Colin Tattum's Birmingham City pre-season report
It’s a nice turn of phrase that encapsulates the requirement this season for Blues.
“We’re aiming to finish in the top 17,” says Alex McLeish.
Nothing outlandish, nothing defeatist; just about right.
It’s old territory for a Blues manager to be planning for the Premier League straight after promotion from the Championship.
Blues were relegated in 2006, finished Championship runners-up in 2007; they were relegated in 2008, finished Championship runners-up in 2009.
It’s a cycle that has to be broken, yet it’s new territory for McLeish, who came to the job midway through Blues’ last depressing descent.
McLeish is a quietly analytical person, and he’s been sure in what he has done since that glory day at Reading in May.
Last season, he built a team on the hoof purely to get out of the hell hole that was the Championship.
The pressure was huge. Blues faced ‘Armageddon’ if they failed, David Sullivan claimed.
For the Premier League, McLeish has had to address some of the ills that have undermined Blues in recent years, and the board have also had to push the boat out a little further from the harbour.
Defensively, McLeish has been desperately trying to secure the right centre-half or centre-halves since January 2008, when Gary Cahill left Blues up the proverbial creek.
