Birmingham must sign players – boss

Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish has again stressed he wants to bring quality players to St Andrews – with Hibernian’s David Murphy, Everton’s James McFadden and Manchester City’s Georgios Samaras all linked.

McLeish also claimed he is confident that if he presents the board with three or four names, they will give him “the OK and rubber-stamp it,” and also warned that if “nothing changes, nothing changes,” so it is vital to sign new players this month.

The Birmingham Mail quoted McLeish as saying: “I have done a lot of diligence on players. Sometimes you can do too much and get nine positives and one negative, and you don’t go for the players because of that. Somewhere along the line you have to make a decision. I know that quality doesn’t come cheap, but we have to bring some quality in.

“The chairman, David Sullivan and Karren Brady, anything I have put into gear they have acted swiftly on. So that’s a good sign. If I can present three or four names I’m sure can make a difference to this team, then I would expect the board would give me the OK and rubber-stamp it.”

The newspaper suggested the bids that have already been submitted for Murphy and McFadden are expected to be increased. While both players have good points and bad points, an injection of new faces at the club would only be beneficial.

Meanwhile, Birmingham have appointed Dave Watson as the new goalkeeping coach. The former Barnsley player replaces Nigel Spink, who left St Andrew to join former boss Steve Bruce at Wigan.