Source: Team_Talk
McLeish puts safety first for Blues
irmingham manager Alex McLeish admits retaining the club's Premier League status represents the full extent of his ambitions.[LNB] Tipped as potential relegation candidates, Birmingham finished a surprising ninth on their return to the top flight last season thanks largely to a resilient defence in front of on-loan England goalkeeper Joe Hart, who also produced a string of outstanding displays.[LNB]Hart has since returned to parent club Manchester City but McLeish has added keeper Ben Foster from Manchester United and Serbia striker Nikola Zigic - both for £6million apiece - to the ranks, heightening expectations they can emulate or perhaps better last season's encouraging campaign.[LNB]McLeish, though, felt his men may have overachieved, underlining survival is the only thing on his mind and that further signings are critical if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.[LNB]When asked about his goals for the coming season, he replied:[LNB]"Finish in the Premier League again. I don't look at last season, we've got to now start totally afresh. These two guys have given us a bit of freshness but I'm looking for more signings, we can't rest on our laurels.[LNB]"If any player is down on their level from last year, the Premier League is unforgiving.[LNB]"Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, said this is [his club's] third year in the Premier League and he only wants to stay in the league.[LNB]"That's the target he's set for his players because if you do three years in a row, you're recognised as a Premier League team.[LNB]"We've only done it one year. People are expecting us to finish higher than ninth, which I think is ridiculous. There's a top seven that are pretty much untouchable and between the next 13 teams, it's a big battle.[LNB]"I'm looking at forward areas, my defence did pretty well last season," he added.[LNB]"I might need to bolster the left-back position or one of the centre-back positions because if one of them go down, the numbers are quite short, but certainly in forward areas."[LNB]Having again been linked with Liverpool winger Ryan Babel among others, McLeish also dismissed any concerns he did not have the funds available to improve his squad.[LNB]"The money's been good," he stressed.[LNB]"[Owner] Carson Yeung's backed us very well. We will try to bring in more players, the board have told me I would have the money for more players."[LNB]McLeish, who has confirmed the appointment of Peter Grant as first-team coach to replace the recently departed Roy Aitken, also expects former Valencia forward Zigic to prove the catalyst for his side to improve on last season's poor return of 38 goals.[LNB]"He's a big player, he's a different type of player, he's a big presence up front," said the Scot.[LNB]"He can hold the ball up, maybe allow other people to play around him and maybe we can score more goals because Zigic is there.[LNB]"Not necessarily Zigic to score all the goals but I think he will help other players. He's an international, he's got a good pedigree in Spain and I think he will enhance the squad."
