Alex McLeish on the brink of signing new Birmingham deal

10 September 2010 16:52
Nearly there: McLeish is close to a new deal[LNB]Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has admitted he is close to finally signing a new contract with the midlands club. [LNB]McLeish started talks over a new deal before the end of last season after steering City to promotion and then establishing them in the Barclays Premier League. [LNB]But it is only now the former Scotland boss appears ready to put pen to paper on a new deal. [LNB]McLeish, whose side entertain Liverpool on Sunday, said: 'Talks have progressed and I'm just inches away from signing a new contract. [LNB]'The figures and everything are fine. We've just got to iron out the rough edges. We're pretty close and there are just a couple of technicalities - a release clause and that kind of thing - but it's not excessive from either camp and it's absolutely standard. [LNB]'Contracts are not something I like talking about in public, but it will be nice to get it resolved.'[LNB] McLeish admits the talks appear to have taken longer than expected to be concluded.[LNB] He said: 'I think it was just the timing of the announcement that we were going to have talks in the middle of a hectic season. [LNB]'We've kind of let things peter out until the end of the season and then we couldn't pin a date down because either my representatives were busy or (chairman) Peter Pannu's side was busy. [LNB]'That kind of wasted a lot of time, but, to be honest, we've only really sat down four or five times to talk about it.'[LNB] [LNB] New recruit: But Hleb (left) mat have to wait to make his Birmingham debut[LNB]McLeish has not completely ruled out recent signing Aleksandr Hleb for the game against the Reds despite him suffering a leg injury when on duty for Belarus against Romania in midweek. [LNB]And the City manager believes the former Arsenal player could have the same sort of influence as Christophe Dugarry, who spent a successful spell at St Andrew's under Steve Bruce. [LNB]McLeish said: 'He has the capabilities of doing that. His team-mates will want to show him how good they are. [LNB]'I saw him play for Belarus against Scotland a couple of times. They actually beat us once at Hampden Park and, on that day, he was very influential. [LNB]'We needed new players. We needed them because, if we get injuries or suspensions, we would leave ourselves short.'[LNB] Phillips out to make derby as Blues veteran eyes comeback at West BromSign up to our FREE Fantasy Football game - with £40,000 in prize money up for grabsALL THE WEEKEND BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM NEWSBIRMINGHAM CITY FC

Source: Daily_Mail