Birmingham City exclusive: Big Eck talks to Colin Tattum after two years in charge
Alex McLeish celebrates two years at St Andrew’son Saturday. Our man COLIN TATTUM fires questions at the Blues boss about his time in charge.
Two years on Saturday - has it gone as you expected, hoped?
Well, they say as you get older time flies past quicker and it just seems like yesterday when I came in, although there are some days you feel as if it’s an eternity. It has been a bit of a whirlwind because I came down from Glasgow and the first time I negotiated with the club with my representative, that night I moved into the Malmaison hotel - that was my ‘house’ - and never went back up the road for months. I was totally immersed into the Blues and the massive challenge ahead. I was always under no illusion. There was no respite and I tried to do everything I could to keep the club in the Premier League. I have been up in Glasgow maybe four or five times since, hardly a lot in the last two years.
Best memory so far?
The triumphant memory of Reading, on the last day of the Championship season when we won to get promotion. It’s hard to equal days like that in football. I have had a lot of successes in my life, some famous cup and league victories - both as a player and a manager - and that day was special because of the pressure we were under the whole season. We were Birmingham, every team wanted to beat us, the expectation levels were huge. There were other obstacles thrown in front of us and we kept the focus and our belief and probably fighting spirit got us through.
And regret?
We tend to move on. But I think I probably didn’t realise how big the rivalry was with Aston Villa, until after the heavy defeat [Blues lost 5-1 at Villa Park in April 2008, a result which shoved them closer to Premier League relegation]. I suppose that that was a real eye-opener because you tend to be blinkered and think there’s nothing like Rangers and Celtic - but that’s not true. That was a real shock, the reaction, the aftermath. I hope that we can bridge the gap between ourselves and Villa in the coming months and years.
What has the biggest achievement been?
That promotion, without question. It was a long season. The week after the Preston game [Blues lost 2-1 at home in the penultimate match, missing out on the chance to clinch runners-up position] was the longest of my life. Every night I woke at two or three in the morning wondering ‘should I have made that tactical
change?’ and things like that. I beat myself up over it. Andy Watson and Roy Aitken were telling me every day to get over it, we had a big game to win, our last one of the season. I just needed a few days and I told them not to worry as the players would see a real positive boss on the training pitch and in the dressing room. But I couldn’t help thinking the worst because the worst was that we then didn’t do it. What would be the consequences for the club? That’s all I kept asking myself. If we stayed in the Championship, with all the big wages we had, maybe legs getting a bit older . . . did I fear for myself? I have always been a team player. Many times as a footballer I’ve put the club before myself and played with injuries and things like that. The thing for me is that one of the biggest reasons for being in football is to make your own fans happy. That is a great thrill when you see them leaving the ground with a smile on their face and, of course, you are pleased for your team, staff and family. It has never been about me. I wasn’t concerned about losing my job. It might have been a possibility, but my worry was ‘what about Birmingham?’.
Premier League back then to your team in it now; what are the differences?
I think we have got more experience in the team. When I came and saw the squad I felt it lacked experience, a bit of steel. What we have added to the dressing room is that experience and bit of steel. We had a great big stalwart centre-half in Radhi Jaidi, but I felt the defence needed to be strengthened at that time. It’s taken me a year-and-a-half to do that. I still maintain had we got a Gary Cahill type, we would have been OK. It was a surprise to us, we took it for granted that Gary would be more attracted to Birmingham than Bolton. I could understand his thoughts and feelings on being seen as an Aston Villa reject. I don’t think it was about money. He has gone on to do well and I’m delighted for him. If he had come in, or I had got an experienced midfielder, we would have got that necessary point we lacked. This season, I’ve got a good connection with these players. There is a feel good factor. OK, that is down to results, and performance levels have been good. But I know the type of character in there. If I go through that whole dressing room, there are people with great attitudes.
You have encouraged and styled the team to pass the ball more?
It was a factor that perturbed me since coming, enhancing the quality of our play. In the Championship, we introduced the wingers [Quincy, then Scott Sinclair and Hameur Bouazza] to give us a new dynamic. It never really quite worked for us. Having the two wide ones narrow, like Keith Fahey and Seb Larsson or James
McFadden, we were more suited. Keith was the catalyst for us getting promotion when we moved him to the left. We had a good footballer there and as I wanted us to pass the ball, we had to get that guy into the team because he could keep the ball, you could trust him with it.
What was your relationship like with the old board? Steve Bruce has been quite scathing in recent times.
I have always tried to have the cup half full. It was an education, a different experience. They did things in a different way and I thought ‘well, I’m not going to change the board; I’m going to have to adapt’ and it was a new way or working for me. How? It’s not easy to go into this. They gave me the opportunity and I’m grateful for that. I don’t have any regrets whatsoever coming to Birmingham and whatever happens, it has been a great experience for me. You work with different people in different ways and the two Davids and Karren Brady, it was different from what I’ve experienced in the past. But all that’s private and I won’t ever write about it, prostitute myself and tell any tales about the last board or David Murray’s board or the Motherwell board or the Hibs board.
TOMORROW - Alex McLeish talks about the Carson Yeung regime, his and Blues future prospects.
