Alex McLeish scoffs at suggestions of conflict with the Birmingham City board

Feb 25 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

Alex McLeish

ALEX McLeish today stressed he had made no demands of the Birmingham City board during preliminary contract negotiations.

The manager has been perplexed at suggestions he would only put pen to paper on a new deal if he had complete control of transfers and scouting.

The case of Estudiantes striker Mauro Boselli has been highlighted as a bone of contention.

Before the January window shut, football consultant Sammy Yu was working on a deal for the Argentinian as other moves fell through.

But McLeish said he would only entertain a loan because he didn’t want the club to commit money ‘blind’ on a player he did not know enough about. No agreement could be reached – Boselli is jointly owned by Estudiantes and Boca Juniors, which made negotiations complicated.

That was accepted by Carson Yeung and the Blues president, chief executive Michael Dunford, plus vice chairman Peter Pannu, have all stated since the change in ownership that McLeish has the final say on players.