Birmingham City: McLeish on THAT £5m
McManaman was made an executive director of Grandtop in July 2007.
A mooted, unspecified role for him in the new Blues regime cut no ice with McLeish.
Asked if he wanted clarification or felt threatened, he replied: “We have to wait and see what happens. It’s speculation just now and I would need to know all their plans. So it’s better not making any comments about it.”
In 2007, McManaman rang Bruce to stress that he wasn’t after his job after rumours persisted he was being lined up for the hot seat.
McManaman’s role at Grandtop has been largely been PR, to provide Yeung and the company with prestige in the Far East, but also to advise on players.
He indicated to Bruce and Blues that he could arrange the loan of Esteban Granero, who has since broken into the Real Madrid first team after they exercised a buy-back option from Getafe this summer.
Sammy Yu, Grandtop’s chief operating officer, said of McManaman at Monday’s media conference: “Of course, when we have an icon like that, we hope he can donate and contribute his knowledge about football to the club.
“I’m quite sure he will be part of us in the day-to-day operation. It’s too early to confirm his position yet as we’ve been concentrating on the [takeover] deal. But surely he will be our ambassador.”
