Birmingham City: McLeish needs more time to make his mark

Oct 1 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

Alex McLeish

ALEX McLeish said he was not yet satisfied that he had truly put his stamp on the Blues team.

McLeish, coming up to two years in charge at St Andrew’s, said relegation from the Premier League knocked back his long-term plans.

The Blues boss insisted that the current team, however, was better than the side he first took under his wing, and failed to beat the drop in 2008.

“It was a bit inexperienced, that squad I inherited,” he said.

“I felt that we needed more experienced players in the run-in, and we didn’t get them, the ones I was looking for. So we’ll never know how things might have turned out.

“If I could have got a couple of players... but that was the difference: lack of experience and maybe in terms of passing ability in the team, we lacked that a little bit in that respect too.

“It’s getting there,” he continued.

“It’s not an overnight job when you’re trying to stamp your own mark on it and put the team together you want to play.