Alex McLeish set to discuss Birmingham City transfer budget

Dec 11 2007 By Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

ALEX McLeish is set to meet the Birmingham City board in 10 days' time to finalise his January transfer budget.

Chairman David Gold has admitted that manager McLeish will not know exactly how much he has to spend until just over a week before the window opens on New Year's Day.

McLeish will bring new players to St Andrew's next month in a bid to lift Blues away from relegation danger.

But the uncertainty created by Carson Yeung's proposed takeover of the club means he cannot yet be handed a definite sum of money.

However, McLeish has been told that once Yeung's seemingly doomed buyout fails to meet the December 20 deadline, then the board will be free to create a fund to spend on new players.

As things stand, McLeish will get a minimum £3million, a figure largely made up of the compensation package agreed with Wigan when Steve Bruce left the club and generated by the current board.

However, the St Andrew's directors are unable to plan for a period in which Yeung could, technically, still become the new owner.

McLeish is believed to want to buy left-back Gary Naysmith from Sheffield United and he has also been linked with a move for Rangers striker Kris Boyd.

Gold said: "Yeung has until the end of next week to complete the takeover and we have our doubts. If it fails, then we can assess the January budget for Alex."