicester that day and avoided relegation, the next five or six years were like being on the rollercoaster as Kevin called it. We were going up and never came down which was good because I’m not really a fan of rollercoasters going down. You want to progress each year. There wasn’t transfer windows as such then. I wouldn’t mind following that path that’s for sure,” said Clark.
Newcastle are widely expected to sack Alan Pardew after six defeats on the bounce.

Birmingham Happy With Relegation Avoidance

Birmingham city manager Lee Clark was delighted man after his Birmingham team managed to avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth. Birmingham came into the final weekend in the championship as one of the teams involved in the relegation dogfight. For long periods of the match against Bolton Wanderers, it looked like they would be relegated to the third division of English football. This was primarily because they were looking totally out of the picture after conceding two goals in the second half.

A defeat would have seen the teams of six consecutive defeats, which would have been a major reason towards their relegation. However, Birmingham completed a remarkable turnaround by scoring two goals in the second half. The second goal especially was much more difficult, as it came into injury time. This meant that Birmingham have been able to survive in the championship on goal difference. Doncaster Rovers also have the same amount of points, but they will be relegated due to an inferior goal difference.

After the match, Clark was delighted man. Relegation would have crippled the club, which has already been suffering with a lot of financial problems. Clark has stated that the club can hope to build for the next season and avoid relegation trouble throughout the campaign.

“You know what, not once could you say that about these players, that they didn’t care. And that’s why fans have stood by them. They have supported them because they see the effort has been there. None of them have ever not tried in the games or on the training pitch. Yes, we have lacked quality at times and have had very disappointing days. We have had too many disappointing days, of course we have. But this group have always given their best,” said the manager after their championship status was confirmed.