Alex McLeish gets his Birmingham City backroom staf in place

Jul 24 2008 By Colin Tattum

BLUES today confirmed the appointments of key members of Alex McLeish’s backroom staff.

Tim Williamson has joined as head physiotherapist and Ben Rosenblatt named head of sports science and fitness.

The additions mean Blues manager McLeish’s quiet revolution at Wast Hills is all but complete.

Williamson was at Celtic for five years from 2002 and has also had two, two-year spells as head academy physiotherapist at Spurs, under George Graham, and Leeds United, when Roy Atiken was coach.

From Glasgow, 38-year-old Williamson studied for a degree at Queen Magaret University, Edinburgh, and worked part-time for a numbers of Scottish clubs, including Hibernian, covering reserve matches when McLeish and Andy Watson were there.

He replaces Neil McDiarmid, who quit to concentrate on running his private practice, and has enlisted Peter Shaw, formerly of Norwich City, as his assistant.

Rosenblatt, 23, from Finchley, London, had been working with the British Olympic Association and was due to fly out yesterday for the Beijing games but opted to join Blues as successor to Dan Harris, who is now at Albion.

A former semi-professional with Barnet, he attended University of Wales Cardiff and is currently studying for a PhD in sports science.

He has worked for UK Athletics and spent time with colleges in America.

The pair flew out to Austria for Blues pre-season tour, with Rosenblatt linking-up towards the latter stages.

At the start of the year, Dave Watson became Blues’ goalkeeper coach, joining McLeish and first-team coaches Aitken and Watson.

Masseur Chris Brookes and first-team kit and equipment manager Denis Butler remain from Steve Bruce’s regime.

Williamson said: “I’m delighted to be here at Birmingham and straight away you notice there’s a great atmosphere among the staff.

“It’s all new, it’s exciting as the manager is building a backroom team that I’m sure can go on and help the club get promoted, then stay in the Premiership.”