ALEX McLeish has brushed off suggestions that Birmingham City would have secured Barclays Premier League safety by now had Steve Bruce remained with the midlands club.
And the former Scotland boss believes even Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho may have faced an uphill struggle to keep the Blues in the top flight had they taken charge when he did in December.
Bruce was bought out of his City contract by Wigan
in late November after becoming fed up with the uncertainty surrounding the club regarding the possible takeover by Carson Yeung which eventually never materialised. At that stage Birmingham had collected 11 points from 14 games and since then under McLeish have taken 21 points from 23 matches.
McLeish, whose side entertain Blackburn tomorrow, said: "I can't control what anyone else has said. That is hypothetical stuff. Steve Bruce could have stayed and taken Birmingham clear of trouble. That is definitely a possibility. But equally they could have been adrift. The challenge for me was to improve things and hopefully by the end of the season steer clear of relegation.
"Steve may have done that but it is all guess work and no-one can say for certain that is the case.
"Is it being disrespectful? I can't control that. I can't tell people what not to say. I've got to focus on the outcome for me, what my challenges are, and what my goal is."
McLeish added: "I don't think you can judge me until I get some time in the job. If Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho came into this job from December-January until now, you couldn't say they would have got the club clear of relegation. You couldn't say that for sure."
City must get at least a point against Blackburn and then hope Fulham and Reading fail to win away to Portsmouth and bottom club Derby respectively.
McLeish said: "It now comes down to the very last game. When I came in, I said this looks like a battle to the end and that's what we find ourselves in to the very last day.
"It is exciting, nerve-wracking. I am looking forward to it. The waiting is the worst part about it. We'd like just to get on with it and get it done.
"As a manager, I was relegated with Hibernian but it wasn't the end of the world. It could be the beginning here but, as I said, I'm focused on another outcome – Blues staying up."
Elsewhere,
Reading manager Steve Coppell has refused to confirm he will stay at the club should it be they who go down tomorrow.
The Royals know they must get a result at already-relegated Derby to have any chance of avoiding the drop. But even victory at Pride Park might not be enough as a Fulham win at Portsmouth would likely put them down anyway, with Birmingham's result also significant. When asked whether he would continue as manager whatever the outcome Coppell replied: "I can't say that. Let's get Sunday out of the way and we will go from there. That's not giving myself an out but my whole concentration is on Sunday.
."
Opposition manager Paul Jewell has already declared tomorrow a grudge match following comments by Royals coach Kevin Dillon that if Reading could not beat Derby they deserved to go down. Jewell has vowed to pin those words on the dressing room wall but Coppell said: "I have no problem with Jewelly. We have no axe to grind with anybody there."
The full article contains 601 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
