CHRIS Hughton has expressed his delight that the door was left ajar for Colin Calderwood to join his Birmingham City staff.

And he insisted that the former Hibernian boss would strengthen and improve Blues.

Calderwood was appointed assistant manager yesterday, four months after he was initially targeted.

Blues could not agree a compensation deal with Hibernian but when Calderwood was sacked the move was revived.

However, given how well Hughton and first team coach Paul Trollope have done in picking up the pieces after the chaos post Premier League relegation, there could have been a danger that Calderwood’s position was not filled.

Hughton noted: “I have to be thankful to the club for that because what they could have said is ‘it’s worked very well with yourself and Paul, and we’d like to think we’re making some progress, that you don’t need to bring in an additional member of staff’.

“So I’m very thankful to the club for supporting me on that one and delighted to see Colin coming in.”

Former Northampton Town and Nottingham Forest boss Calderwood, who assisted Hughton during Newcastle United’s 2009-10 Championship-winning season, had no worries about Blues current off-field plight.

“If he had any concerns he didn’t tell me about them!” joked Hughton.

“No. He welcomed the opportunity. It’s not just about working with myself, but with the group of lads we’ve got.

“Coming here, he knows the standing of this football club, the name that we have. It’s an opportunity to get very much into the players and work for a club of this standing.

“Colin has got a very good reputation as a coach and of course a manager and I’m quite sure that it wouldn’t have been too long before there had been other offers for his services.

“That’s testament to what this club has to offer, the fact he chose to come here.”

“When you bring in an additional member of staff it’s not about us being able to do less as individuals, it’s about being able to do more,” Hughton added.

“He’s got great experience, as has Paul. He’s coached and managed and has a good knowledge of the game.

“The area we probably look at most is that he enjoys working with players and that’s an important part, where we all like to be, on the football pitch, developing players.

“But there’s lots of different aspects around this game – the recruitment side, bringing in the right players, the development group that we have, the Academy, one-to-one with the players, some of the work you can do behind the scenes.