Alex McLeish says run-in for Birmingham City was the same for Albion

Mar 19 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post

Alex McLeish has a managerial peer a short drive away who could talk him through the rigours of the latest anxious finale to a Championship season.

Reading’s victory at Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night coupled with the extreme unpredictability of this season’s promotion fight means that Birmingham City’s season is likely to go right to the wire.

Even though he may be a Championship rookie, McLeish admits it will come as no surprise to him as he monitored last season’s developments at the nearby Hawthorns from afar.

West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray may currently be distracted by a Premier League relegation battle but last season he was in the same topsy-turvy Championship boat that McLeish, Mick McCarthy and Steve Coppell find themselves in.

In the final two months leading up to their crowning moment at Queens Park Rangers, the Baggies found themselves boinging between fourth and first place in the league table.

As McLeish highlights, a team running away with the Championship title is fast becoming a rarity and he is aware that Mowbray would be an understanding figure at this time of year.

“You probably asked these questions of Tony Mowbray last year,” said McLeish when quizzed over why the Championship’s top three have stuttered. “So revert back to then and I’ll just agree with Tony.

“They (Albion) were generally regarded as the best team in the league and it panned out that way but it was topsy-turvy. I don’t think anyone has run away with the Championship apart from maybe three examples. Fulham, Sunderland in Peter Reid’s era and Reading but otherwise the Championship’s history has always been very tight.

“Everybody has stuttered and stumbled and I see similarities to last season’s race to the Premier League.

“West Brom one week were first, the next week they were fourth. It was a topsy-turvy top six or seven, even at this time last year. We still have it in our own hands, that’s the key.”

With both Birmingham and Wolverhampton Wanderers amassing 10 from the last 12 points possible in recent fixtures, the two West Midlands heavyweights appear to be rediscovering promotion-winning form.

However the race to the Premier League goes beyond the current top two and a run of form at this point of the season would be perfect timing no matter who it was.

“If that (a run of form) was to happen it would certainly be difficult to catch that team, especially if others were still having a patchy spell. Everybody will be thinking along the same lines: ‘let’s go on a run’. And if three or four do then it will be really interesting.”

“We keep saying every week that we want to shunt the other two (Wolves and Reading) back.

“I noticed that last year, just when you thought it was somebody’s last chance, lo and behold they had another opportunity the next week. That’s what this division’s like.”

nNorwich City, Birmingham’s opponents on Saturday, look set to have a bigger following than usual at St Andrew’s.

The club’s sponsor, Aviva, has laid on a subsidised travel service for supporters and 700 tickets had already been snapped up by yesterday morning.