Barrie's View

Birmingham City are seeking around £5 million in compensation should Aston Villa want to take manager Alex McLeish away from their city rivals this summer.

McLeish, who lead Birmingham City to Carling Cup success last season has two years remaining on his contract at St Andrews. The Blues have yet to accept the resignation he handed in on Sunday.

Despite his cup success, Alex McLeish has been in charge of Birmingham City for their last two Premier League relegations. He originally took over at the end of November 2007.

Following Birmingham’s immediate return to the Premier League as Championship runners up in 2008/09, McLeish guided his side to an impressive ninth position which included a 12-game unbeaten streak at one point.

His successful Premier League campaign was built around a successful defence that included goalkeeper Joe Hart on loan from Manchester City, Liam Ridgewell, Scott Dann, Roger Johnson and Stephen Carr. In total they kept 11 clean sheets, compared to the 9 kept by Ben Foster last season.

Injuries to Scott Dann, and his replacement Martin Jiranek left a problem for Birmingham City, who at the end of the 2010/11 season weren’t keeping clean sheets and weren’t keeping the goals out.

Much is made of Birmingham’s poor form following their Carling Cup success. They won just 2 of their remaining 12 fixtures after beating Arsenal at Wembley, losing 7.

The biggest problem Birmingham had, and one McLeish refused to change during his back-to-back seasons in the Premier League is that his side had no plan B. Having seen his tactics working successfully in the previous season, he stuck by them in the final dozen games even though they were not working at that time.

Most of Kevin Phillips’ game time came in those final games of the season in a desperate attempt by McLeish to find goals. Phillips scored just once all season.

Injuries to Nikola Zigic and James McFadden didn’t help his side’s chances, but they had both Sebastian Larsson and David Bentley down the wings whom were capable of providing great deliveries from the wings, but his side rarely had enough players going forward to attack these.

Should Alex McLeish join Aston Villa, you would wonder if the good form of Stewart Downing would go to waste down the wings, should the England international remain at the club this summer.

Aston Villa aren’t in the best of shape, following a huge decline last season following the resignation of Martin O’Neill pre-season. They have one of the divisions best goalscorers in Darren Bent, but with Ashley Young set to leave for Manchester United, they are set to lose their number one playmaker.

Marc Albrighton looks like a good prospect down the wing, but if McLeish were to join Villa, would he use Albrighton to his best ability? Or would we see the same, negative 4-5-1 tactics adopted at Birmingham City? McLeish should us nothing last season to show us that he would change. But if he’s as good as Randy Lerner believes, then maybe he’ll adapt like all good managers are capable of doing.

There has been a lot of anger from both sets of fan regarding this deal, with a lot of Birmingham fans not wanting their manager to join their biggest rivals and a number of Aston Villa fans not wanting to hire their rivals manager who has a track record of relegation from the Premier League.

Alex McLeish remains 4/6 favourite to land the Aston Villa job, while Mark Hughes is currently second favourite at 7/2.

Despite stealing a 1-1 draw with tournament favourites last night, the England under 21′s performance was very unconvincing.

While Spain opened the scoring with a controversial goal that saw them commit two fouls concluding with Ander Herrera knocking the ball home with his hand.

After that, Spain dominated possession but rarely threatened Frank Fielding’s goal. A few occasions that Spain came close to getting themselves in goalscoring opportunities saw Chris Smalling making a last-ditch tackle during a man of the match performance.

It was Smalling whom dribbled the ball forward in the last two minutes before releasing Kyle Walker down the right wing, whom cut inside and passed the ball to Danny Welbeck. Welback admittedly was in an offside position, but coolly finished as the flag stayed down.

Spain had 64% of the possession; something that is already a trait for their senior national team, and domestic league Champions, Barcelona.

After the game, Stuart Pearce claimed his defence were under control and came out with the following ludicrous quotation;

“I think if we turned the tables around and we had as much possession as they did, I think we’d have won the game 4-0.”

I don’t understand what was going through Stuart Pearce’s mind when he made that statement. His England side failed to maintain possession and in truth, looked uncomfortable with the ball at their feet. There were several passes amongst goalkeeper Frank Fielding and his defenders; notably Manchester United’s new big money signing, Phil Jones. Captain Michael Mancienne, playing in midfield was very unambitious; often playing the ball back to his side’s defence.

But for a great one-handed save from David de Gea in first half stoppage time, England barely threatened the Spanish goal.

England had a lot of pace out wide, with right back Kyle Walker looking like the biggest threat. Danny Rose showed glimpses of skill, but his deliveries were lacking. England were fortunate to come away with a point, Welbeck himself could have received a second yellow card earlier in the match. A correct decision from the referee’s assistant would have seen him raise his flag.

Stuart Pearce said his side will learn and grow from this game. That is a minimum if this side want to go far in this tournament, and help the national side later in their careers. Spain themselves were not at their best.

A report into football finances by Deloitte shows Premier League wages continue to rise.

Premier League spent a record 68% of their income on wages during the 2009/10 season. Chelsea topped the bill, as they have done for every season since 2002/03, at £174 million.

Big spenders Manchester City spent 107% of its revenue on wages, in comparison to city rivals United, who spent just 46%.

The report also shows Premier League revenues increased by 2% to exceed £2 billion for the first time.

From 2014, UEFA will introduce their financial fair play system whereby teams will only be allowed to spend a maximum of 60% of their turnover on wages.

Top 2009/10 Premier League wage bills:
Chelsea: £174m
Manchester City: £133m
Manchester United: £132m
Liverpool: £121m
Arsenal: £111m

Both West Ham and Wigan saw wage cuts; £13 and £3 million respectively.

Following the departure of Jordan Henderson to Liverpool this morning, Steve Bruce has been keen to find an immediate replacement with a bid for Manchester United’s Darron Gibson, as well as defenders Wes Brown and John O’Shea.

In all, Sunderland have reportedly bid £12 million for the Manchester United trio.

After suffering with injuries over the past few seasons, and with the emergence of both Fabio and Rafael during the second half of the past season, Wes Brown has found himself surplus to requirements at Manchester United, whom are on the cusp of signing Blackburn’s young centre back, Phil Jones. Brown has won the Premier League on 5 occasions, as well as having 2 Champions League winners medals. He was in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year in 2001. Now 31, he has made just 33 league appearances over the past 3 seasons.

John O’Shea has been a utility man at Old Trafford since making his first team debut in 1999. He has 5 Premier League winners medals to his name and 70 caps for the Republic of Ireland. He is 30 years old.

Meanwhile Darron Gibson is only 23 and looked like he had great potential in his first few Premier League games for Manchester United, showing good passing ability and a desire to shoot from long range. However, over the past season he was a liability and even received boos from his own fans.

With Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves told they are no longer required at Old Trafford, it appears Sir Alex Ferguson could be having a clear out ahead of next season. Jonny Evans has been linked with a move to Bolton Wanderers.

Liverpool have completed the signing of Sunderland and England midfielder Jordan Henderson in a deal believed to be £13 million plus £7 million-rated David N’Gog.

Jordan Henderson, another central midfielder has also spent plenty of time on the wing during his two seasons as a pro at Sunderland.

Kenny Dalglish appears keen to add to his central midfield which already consists of Steven Gerrard, Raul Meireles, Lucas, Jay Spearing, Christian Poulsen and Jonjo Shelvey, whilst Alberto Aquilani is still on their books, having spent last season on loan in Serie A with Juventus whom are one of the clubs linked with a move for the Italian international this season.

Liverpool’s right wing has been under a lot of criticism in the past with Dirk Kuyt not being a natural fit out wide. Maxi Rodriguez has spent time out there for Liverpool also. Jordan Henderson’s passing ability sees him better suited to a central midfield position where he has excelled at Sunderland, although his lack of goals from that position may be a concern.

With the sale of Darren Bent in January, and the loan of Danny Welbeck from Manchester United expiring at the end of the season, Steve Bruce is key to add some depth to his strike force. This deal sees David N’Gog moving to the Stadium of Light, which will likely be more appreciated by Liverpool fans than Sunderland with the French striker being wasteful during his 3 year stay which saw him score just 9 league goals in 63 Premier League appearances.

Liverpool have also been linked with moves for Aston Villa’s Stewart Downing and Blackpool’s Charlie Adam.

Stewart Downing is coming off the back of one of his best season’s, having scored 7 goals for Aston Villa in the Premier League and setting up another 9. He also picked up the club’s player of the season award and earned himself a place back into the England starting 11.

The former Middlesbrough winger delivers a good ball with his left foot and isn’t scared to take defenders on. Downing has played on both the left and right wing for Aston Villa, whilst also having a spell in centre midfield under Martin O’Neill. Joe Cole’s days at Liverpool could be short-lived should Liverpool sign the Aston Villa winger, whom they’ve been linked to for around £10 million.

Charlie Adam played a very influential role in Blackpool’s performance last season; the club’s second top scorer with 12 goals, whilst also contributing with 9 assists. A great set piece taker, Adam’s Premier League season took a dip along with Blackpool’s form after January when he was linked to top Premier League sides including Manchester United and Liverpool.

In January, Liverpool signed Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll for a combined £57.7 million as they look to strengthen their squad to push for a Champions League finish next season.