McLeish delighted with Barry extension

Alex McLeish admits he questioned if Barry Ferguson could cope with the pace of the Premier League before signing the midfielder last summer. Ferguson volunteered to come and train with the Blues and prove he still had plenty to offer last summer, before making his cut price switch from Rangers.It proved to be a wise signing by McLeish as Ferguson was voted Blues' player of the year, and he has now signed a new deal which will keep him at St. Andrew's until the end of the 2011-2012 campaign.McLeish, who managed Ferguson as Rangers and Scotland boss, said: "I'm delighted Fergie has signed the contract extension. I suppose he did better than I expected last season."I say that because I remember speaking to him last summer and saying I wasn't sure whether he still had the legs for the Premier League."I felt that because he's always been a guy who plays with his heart and soul, who plays through injuries and he has had a lot of bad injuries in his career."But he said 'I will come in and train with you, prove myself to you'. He was desperate to come and link up with myself and (coaches) Andy Watson and Roy Aitken."He was the type of player I really needed, someone who could take the ball. He was known in Scotland as someone who could get goals from deep."He modified his game with us but still knows the correct moment to move forward as we saw last season with his goals against Everton and Nottingham Forest (in the FA Cup)."Last season was amazing and Ferguson made a big contribution to that."Ferguson, who last week announced his retirement from international football with Scotland, said: "I loved my first season at Birmingham and I was more than happy to extend my contract by another season."I can now focus on the job I did last season - and try and do it even better. Before we left (for the pre-season tour of China), it was all agreed and I can now concentrate on another two years at Birmingham.Ferguson is aware the Blues face a big task to emulate last season when they finished ninth in their first season back in the Premier League.He said: "We need to step up a wee bit. Last season was great. Maybe we tailed off a bit towards the end but that normally does happen."We've got a big job to try and do what we did last season, better than last season but I believe the players we've got here, the characters we've got here are a good bunch."

Source: Team_Talk