June 2010 Archives

Your best World Cup XI so far? Hard to pick, isn't it.

Instead, scanning through the squads in South Africa, I decided to put together an alternative group, complete with coach, with links to Blues.

Some have played for Blues, been wanted by Blues, will play for Blues or have some sort of tenuous association.

Here goes:

Richard Kingson (Ghana; Wigan)
Knocked himself out on a post at Blackburn Rovers and described by David Sullivan as a 'complete waste of space'. Bit harsh that and, after visiting him at home to gauge his response, was met by a brooding Kingson who suggested that if Sullivan ever visited Ghana, the whole country would make sure he didn't return.

Oguchi Onyewu (USA; AC Milan)
Was high on the wanted list last summer, even though Alex McLeish brought in Roger Johnson and Scott Dann. Blues felt there was a need for another good defender. 'Gooch' was available on a Bosman from Standard Liege. A lot of groundwork was put in. Giovanny Espinoza rolled up instead.

Madjid Bougherra (Algeria; Rangers)
Footballing centre-half, who blasted England for showing the North Africans a 'lack of respect'. Blues put in an offer for him during his Sheffield Wednesday spell. But Charlton Athletic won the day at £2.5 million and he headed to London.

Jesper Gronkjaer (Denmark; Copenhagen)
On a hiding to nothing at Blues after his move from Chelsea. Wasn't so indulged. Once turned to Stan Lazaridis in the car on their way back from training and asked: "Stan, what exactly is a 'Birmingham City player'?" trying to get his head round what Steve Bruce had said to him and required of his wingers, and what the fans expected.

Wilson Palacios (Honduras; Spurs)
His last game for Blues was wide left against Villa. Substituted. Alex McLeish didn't know enough, asked for the £700,000 fee not to be taken out of his budget, was refused, and decided he could get better and a more established midfielder. The rest is history. Whether's he's worth £14 million is another story, but was one who slipped through.

Quincy (Ghana; Al Sadd).
What an enigma. Got everything you would want from a wide player, apart from inner drive and consistency. Remember that length of the field run against Barnsley? Sensational. Remember the rest? Erm . . . Blues felt he couldn't follow tactical orders and was too much of a maverick in the end.

Christian Poulsen (Denmark; Juventus).
The man who finished off Trevor Francis. He wanted him, for around £3 million from Copenhagen, but the board weren't bothered. Poulsen turned up at Birmingham Airport for talks to be met by no-one. Francis knew the writing was on the wall, that the board - for the first time - wouldn't sanction one of his transfers. TF was gone a couple of weeks later.

Cacau (Germany; Stuttgart)
As is the way of these things now, plays for Germany but is not really German. A naturalised Brazilian, Blues spent months courting him for a Bosman move - first when his stock was low and he wasn't playing, in fact. He was keen, came over for talks and a look round, but Stuttgart panicked at the end, played the 'your family is settled' card, bumped up his wages and he decided to stay in a comfort zone.

Nicklas Bendtner (Denmark; Arsenal).
Ahh, Nick. On his day the best player in the Championship at Blues, which he would agree with. Remember once at a Blues kit launch there were two street mime artists on podiums modelling the new shirt (you know the sort: 'living statutes', spray painted silver, completely still) and Gary McSheffrey commented: 'That's what I see when I get the ball and look up for Bendtner and Andy Cole'.

Robert Vittek (Slovakia; Ankaragucu).
Odd one this. Watched him train during a trial period at Blues. Had to play indoors because the weather was icy. He showed up quite well, they were quite impressed - Steve Bruce's days, the lad was at Bratislava - but then he was a youngster, the need wasn't great and his agents were pushing him strongly, for a lot of money.

Nikola Zigic (Serbia; Blues).
The big man nodded one down for Milan Jovanovic that beat the Germans the other day. Niall Quinn to Kevin Phillips, anyone? Alan Green described him as a 'plonker'. Very sizeist. Let's see how he shapes up and is used by Blues. That's the key, playing to his strengths and not being blinded by his height.

Diego Maradona (Argentina).
The most entertaining aspect of the World Cup, El Cheat looks like a stumpy Alfred Molina in an ill-fitting suit. He could have been Blues' of course . . . well, sort of. In the early days of the David Sullivan regime, when Maradona was at Seville, it made for great headlines and publicity when it emerged he was a target. Trouble was, his representatives knew nothing about it.

The transfer window three summers back when Blues were preparing for the Premier League, Steve Bruce was slated for apparently signing a 'pile of rubbish'.

That was David Sullivan's view of the business three years ago and his comments, at the end of the season when Blues had been relegated, caused the sort of firestorm we had been accustomed too.

Asked for an example, Sullivan named Franck Queudrue and poor old Richard Kingson was described as a 'complete waste of space'.

Bruce will tell you that he cut his cloth accordingly and some players who remain at the club - Liam Ridgewell, Stuart Parnaby, Garry O'Connor - were far from happy back then, either.

It was harsh to call that influx of summer 2007 players such, and Sullivan did apologise; his beef was more with Bruce and the rancour surrounding his departure mid-season.

So with Sullivan now being assisted by Avram Grant at West Ham United, and Alex McLeish plotting the way ahead at St Andrew's with Carson Yeung, are we looking at another garbage heap?

Unlikely.

I bumped into one distinguished former Blues player of the Premier League years the other day and he reckoned that Ben Foster's addition would be among the signings of the summer, anywhere.

"Better than Joe Hart's" he nodded in approval.

The transfer of Nikola Zigic, the Peter Crouch of the Adriatic, has received enough ticks as well to suggest it won't be, as the American's says, a bust.

Zigic, all 6ft 8in of him, is pictured here with Blues PR executive Claire Boden, all 5ft 5in of her, at his signing.

Enric Valles is a completely unknown quantity and one for the numbers, rather than the first team - unless he proves otherwise.

Yeung has committed £12 million in fees already and should Blues garner another player for around £5 million - again, highly likely - then they will have spent more (net) in the last three summer windows put together.

Financial muscle is all well and good - and I have still heard nothing to the contrary in regard to Yeung's determination to bankroll the summer spending, from people who would know - but it's what you do with it.

So far, McLeish's moves have made sense. And that's the encouraging thing. There is a logic concerning the players he has bought, and the players he is trying to buy.

There is a decent bedrock to the Blues side. Defensively, with Foster now for Hart, it retains a solid, hungry look.

Craig Gardner and Michel should, in theory, become better now their feet have been under the table a while.

And elsewhere in the midfield, there is no reason why Barry Ferguson can't carry on in his statesmanlike style for another season yet.

It's on the edges - wide - where McLeish has been looking for change.

Charles N'Zogbia would certainly add dynamism, unpredictability and pacey thrust. Blues are still on the case there.

Blues have also been scouring Europe for other, similar players. I've heard a suggestion that Hamburg's Jonathan Pitroipa has been watched.

Up front, the decision to jettison Christian Benitez caused a fair old stir.

But McLeish has the courage of his convictions and in Fabrizio Miccoli, Blues could substitute one fans favourite for another - with the added bonus of goals.

Miccoli, I am told, has given out the signals to Blues to go get him. He would love a crack at the Premier League.

Swift, technically adroit and with no little fire in the belly, he could be a Benitez meets Kevin Phillips kind of striker.

It was Bruce who also used to say that you can't have enough strikers and he's right.

How Blues got away with Cameron Jerome and Christian Benitez being the regular pair for most of this season, with Phillips doing his cameos and James McFadden the odd turn up front, was remarkable.

And that was with a midfield that was always narrow and never had real width or pace. Just 38 goals tells you the story, and shows how well drilled, disciplined, organised and protective Blues were.

So keep that aspect of their style - which McLeish insists upon - loosen it a bit in the final third and, therefore, Blues should be all the better for it.

Should Phillips, O'Connor and Parnaby accept new contracts, then they add depth and options to the squad too.

So far, there is a method to the McLeish mindset. There is no scatter gun approach this summer, there is an obvious rationale. Don't summon the binmen just yet.