Heskey Fires Shot At Sullivan

Following his £5.5 million move to Wigan, Heskey has said he expects Blues to gain immediate promotion and also criticised Sullivan.

Heskey feels it was wrong of David Sullivan to berate the players following the clubs relegation from the Premiership.

‘He is the owner and he is entitled to his opinion, but every time he opens his mouth not everything that comes out is right.

‘I think he would do well to keep it shut.

‘Everyone was devastated about going down, none more so than the players.

‘You would have expected a squad like that to stay up.

‘But we had an incredible amount of injuries. The owner started to slag off the player which really didn’t help. Bit I felt we fought right to the end and never gave up.’

This really is a bit rich coming from a player who whilst earning an extraordinary amount of money managed to return only 4 goals. Maybe instead of blaming injuries Heskey would do well to look at his own performances and goals for the season which had at least as much, if not more, to do with why we were relegated.

On a lighter note, he does say some positive things about the club – maybe he just didn’t like Sullivan?

‘I think you learn from your mistakes and everbody has done that at Birmingham.

‘I think they can kick-on now. What they’re doing now is the right way to go about things but it’s probably two years too late, to be honest, which is a shame.

‘They’ve got a tough new fitness coach in, they are looking to players who can get about the park and are quick.

‘Birmingham have got a very good chance of getting back up, with the group of players they’ve got, if used correctly, they should be okay.

‘In fact, I do expect to be playing Birmingham the following season – in the Premiership.

‘When I was in the same division with Leicester City, we had a good blend. You need players to be able to put their foot in and tackle, but you also need quality to go with it.

‘I think Birmingham have that blend. In Damien Johnson, who was was deservedly player-of-the-season, you’ve got one of the most aggressive players around.

‘Then you’ve got players like Stephen Clemence, who will do a great job, and somebody with the ability of David Dunn.

‘The young lads Birmingham have got coming through, like Marcos Painter, Neil Kilkenny and Mat Sadler, have all got bright futures.

‘We all know Neil is a great passer of the ball and Sads in particular did brilliantly when he came into the side last season when we were struggling.

‘With Cameron Jerome and DJ Campbell as well, I believe Birmingham have an excellent chance.’

Speaking on the two strikers most likely to score more than he does this season he said:

‘Cameron is very quick, powerful and direct, I think he will do well, but you have to remember he is only young.

‘Not many people think about DJ because of where he came from, out of non-league. But he is a very, very good player. He is exciting, he has got pace and he causes trouble for defenders.’