McLeish's Signings – Hit or Miss?

Coming off such a great season last term, how did we get it so wrong this time around? Well, McLeish's signings didn't help. Here I look at all of this season's signings and have a quick look at how they did. It doesn't make for great reading.

Matt Derbyshire (Loan)

What a disappoint Derbyshire turned out to be. Many Birmingham fans remembered him from his Blackburn days and whilst he never looked to be anything special, he seemed a handy player. It's probably a bit harsh on him as he never got a run in the side but whenever he did play, he wasn't very good. Put it this way, he was kept out of the team by a 'striker' who scored 3 league goals all season. Won't be missed.

Nikola Zigic (£6m)

Zigic was signed before the World Cup and Birmingham fans watched on in horror as he had a terrible tournament. His first couple of months at the club weren't great; many fans thought he was more of a comedy act than anything but Zigic proved them all wrong. He's a very good technical player, but unfortunately for him, McLeish played totally the wrong tactics. Birmingham needed a big man who was strong, could hold up play and win headers. Although Zigic is 6'8'', he's not great in the air and far better on the deck which made the decision to hoof it up to him at every opportunity a very puzzling one. Will be sold in the summer as he's probably the highest earner at the club and he wouldn't stand a chance in The Championship. Didn't see the best of him.

Enric Valles (Free)

Many will be wondering who this man is and I had to check on Wikipedia that he was still at the club... Would be surprised to see him still on the books next season. Anonymous.

Alexander Hleb (Loan)

One of McLeish's most baffling signings. Did anybody realistically think that a player like Alexander Hleb would fit in Birmingham's team? Of course not. I've no idea what McLeish and Hleb himself were thinking. Hardly ever played and when he did, he was very underwhelming. There's no doubt that Hleb is a very good player but he was surrounded by players that were used to McLeish's style of play and that doesn't involve much passing. Didn't help himself by constantly moaning about how much he didn't want to be at the club. Bizarre.

Jean Beausejour (£4m)

Beausejour was the most misused player this season, mainly because McLeish never played him. We were begging for some pace on the wings, Sebastian Larsson is pedestrian and whoever played on the left (Fahey/Bowyer) were also slow. We had no injection of pace and I can't remember the last time we scored from a cross so when we signed Beausejour I was very happy. Nearly every time I've seen him come off the bench, he's looked lively. He's strong, relatively quick (well, compared to the others) and has a good cross on him. Which is exactly why McLeish decided not to play him. Reminds me a bit of when McLeish refused to play Mauro Zarate the last time we got relegated. Creative players have no chance under McLeish. I feel sorry for Beausejour as he deserves a lot better.

Martin Jiranek (£500k)

Brought in mainly to cover for Scott Dann and Roger Johnson. Even though he had Champions League experience and loads of international caps, McLeish thought David Murphy was a better option. After Dann got injured for the remainder of the season, McLeish opted to play Murphy (who is, by the way, the worst defender I've seen in a Birmingham shirt) at left-back and put the error prone Liam Ridgewell at centre-back. After a few games of this not working, McLeish finally cottoned on (he's normally quite slow on the uptake) and started playing Jiranek alongside Johnson. The rest as they say, is history. Jiranek helped Birmingham win the Carling Cup with a terrific display and hardly put a foot wrong in a Birmingham shirt. Has now left the club but I wish him the best in the future.

Ben Foster (£6m)

McLeish's signing of the season (not exactly a worthy accolade but still) and a shrewd bit of business. Much like we did with Joe Hart, Birmingham have brought Foster back into the limelight as one of the best keepers in the Premiership. If it wasn't for Foster, we'd have been relegated weeks ago and he's another player who made a big contribution to the legendary Carling Cup victory. Kicking is suspect at times and sometimes does some crazy stuff but on the whole, he's a pretty good goalkeeper. I wouldn't expect him to stay with us as there are several Premiership clubs in need of a good goalkeeper and he's far too good for The Championship anyway. Not quite Joe Hart but not far off.

Curtis Davies (£3m)

It's hard to comment on Davies just yet, he was signed from Villa as cover for Johnson and Jiranek and as the latter picked up some knocks, he began to feature. Of the games he has played, he's been poor in almost all of them. This is a player that didn't play for a while before he joined the club so it's unfair to be overly critical. I suspect he'll be starting for the club next season when either Johnson and/or Dann leave this summer so the jury will be out until then. Definitely not a signing that helped towards staying up though.

Obafemi Martins (Loan)

Martins didn't feature much for Birmingham at all but will go down in history as the man who scored that goal. If he had played more, I'm not sure he would have contributed much. Another player that doesn't particularly suit our style of play, much like Hleb. That's one of the more frustrating things about McLeish in the transfer market, he does all this 'due diligence' and then signs players that clearly don't fit into his style of football. Madness.

David Bentley (Loan)

He thinks he's good. He's not.

So there you have it, apart from Foster, none of McLeish's signings this season contributed much if anything to the cause. Not all of it is the players' fault, a lot of the blame has to fall at McLeish's door for signing the wrong players or refusing to play the right ones. It'll be interesting to see who he signs this summer seeing as it looks as if he'll stay. Here's some advice Alex: sign some players who will fit into the side and get some players with pace because I'd bet that you're quicker than a quarter of our squad. Thank you.

Arsene Wenger – The Longest Running Joke in English Football

Arsene Wenger continues to give football fans all over the country a good laugh as the circus at Arsenal shows no signs of packing up and leaving town.

Most people will have seen Monsieur Wenger embarrass himself yet again on Sunday as he pretended to swat a fly in Kenny Dalglish's direction. This was after Emmanuel Eboue climbed all over – and then jumped on top of – Lucas Leiva and gave away a penalty even Arsene would have trouble defending.

But defend it he did. Not only did he have a go at Dalglish (who subsequently waved his arm back at Wenger) but then showed no intent to shake hands as Dalglish walked off with his integrity still in tact.

Wenger was his usual self in his post-match interview. He manages to see everything when it occurs against his team, even when he's about 60 yards from the incident with 20 players in between. Why haven't Specsavers snapped up Arsene? He'd be brilliant in some advertisements.

Anyway, I digress. I used to have respect for Wenger but most of that disappeared out of the window when he claimed Martin Taylor should be banned for life after Eduardo broke his leg at St Andrew's back in 2008. Wenger made slightly tamer remarks about Ryan Shawcross when Aaron Ramsey broke his leg against Stoke but the Frenchman is always causing controversy.

Birmingham have been a bit of a bogey team for Arsenal in the past few years and beat the Gunners in the Carling Cup Final. A wonder strike from Obafemi Martins sealed a magnificent 2-1 victory in which Blues were the better team. Wenger would rather get his eyes tested than admit an opposition team were better than them.

Since Wenger's trip to St. Andrew's last season (with Arsenal I may add, not a day trip or stadium tour. Although that's the only way he'll see some silverware this season.) Birmingham fans have been 'doing the Wenger' on a variety of different occasions. This involves fans flapping their arms in the air wildly, just like Mr. Wenger himself.

It's a shame really as at the end of the day, Wenger is a top class manager. He's done a terrific job at Arsenal but after he finally leaves the Gunners (hopefully not soon), he'll be known not as a brilliant manager but as a bit of a joke.

The man that never sees anything against his side. The man that has the audacity to moan about the likes of Birmingham and Stoke playing physical football when Arsenal are 2nd in the 'Worst Disciplinary Record League' (Birmingham are 17th and Stoke 11th). The man that with every passing season is losing every last grain of respect football fans have left for him. It'll be time for Arsene to hang up his bitterness soon but until then, we should all revel in one of the biggest jokes English football has ever seen.

Take a bow, Mr. Wenger, but just don't fall over like you've taught most of your players to do.

BBC Sport Standards Sllipping

Here is the BBC Sport match report for tonight's Everton vs. Birmingham game. The original can be viewed here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/9415280.stm but beware, it's not a pretty sight.

In just short of 550 words, I managed to find 11 errors in this piece which the BBC deemed of sufficient quality. This was composed by an experienced journalist too...

Dutchman John Heitinga scored a delightful goal as Everton drew with Birmingham at Goodison Park.

Blues took the lead in the first half when Jean Beausejour outjumped Tony Hibbert to head past Tim Howard from about six yards out. (I’m not sure why estimations are being used here. Either you should state how far out he was or use a generic terms such as ‘close range’.)

Heitinga equalised in stunning style when he curled into top left from the edge of the area, the shot beating Lee Bowyer who was stood on the line.

The result moves Blues out of the relegation zone and above West Ham.

It was a peculiar game which never settled into a pattern but at least produced a brilliant strike and one very amusing turn by referee Peter Walton.

Neither side had much to laugh about in the opening 10 minutes when both Everton's Mikel Arteta and Birmingham's David Bentley came off with leg muscle injuries.

It was rotten luck for the Toffees, in particular, because Arteta now joins fellow midfielders Marouane Fellaini, Tim Cahill and Phil Neville on the sidelines. (Birmingham have Keith Fahey, Barry Ferguson and James McFadden injured so not much difference at all.)

Everton had controlled the first few minutes, bar a good save from Howard to deny Cameron Jerome, and the arrival of replacement Seamus Coleman did not affect their dominance.

They tested Blues (this should be either Blues’ with an apostrophe or ‘the Blues’. Ben Foster hasn’t been used yet so not sure why he hasn’t been referred to here.) keeper with a Leon Osman header and a low shot from Jermaine Beckford, but before they could break down the door with a third attempt, the visitors took the lead.

It was Mutch (first mention, should be the full name.), handed a start by manager Alex McLeish, who found Beausejour on the edge of the six-yard area. The Chile forward footballer (the Chile forward footballer doesn’t make sense) leapt above Tony Hibbert (Tony Hibbert has already been mentioned in full so it should be Hibbert only; no need for the surname after first mention.) to head in.

Everton kept their cool and continued to press, with Beckford going close again when he failed by fractions to get on the end of a floated delivery from Coleman.

But home fans did not have to wait long for the equaliser - and what an equaliser it was.

Osman swung in a corner to right side of the area (should be ‘towards the right side of the area’ or at least ‘to the right side of the area’), which Cameron Jerome managed to clear to the edge of the area. Few would have put money on Heitinga to curl in (in isn’t needed here, sentence sounds awkward with it included) the loose ball into the top corner, but that was the outcome which lifted a previously subdued Goodison Park.

Cheers turned to laughs when a few minutes before the break, referee Peter Walton pulled up Jordon Mutch (full name should have been used in the first mention, not here) for a foul on Louis Saha. The Northamptonshire official searched his pockets for a yellow card but failed to find one and instead mimed the action.

Birmingham had been on the backfoot for much of the first half and that situation did not change in the second half.

In fact, Blues failed to trouble Howard even once during that second period, although the home side were not exactly laying siege on Foster's (first mention, should be Ben Foster) goal.

Balls were swung in from all angles, but the closest Everton came to taking the lead was when Mutch flung his body at the ball to deny Louis Saha (Saha has already been mentioned, no need for first name) and when Beckford's twists and turns in the area resulted in a close-range snap-shot saved by the Birmingham keeper.

The final whistle was met by muted applause, which was a deserved response for a match that failed to spark into life.

Birmingham Suffer Wembley Hangover

Birmingham City suffered one hell of a hangover as they were outplayed and subsequently beaten 3-1 by West Brom at St Andrew's.

It was almost inevitable that Blues would struggle and they certainly did. Five of the Wembley heroes were absent from the line-up which obviously didn't help matters.

Martin Jiranek, Barry Ferguson and Craig Gardner were all missing through injury; Sebastian Larsson and Nikola Zigic were dropped.

The impressive Jiranek was replaced at the heart of the defence by Curtis Davies who looked sluggish. The recent signing from rivals Aston Villa made some good interceptions but his slip up led to the second Baggies goal in a game he'll most likely want to forget.

Alex McLeish had to rearrange the engine room and Keith Fahey played in Ferguson's role alongside Lee Bowyer. Fahey had a decent game but Blues' performance really showed how much they rely on Ferguson. Larsson was replaced by David Bentley who was cup-tied for the final. Bentley struggled to the get in the match and played half of the game on the left hand side. Jean Beausejour played on the right, both men playing on the opposite wing, a tactic I've never been a fan of.

The most baffling decision was dropping Zigic. The Serbian giant bullied Arsenal's defence but McLeish obviously thought that the Baggies back line posed more of a challenge.

The Scot opted for a 4-4-2 formation with Obafemi Martins and Cameron Jerome up front. Both men were completely ineffective but lasted the full 90 minutes. Martins didn't have much of a chance as most balls to him were in the air and his diminutive frame had little opportunity to turn and run at the sluggish Baggies defence. Jerome was his usual self, he works hard but technically he's still a very average player. Birmingham's style of play has been one reason why Zigic has performed so well in recent times but he was left on the bench as Martins and co begged for some aerial support.

Without Gardner, there was no midfield support and the midfield four showed no intent to get forward. This again is a big criticism of McLeish. He was tactically spot on against Arsenal but he seldom changes his tactics, even against the lesser sides in the division. West Brom were invited on to the Birmingham back four all too much and if you didn't know any different, you'd have thought that the Baggies were the home team.

McLeish doesn't believe in the old adage of 'attack is the best form of defence' and relies too much on his defence to keep clean sheets. Things aren't working, especially at home but he seems reluctant to change it and I can't see where the next points are coming from. They face some difficult away games and although they have some very winnable home matches, their recent form at St Andrew's doesn't point to any easy points coming their way.

Birmingham were brought back down to earth with an almighty bump and now the ecstasy of winning their first major trophy since 1963 is quickly being replaced by the fear of relegation.

Why the likes of Crawley and FC United are bad for Non-League Football

It would seem that the only people who were behind Crawley Town in their recent FA Cup tie at Old Trafford were the Reds fans themselves and employees of ITV.

ITV aren’t known for their brilliant football broadcasts, quite the opposite in fact, and completely misjudged public reaction when claiming that every neutral would be cheering the West Sussex side on. How very wrong could you be?

Crawley achieved the impossible and somehow got most of the country supporting Manchester United for a change. That’s quite something.

I guess their fans will point towards their ‘success’ and claim that rivals are jealous of them and to an extent, they’re probably right. They’re currently four points behind AFC Wimbledon in the Blue Square Bet Premier with six games in hand so come next August; they should be playing league football. Their tie against the other Red Devils didn’t pose the familiar part-time non-leaguers against the pros. It wasn’t even a nice story; most of that Crawley squad have tasted league football before at one stage or another. Sergio Torres dropped two divisions to join Crawley from Peterborough United and captain Pablo Mills has played in the Championship for Derby County.

Teams with money are often frowned upon by fellow non-league clubs. As I said, partly because of jealousy but I think the overriding feeling is that they’re not earning it. Another team much like Crawley are Fleetwood Town. They have risen through the non-league pyramid at quite a speedy rate with a lot of thanks to a wealthy owner.

All too often in the past we have seen non-league clubs going under, some feel the need to try and compete with the likes of Crawley and Fleetwood and that just isn’t sustainable. If their big money owners decide to pull out at any stage, it’ll most likely be it for the club. If that wasn’t enough, Crawley also have one of the most hated men in non-league football as their manager – Steve Evans. Evans is the man that took Boston United to the brink of bankruptcy after being convicted of conspiring to cheat the public revenue, understating player wages and bonus payments. Let’s just hope Evans has learnt from his very big mistakes.

Another team I have no warmth towards are FC United of Manchester - the club born because of Malcolm Glazer. I’ve no idea why they created the club. I’ve heard of several reasons but they’re all quite frankly, rubbish. They say they want their own club but I wonder how many of those fans actually visited Old Trafford on a regular basis.

There are several clubs in and around the Manchester area who are begging for support. Hyde, now a club stripped of all its integrity, are one. The club accepted a cash sum from Manchester City to keep the club running, and very handily dropped the United from their name for their 125th anniversary. They also changed their colours from red to white and play in a blue changed strip...

Stalybridge Celtic are not far from Hyde and again, are a team that with a bit more support could easily sustain a Blue Square Premier side. Unfortunately, rather than helping support clubs like these and putting their money back into the non-league game, they decided to start their own club up. Very clever.

When the Glazers ultimately leave Manchester United, will those fans go back to Old Trafford? If so, we’ll probably see yet another non-league club struggling financially.

It’s a shame that both Crawley and FC United caused cup upsets this year as it would have meant a lot more had it been other non-league clubs that people have respect for.

Let’s just hope that AFC Wimbledon manage to stave off the advances of Crawley and finish top of the Blue Square Bet Premier – now that would be a nice story.

Why Birmingham City winning the Carling Cup is good for Football

Sunday was a very important day in Birmingham City's history. The Blues won their first major honour in 48 years against Arsenal – a match they weren't given a chance of winning by so called experts. It was also an important day for every club outside the top four.

Since Sunday I've seen quite a few articles dotted around the internet and, as expected, some rather bitter Gooners. The most disappointing of all though? The pretty football brigade. One article I read was written by a Spurs fan and more or less said that Birmingham City winning anything was bad for football.

Another fan, who I presume was an Arsenal supporter, said that Birmingham were anti football and didn't deserve success. What is the definition of 'anti football'? Cheating? Playing dirty? Using long throws? Passing the ball in the air? It would seem the pretty football brigade will use any of these to excuse a loss.

Even in Arsene Wenger's post match interview, he had a dig at Birmingham saying that he expected 'lots of long balls' and that Arsenal's error had 'handed them the trophy'. Well, at least he saw it. Nothing about Birmingham playing well and working their socks off. Nada.

It doesn't help that certain well respected (well, maybe not Wenger...) figures within the game are very quick to bemoan any team that plays in a way that hinders them. On Sunday, Blues boss Alex McLeish masterminded a game plan that brought the Carling Cup back to the second city. A couple of days before the game, Big Eck stated that he had found a formula to beat Arsenal and he was right.

Birmingham lined up with that oh so anti football formation of 4-5-1. The same formation that England fans nationwide were begging for during the World Cup. 6'8'' Serbian Nikola Zigic spearheaded the attack and, but for a sloppy quarter of an hour at the start of the game, did brilliantly against Arsenal's back four.

I suppose the pretty football brigade will point to both Birmingham goals and question how they can win a football game. A header from a corner and a tap-in after a mix-up are hardly breathtaking goals, but they all count.

I admire Arsenal, I really do. Their dedication to that style of football is something many clubs don't have. But is it more admirable than Stoke City's dedication? In short, no.

Had it been Stoke City and not Birmingham lifting the trophy last Sunday, the anger from Arsenal fans would surely have been more intense. For Wenger and Arsenal, it's their way or the highway.

Wenger likes to pluck players out of obscurity who can retain possession. Tony Pulis on the other hand, prefers to go for physically strong players, normally over six feet tall. There is no blueprint to football, there is no right way and wrong way to play the game. That's why it is the greatest game on Earth.

Nearly every nation on the planet has a contrasting style. Many fans argue that the game is becoming a non-contact sport with the influx of foreign players increasing the amount of diving taking place.

But Arsenal fans and Wenger in particular would love for that to happen. If games were played in the same style as training games are, Arsenal would probably win every bit of silverware every year.

Why should clubs like Blackpool and Hull be applauded for their attacking style in the Premiership? Look where it got Hull, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened to Blackpool. Possession doesn't win games, passing doesn't win games either.

West Brom are another good example, they have long been seen as the Arsenal of the Championship. Mainly because whenever they get promoted, they can't stop the ball from entering their net. After the appointment of Roy Hodgson and with a bit more steel and organisation, that might change.

It might work for Barcelona, they have better players than Arsenal and they play in a country where keeping possession is the most important thing. In England, that is not the case. English football has always been a bit scrappy and some of the England greats have possessed attributes that would now get them labelled as 'anti football'.

How can anybody blame a team for playing to their strengths? Stoke do it. So do Birmingham. Neither of those sides can compete with Arsenal in terms of money spent on transfers so they have to cut their cloth accordingly.

Birmingham's win on Sunday was a victory for old fashioned English grit and determination, a tactical masterclass from McLeish and a bit of luck. The performance was a brave one and for an anti football team, they have done very well in cup competitions this season. They're also the first team outside the top four to reach the Carling Cup final since Wigan Athletic in 2006.

Football is all about different opinions, Wenger and McLeish obviously differ quite dramatically in this case but neither view can be seen as right or wrong. McLeish proved that you can assemble a team mostly out of misfits and unwanted players and with a bit of organisation and playing to your strengths, you can upset the odds.

Let's put it this way, I'd much rather support a club that play physical football (within the rules of the game) than one which have players that admit to diving. Who are the anti football lot now?

Birmingham City's win proved to the teams outside the top four that you can play 'anti football' and still be successful. Now let's see how many trophies Arsenal win this year...