Alex McLeish keeps Birmingham City on an upward curve
Colin Tattum reflects on Alex McLeish's first two years in charge of Birmingham City.
It was an aside made by Eric Black, that was perhaps the most enlightening endorsement of Alex McLeish when he left the Scotland national job to take charge of Birmingham City.
Black, who had resigned to follow Steve Bruce to Wigan Athletic after it became clear the Blues board would not be favouring him to step up from assistant at St Andrew’s, said the club was in good hands.
“You’ve got some quality people coming in, don’t worry about that,” said the former Aberdeen team-mate of McLeish’s.
Big Eck brought with him long-time assistant Andy Watson, another former Don, and ex-Celtic legend Roy Aitken, who had joined the pair in the Scotland dugout.
McLeish, on his first day in charge, cut an assured, measured figure, happy with the men around him and certain he could lift Blues again after things began to plateau out during the last couple of years of Bruce’s reign.
Some questioners at that unveiling press conference reckoned he was mad to come south for the first time to a club like Blues, especially as Scotland had only just narrowly missed out on qualifying for Euro 2008.
McLeish knew in his own mind that he had done the right thing.
“Sometimes the opportunities aren’t there,” he said. “You can’t wait forever for a chance. That’s as good a reason as any.
“Being an international manager, I was extremely proud. I am a patriot. A lot of things about the job were fantastic, even including the fact that there were big gaps [between games] and you’re not having the players every day.
“It’s still very glamorous and alluring, but the lure of the Premier League and the challenge of Birmingham was something I really fancied.”
Two years on, the “quality people” are more or less to back where they started at Blues, seeking to hoist the team away from the danger area.
Relegation at the end of those first six months was a tough dénouement for McLeish. Blues finished unbeaten in eight games at St Andrew’s, but were edged out of it by a single point.
A 5-1 demolition at Villa with four games to go was disastrous. McLeish’s reputation could have been damaged beyond repair.
Not so much that summer – he was only just into the job after all, and was granted some grace and leeway, particularly as Blues were nosediving when he came in.
But had McLeish not been able to catapult Blues back into the Premier League at the first attempt, then he probably would have had his chips.
Last season in the Championship, in many respects, has been the making of McLeish this side of Hadrian’s Wall.
