Big Eck brings in the X Factor

Published on Sunday 2 December 2007 01:14

ALEX McLeish must have wondered where everybody had gone. A Friday press conference and just a handful of journalists, a small gathering from the dailies and the Sundays, a camera crew or two, nothing like the circus he was used to in his last incarnation as a club manager.

Many new faces here, too. And many new questions. "Where does the name Eck come from?" he was asked. "It's funny," he replied. "My missus hates it. I've become accustomed to it. It all started in Aberdeen, people called Alec had the Al taken away, so it was Eck. It's traditional. But actually, my name's Alex, so really I shouldn't qualify for the nickname. Perhaps the Big X might be better. Maybe I'll have the X Factor."

The X Factor. It's a phrase that is either going to prove prophetic or is going to hang like a millstone around his neck. McLeish is a realist about the scale of the job at Birmingham. It's unrealistic to think that his desire to prove himself in the Premiership made him accept this job without looking at the downside. The negatives are considerable, after all. Birmingham are in a dogfight and they are not monied-up like some others round about them in the lower reaches of the table.

We ask him about his history in the transfer market, his level of success in making every penny count. "I would hope to give value for money," he says. "I know it can be done and we have to spread the net as far as possible. Agents have already been getting in touch with players, and already I have a couple I think might be useful and other suggestions that I have discarded. It'll be active over the next couple of months, but the players here have a huge challenge to show to me that I don't need to buy anyone."

Whatever the budget will be, it's going to be in the millions, the kind of dough he has never had at his disposal in all his years. "Having the money to spend will certainly be new to me. There's no doubt about it. I'm not so sure there'll be huge funds in January but if we can make a fist of it in the Premier League then next summer will be very interesting. But whatever I get, I will make the most of it. Don't forget, I am now at a different level. At Rangers, I was competing with the lower clubs in the Premier League for players."

McLeish sees parallels between the psychology of Birmingham fans and that of the Tartan Army when he took over from Walter Smith. Throughout his months at Hampden he wouldn't hear of negativity, battling constantly against the natural pessimism of the average Scot. It's not much different at St Andrew's, as he is about to find out.

"Yeah, a comparison could be made. When I took the Scotland job they said 'you can only go one way now'. Walter had made a great start with nine points out of 12. We had to go to Paris and Italy as well as taking on teams at Hampden that we had always struggled against. So I thought to myself 'What if I get it right?'. That was the challenge I set myself. I looked at it from a positive and that's how I will approach this job. I won't be looking down, I shall be looking up."

Down or up, it will be hard to avoid Garry O'Connor, the lone Scot in his first-team squad and something of a troubled soul in the past. O'Connor was brought to Birmingham by Steve Bruce but has not imposed himself on the set-up. He has scored a couple of goals but he is a remote figure these days, a bit-part man at best.

The striker won't be expecting any special favours from his countryman and it is clear from McLeish's remarks that he won't be getting any. "He's got to mature very quickly," says McLeish. "He knows we won't accept anything other than professionalism from him." Perhaps a reference to O'Connor's past indiscretions with Scotland.

"He's got ability, there's no doubt about it, he can shoot with either foot, he's decent in the air and he's mobile. He's got all the attributes but it's up to the player himself to get it all together and to have the positive mind that he can pull it off.

"He came into the Scotland set-up and did extremely well. He played in a friendly against Austria where he looked really composed. A centre-forward who knew what he was doing, making good runs, he had great feet in the box. Against the Faroe Islands, he scored a precious goal for us. Just maybe though he lost a little bit of confidence with not starting for Birmingham too much. But now everyone starts with a clean slate. Garry's got to prove he's good enough in the team and he's got to be better than the other players competing for the same place."

Inevitably, there has been talk down here about McLeish's relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, as if the great man is in some way part of the deal at St Andrews. Maybe McLeish will tap Ferguson for information from time to time but you can already sense him trying to play down the link between them.

"I don't really mark my career out to match Sir Alex or Sir Matt, or other famous managers," he says. "All I can do is work to the best of my abilities to try and get the best out of the team. I know my strengths and it hasn't done me too much harm in the past. I don't compare myself to others. I don't think 'I have to be like Sir Alex'. My aim is to keep Birmingham in the Premier League and then try and build on that.

"It's a good relationship between myself and Sir Alex, but I don't want to keep reading about him every week when I'm the Birmingham manager. He's a friend, even though I still call him boss, and he's a different man now to my manager at Aberdeen Football Club."

So it all starts at White Hart Lane today, this hoped-for revolution of the Blues. Small steps at first, says the manager. "I am aware of the sackings in the Premier League, but that's life in football; there was an article in a soccer magazine recently about sackings all over Europe and I think England got away with it because Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have been around so long. If I didn't accept that, I wouldn't have taken this job. You go into everything knowing it might go pear-shaped, but I'm trying to take it to the level I feel I'm capable of.

"My main input is to get the guys organised and nullify Spurs' strengths, it's mainly tactical. But the players should see the Tottenham game as a big challenge rather than something to be wary of. I have to bring my own personality to the Premier League and to the club, I'd like to think I won't be frightened of any challenge. It doesn't mean to say I'll be successful but I intend not to be frightened. I want everyone to see that what's ahead of us is something that we are privileged to be doing."