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Club Focus - Birmingham City - McLeish needs to get rhythm, or he will get the blues
Alex McLeish’s tacit admission that Birmingham will struggle to replicate the form shown this season in the subsequent campaign will - or at least should - resonate with the St.Andrew’s faithful. McLeish, who has overseen a concerted effort of excellence from Birmingham’s players this season, said in a press conference earlier this week: “In many ways we've probably done too well. The owners will expect us to get higher than that next season but if we want to get into the top seven, we need a massive amount of money. Next season will be harder because teams will be better prepared and will be ready for us.” Whilst pragmatically this assessment is completely reasonable and realistic, it will be difficult to repeat such a season.
McLeish’s reticence to heighten expectations for next year is a shrewd decision as it will act as a device to temper fans hopes for the upcoming season. Of course, this season is not over and attention should still be paid to the current campaign but it appears McLeish is looking forward. To speak of next season could be perceived in two ways - on the one hand, it is a good thing as it shows the success of Birmingham’s season that they can already look forward to another term in the Premier League in early April. On the flipside, it may intimate that Birmingham’s concentration is slipping slightly, something that is backed up by recent defeats.
It would be foolish for McLeish to allow his players to - excuse the cliché - take their foot off the gas. Indeed, McLeish himself seems to be reluctant to talk Birmingham up too early. The season is not over and as of yet, they have not cemented a top 10 finish - as McLeish said: “Teams will come up behind us, Everton, Fulham and likewise Steve Bruce's side and Tony Pulis'.” Said teams certainly are. On the 16th March, Birmingham were in 8th place, comfortably ahead of the chasing pack, but now Birmingham find themselves in a much tougher battle to finish in the top half. The idea of finishing in the top 10 will be one to enamour fans and players alike - if they do so, Birmingham will perhaps be the success story of the year and will catapult Alex McLeish as a favourite to win Manager of the Season.
If that award eventually lands in McLeish’s open hands, it will be one that has been thoroughly deserved. Despite recent waning of results, (down to complacency, tiredness or form) Birmingham have been spectacular. Without sounding condescending, on paper, the team do not even remotely mirror a side that would be capable of doing what they have done - an amalgamation of retired, Championship and ageing players seemed like a recipe for mediocrity and difficulties. However, somehow Alex McLeish has managed to orchestrate harmony amongst the ranks (recent media reports of unease between management and playing staff appear to be completely unfounded) which has culminated in two defeats at home all season, a 16 game unbeaten streak, a good FA Cup run and the emergence of Joe Hart, Roger Johnson and Scott Dann as future England players.
For that accolade, as the most successful side of the season, to be Birmingham’s, the Blues need to focus and produce the form that saw them draw against Liverpool. Their remaining fixtures are a mixture of the winnable (Hull City, Burnley and Bolton Wanderers) and the tricky (Manchester City and Aston Villa). Eight points should be enough to keep them in 9th place come to the end of the season and allow them to look towards next with great optimism and anticipation.
In the meantime, fans should carefully read the words of Alex McLeish when asked about next season’s expectations and chances of improvement: "I wouldn't say that, I think we have to be careful with that type of talk. Talk costs lives as they used to say. We certainly need to make sure we're a Premier League side at the end of next season because of the examples of teams coming up and having a good season and then taking a step back. That's something I'm mindful of. If we want to stay in the top half of the table we'll have to spend a bit of money."
Quite what he means by that is unknown - will Birmingham be a side that can draw against Liverpool and feel a little bit hard done by? Will they be competing with Liverpool for European positions? Or, will they stay where they are and cement themselves as a Premier League club?
See the full list of OLBG's free Football Tips here.
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