McFadden grateful to McLeish

15 September 2010 13:46
irmingham forward James McFadden has thanked Alex McLeish for showing faith in him despite recent criticism of him in the Scottish media.[LNB] The 27-year-old claims that he is as hungry as ever to do well at St Andrew's under the current manager.[LNB]McFadden was substituted at half-time during Scotland's 2-1 Euro 2012 qualifying win against minnows Liechtenstein coming in for criticism following a lacklustre performance.[LNB]However, the former Everton player responded by producing an eye catching display in Blues' goalles draw against Liverpool on Sunday.[LNB]But the Scot did not want to become embroiled in a war or words telling the Birmingham Mail: "I don't like to talk about it.[LNB]"A lot has been said and I don't think it's the time to talk about it.[LNB]"I came back and the gaffer was very nice and supportive of me and to me.[LNB]"He showed a bit of faith in me, putting me up front, and I thank him for letting me play there and just allowing me to get on with my job.[LNB]"As I said, I don't want to talk about anything else.[LNB]"I'm back, ready, and hungry to do well for Birmingham."[LNB]McFadden believes the club having been making huge strides under McLeish and he hopes they will achieve even more success this season.[LNB]"Last season, towards the end, we never got the results but I felt the performances were good, better.[LNB]"We had more confidence and we were starting to understand the way we played.[LNB]"At the start of the season, it was more about defending and being hard to beat. Towards the end we expanded a bit and played a bit of football.[LNB]"This year we've played decent football, we've been hard to beat - it's been a bit of everything.[LNB]"And there have been goals. In the first four games we've scored two or more goals each time.[LNB]"Everything's there. We just need to keep working hard and try to keep enjoying what we're doing."

Source: Team_Talk