Birmingham city held on to a narrow victory against Coventry City in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Sky Blues capitalised on some poor home defending to take a 2-0 lead through Marlon King’s 18-yard drive and Richard Wood’s header from a corner.
David Bentley’s fierce drive reduced the deficit between the sides.
Stuart Parnaby fired in the equaliser from Alexander Hleb’s pull-back, before Kevin Phillips volleyed in the winner.
Birmingham city have revealed that they are pretty confident of signing Kenny Miller from the Scotland. The Midlands club had an offer of about £700,000 accepted by Rangers last week, but Fiorentina were also bidding to sign the Scotland international.
However, reports from Italy suggest that the Serie A club’s interest in the 31-year-old is cooling.
“We are still talking to Kenny,” said McLeish. “He has not rejected any offers as he keeps his options open.”
Miller has played under McLeish for Scotland and Hibernian and replied “I don’t like to say yes” when asked if he thought he would get another chance to work with the player.
Birmingham have also been linked to moves for Danny Welbeck and Gabriel Obertan.
Birmingham city have been posted by the news that Alexander Hleb is back from injury. The 29-year-old, who is currently on a season-long loan from Barcelona, has not featured since 27 November.
“I don’t think he had a full pre-season which is what you definitely need as a player,” said manager Alex McLeish.
“Alex is playing catch-up in terms of fitness but we’ve been encouraged by the work he has put in this last week. He is training well.”
Birmingham have been linked with bids for Franco di Santo and Albert Riera in the January transfer window.
Birmingham city manager Alex McLeish has said that is very calm about the club’s away from. Blues have failed to win away from St Andrews since beating Portsmouth in March and they have had to rely on their home form for the majority of their points.
However, McLeish insists he is not too worried as some of Birmingham’s results can be put down to bad fortune.
He is confident of picking up a victory against Midlands rivals Wolves at Molineux and moving into a more secure mid-table position.
Curtis Davies has been linked to Birmingham, along with Man City reserve goalkeeper Shay Given.
Kidderminster Harriers have signed Birmingham youngsters Lindfield and McPike on loan deal. Accrington Stanley frontman Craig Lindfield, 22, has moved to Aggborough on a month-long deal.
And young midfielder Mitch McPike, brother of injured Harriers trialist James, has joined from Birmingham City on a deal which expires on 1 January.
Both are available to make their debut for sixth-placed Harriers in Tuesday’s home clash with York City.
Lindfield began his career on the books at Liverpool, before turning out for Notts County, Chester City, Bournemouth, Accrington and Macclesfield, then returning to Stanley this summer.
Birmingham City boss McLeish says that he is sad to lose McFadden due to injury. The Scotland international sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage to his left knee in training on Friday and is now set to undergo surgery.
McLeish will then discover how long he can expect to be without McFadden, although Birmingham have already admitted the forward will be missing for the ‘foreseeable future’.
The manager believes McFadden was in the best form of his Blues career before the setback and he concedes news of the injury was hard to take. “It is a shame because I felt James was coming back to his best. He was looking really bright in training. His fitness regime has been fantastic. He is eating the right things,” said McLeish.
Birmingham City’s vice-chairman has been forced to backtrack his comments over manager Alex McLeish. Peter Pannu, Birmingham City’s vice-chairman, was forced into an embarrassing climbdown today when he claimed that he enjoyed a “phenomenal” relationship with Alex McLeish, 24 hours after accusing the club’s manager of making unreasonable contract demands and “not being totally tried and tested yet”.
Pannu, who had also suggested in his earlier remarks that McLeish was “no [José] Mourinho”, said that he had never intended to criticise the Scot and went on to claim that the two parties were close to agreeing a new contract that could be in place by next week. That stance contrasted sharply with the picture that Pannu had painted beforehand, when he claimed McLeish was “asking for a very large amount of money which I was not prepared to meet”.
McLeish, who led Birmingham to their highest top-flight finish in 51 years last season, when the club secured ninth place in the Premier League after winning promotion 12 months earlier, was disappointed with Pannu’s initial comments and it remains to be seen whether there is any lasting damage to their relationship. Pannu was understandably keen to stress that was not the case today as he tried to pick up the pieces from an embarrassing episode.
Birmingham are aiming to remain in the Premier League this season according to manager Alex McLeish. McLeish’s side were heavily tipped to be relegated last season, but surprised many by finishing in ninth place on their return to the Premier League, thanks to a miserly defence and a stellar season from on-loan goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Birmingham have seen Hart return to his parent club, Manchester City, but McLeish was able to acquire Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster and Valencia striker Nikola Zigic for £6 million each.
While some expect Birmingham to improve their shock ninth place finish, McLeish insists that he has one simple goal for the upcoming campaign.
“Finish in the Premier League again,” McLeish told The Sun.
“I don’t look at last season — we’ve got to now start totally afresh. These two guys have given us a bit of freshness but I’m looking for more signings, we can’t rest on our laurels.
“If any player is down on their level from last year, the Premier League is unforgiving.
“Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, said this is his club’s third year in the Premier League and he only wants to stay up.
“That’s the target he’s set for his players because if you do three years in a row, you’re recognised as a Premier League team.
“We’ve only done it one year. People are expecting us to finish higher than ninth, which I think is ridiculous. There’s a top seven that are pretty much untouchable and between the next 13 teams, it’s a big battle.”
McLeish intends to add some more players to his squad before they kick off their Premier League season at Sunderland on August 14.
“I might need to bolster the left-back position or one of the centre-back positions because if one of them go down, the numbers are quite short, but certainly in forward areas.
“We will try to bring in more players, the board have told me I would have the money for more players.”
Nikola Zigic has landed himself a tall order – finding the goals to fire Birmingham City upwards after completing a £6million switch from Valencia.
The giant Serbia striker has agreed a four-year deal with the St Andrew’s club, becoming Alex McLeish’s third signing of the close season.
Zigic stands at almost 6ft 8in – he doesn’t exactly dwarf Spurs’ Peter Crouch, but the England international has finally found someone in the Barclays Premier League to look up to. Albeit by less than an inch.
Birmingham City star Barry Ferguson feels he has proved his critics wrong after a successful first season at St Andrews.
Ferguson was brought to St Andrews last summer by his former Rangers and international boss Alex McLeish after a controversial final season north of the border.
The former Blackburn man has been instrumental in Birmingham’s surprise success this term and has been virtually an ever-present in McLeish’s starting XI.
The 32-year-old admits he has been happy with his performances this year and believes he has silenced a few of his critics.
“My form? I’ve been happy with it. I couldn’t have asked for any better.
“The gaffer gave me chance to come back down here and maybe shut a few people up and I think I’ve done that.
“It’s all about enjoying my football and that’s certainly what I’m doing.”