• Gold and Sullivan hope West Ham ‘thrash’ Blues this evening
• ‘The spokesman for the football side should be the manager’
Alex McLeish will pin up David Gold and David Sullivan’s comments in the dressing room at West Ham United tonight to motivate his players. Gold said yesterday: “I really want to whack Birmingham” and the other former Birmingham owner Sullivan added, “I hope they get thrashed five-nil”.
Birmingham travel to Upton Park with McLeish admitting that he believes his team are safe from relegation after accumulating 37 points but West Ham are anything but secure. “I’ll pin them up,” said McLeish. “They’ve done my team-talk for me. Thanks a lot the two Davids.”
Although Sullivan and Gold appointed McLeish as Birmingham’s manager in November 2007, the relationship between the respective parties had started to break down following relegation to the Championship at the end of that campaign.
McLeish gave a flavour of the frustration he felt when he said that managers, rather than club owners, should offer their thoughts on the “football side”. McLeish said it is vital there are “some demarcation lines” to protect the spirit within the dressing room and claimed that Sullivan and Gold had crossed those during their time at Birmingham.
“In my experience in football, the spokesman for the football side should be the manager. I have always believed that and I still believe that,” said McLeish. “The game has changed. It’s showbiz. We’re in the biggest league in the world and it stands to reason that owners who put their own money into clubs should have a say. But there has got to be some demarcation lines in terms of team spirit and togetherness.” Asked whether Sullivan and Gold crossed those lines, McLeish replied: “A couple of times.”
Birmingham’s improvement in form has coincided with the change of ownership with Carson Yeung replacing Gold and Sullivan in October last year. Since then Birmingham have lost only twice in 19 matches, against Arsenal and Chelsea, with that remarkable run of form propelling the club to eighth in the Premier League and almost certainly guaranteeing another season in the top flight with 14 matches remaining.
“It’s a fantastic achievement because at the beginning of the season the pundits couldn’t see where the goals were coming from and they thought we would be relegation candidates. We’ve changed a lot of people’s minds,” said McLeish, who is expected to start with Kevin Phillips on the bench tonight despite the striker’s two goals against Wolves on Sunday and an ankle injury ruling out Christian Benítez.
Despite describing Birmingham’s position as “pretty secure”, McLeish expressed his confidence that there will be no easing off over the next three months. “There are players in the dressing room with aspirations of doing even better in the game and players who have been through it all and have been used to winning. People like [Barry] Ferguson, [Lee] Bowyer and [Stephen] Carr. They will be relentless.These guys will not down tools.”There will certainly be no shortage of incentive this evening. “It was important to get the victory over Wolves. If we had gone down there after a defeat, or having dropped points, we would have been a bit more anxious,” said McLeish.”But now we go there with relish and knowing that these three points are hugely significant. I know the fans are really desperate to win this one.”
Birmingham CityWest Ham UnitedDavid SullivanStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk
